Raymond Bial, photographer: Listing of Photoessay Book Titles (with covers) available from Amazon.com

Over years, Raymond’s beautiful and informative photo-essays have garnered many awards and received high praise in numerous reviews. Both children and adult enjoy reading the books and teachers and librarians often utilize his book in lesson plans on agriculture, American history, and ethnic groups. His Amish Home was an ALA Notable Book, and, in a starred review, Booklist called his Tenement: Immigrant Life on the Lower East Side “an excellent example of how books can bring the past into the present.” Here is a list of his photo-essays with brief descriptions and a sampling of reviews. For more information, you may also wish to contact his publishers:

Houghton Mifflin Books
Walker and Company

Click here for sampling of reviews.

Amish Home: School & Library Binding, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1993.
Paperback, published 1995
Beautiful color photographs of Amish homes, traditions, and handiworks create a unique portrait of the hardworking and gentle Amish people.
Click here for sampling of reviews: Top


A book comes together: From idea to library: Unknown Binding, Bound to Stay Bound Books, published 2002
: Top


Cajun Home: Hardcover, published 1998
The Cajun people have a long history of having to flee from their homes: first in France, then later in Canada, and even in America, families were broken apart by exile and were scattered across the continent. They were pushed farther and farther south, finally into the swamps and marshes of southern Louisiana. Here, deep in the bayous and backwaters, they have created a home for themselves that is unlike any other place on earth. In beautifully composed photographs and lucid text, Bial illuminates the spirit, resiliency, and warmth of the Cajun people.: Top


Corn Belt Harvest: Hardcover, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991.
This clear and simple text traces the development of corn through the seasons, as it is planted, cultivated, and harvested. “Like the text, the author’s color photos are not only commendably clear and informative, but they’re also distinguished by careful composition and an understated but pervasive affection for the heartland’s landscapes, machines, and people. Unusually handsome and useful.”—Kirkus Reviews “Enjoy this beautiful book with pictures from our own backyard. In Corn Belt Harvest the entire harvesting process is explained from field to elevator while using pictures from Illinois communities to illustrate. Whether you use this book on the coffee table or in your classroom it is an excellent read. Look for other books by Raymond Bial such as A Handful of Dirt.—Ag in the Classroom Click here for sampling of reviews Children’s Book Council (CBC)/National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children
Top

County Fair: Hardcover, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1992.
“The full-color photographs are excellent...A book on an unusual topic, and one that deserves a blue ribbon.” —School Library Journal: Top

Frontier Home: School & Library Binding, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1993.
Through breathtaking photographs and lyrical text, Frontier Home describes the challenges that American settlers faced when they left the farms and towns in the East in their Conestoga wagons and headed out west. The carefully composed photos of pioneer tools, homes, and daily life in particular testify to the indomitable will and spirit of the early settlers of the West.: Top

Ghost Towns of the American West: Hardcover, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001
If it is abandoned by all or most of its inhabitants, a settlement becomes a ghost town. The buildings and dirt streets may remain, but the character and soul of the place change entirely. And so it was with mining camps, lumber camps, and cowboy towns scattered across America, particularly in the West: places with names like Gregory’s Diggings, Deadwood, Bodie, Calico, Goldfield, and Tombstone, some of the over 30,000 deserted towns in the United States. Why did people come to these isolated places? Why did they leave? As Raymond Bial”s narrative explores the history of our ghost towns, his well-composed photo-graphs silently tell their stories: of bustling, muddy streets, of large mercantile stores, and, ultimately, of short-lived dreams of gold, fertile land, or simply a good place to call home.

A Handful of Dirt: Hardcover, published 2000.
Library Binding , coming in November, 2000.
Scoop up a handful of dirt. You are now holding one of life’s essential building blocks. The food you eat, the clothes you wear, even the home you live in, has its origin in the soil. Soil may not seem alive, but amazingly, it is home to a multitude of microscopic creatures fighting to survive in an eat-or-be-eaten world. These soil-dwellers play an integral part in the cycle of life that links mammals, reptiles, and insects. You’ll never look at the ground you walk on in the same way once you’ve picked up A Handful of Dirt, Raymond Bial’s vivid examination of this common, yet precious resource.: Top

Mist over the Mountains: Appalachia and Its People: Hardcover, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997.
“A superb photoessay...documenting a pocket of American life and history...Bial consistently emphasizes the strengths of the people, their unique traditions, and the beauty of the landscape.” —Kirkus Reviews: Top

Nauvoo: Mormon City on the Mississippi River: Hardcover, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006.
“In 1839, persecuted Mormons fled Missouri, across the Mississippi River, seeking freedom from violence. They hoped to find a safe haven on the banks of the river in an Illinois city that they called Nauvoo, "the city beautiful." The Mormons did not flourish for long in Nauvoo. In neighboring cities some grew resentful of the prosperity that Joseph Smith and his people were enjoying. Religious misconceptions further fueled hostility toward the Mormons. Would the oft-persecuted Mormons have to flee their city beautiful? Through poignant writing and photographs of Nauvoo today, Raymond Bial tells the story of the city that many Mormons consider to be the wellspring of their religion.”: Top

One-Room School: Hardcover, published 1999
Plum Grove, Prairie Rose, Possum Hollow, Good Intent, and Apple Pie—for 250 years one-room schools with names like these existed across America. Blessed with remoteness, small size, and simplicity, most of them offered not only a safe place to learn, but also a family-like setting and an education rooted in community. Presenting a brief history of the one-room schools that existed in the United States from the 1700s to the 1950s, Raymond Bial’s camera eloquently captures the wistful-looking little buildings of logs, sod, wood, or stone, and his narrative, spiced with quotes from the teachers and students who spent so much time there, brings to life both the charm and hardships of our rural schools. As readers imagine a school without buses and computers, hot lunch programs and gymnasiums, they will also marvel at these students’ determination to learn in a single room, poorly heated and simply furnished with puncheon benches and slate pencils.

Portrait of a Farm Family: School & Library Binding, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1995.
At five o’clock every morning and five o’clock every evening the fifty-five cows on the Steidinger farm are milked. Milking is one of the dozens of chores, day in and day out, that are part of life for a farm family. But it’s not all work; there is the satisfaction of self-sufficiency and a life lived independently for Dennis and Jane Steidinger and their eight children. Telling the Steidingers’ story in both words and spirited photographs, Raymond Bial portrays a way of life and the individual lives of the members of this farm family.: Top

Shaker Home: Hardcover, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1994.
Shaker traditions and lifestyle are brought to life through informative text and full-color photographs of authentic homes, furnishings, and handicrafts. The photographs were taken at The Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, a community restored to its original pristine condition. “ This handsome volume introduces the traditional Shaker way of life in a thoughtful text and well-composed, full-color photographs.” —Booklist, starred review Click here for sampling of reviews Children’s Book Council (CBC)/National Council for Social Studies (NCSS) Notable Social Studies Book: Top

The Strength of These Arms: Life in the Slave Quarters: Hardcover, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997.
Most slaves lived desperately hard lives, working from sunup to sundown, with few comforts. Yet despite their surroundings, they made homes for themselves and their families. This fine book describes how slaves were able to preserve elements of their African heritage despite the often brutal treatment they experienced on Southern plantations. Holding fiercely to their African heritage while adapting to the customs of their strange new land, these first African-Americans handed down a legacy of perseverance and strength. The everyday life of plantation slaves is detailed in text and haunting photographs of recently excavated plantation sites, giving immediacy to the lives of enslaved Africans while paying tribute to the daily courage of a people who endured against all odds.
: Top

Tenement: Immigrant Life on the Lower East Side: Hardback, published 2002
Life on the Lower East Side was bustling. Immigrants from many European countries had come to make a better life for themselves and their families in the United States. But the wages they earned were so low that they could afford only the most basic accommodations—tenements. Unfortunately, there were few laws protecting the residents of tenements, and landlords took advantage of this by allowing the buildings to become cramped and squalid. There was little the tenants could do; their only other choice was the street. Though most immigrants struggled in these buildings, many overcame a difficult start and saw generations after them move on to better apartments, homes, and lives. Raymond Bial reveals the first, challenging step in this process as he leads us on a tour of the sights and sounds of the Lower East Side, guiding us through the dark hallways, staircases, and rooms of the tenements.

The Underground Railroad: Hardcover, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1995.; Paperback
Within the pages of this book are documented, in prose and elegantly articulate photographs, examples of stations on the Railroad, along with images of the routes, lives, and hardships of both the passengers and conductors.: Top

Where Lincoln Walked: Hardcover, New York: Walker & Co., 1998.
Library Binding, published 1998
Blending lively text and striking color photographs, this book follows the life of Abraham Lincoln from his birthplace in Kentucky, his childhood in Indiana, and his life as a lawyer and legislator in Illinois. The book includes a brief biography of President Lincoln, a list of locations where he walked, and photographs of places, buildings, and objects significant in his life.

Where Washington Walked: Library Binding, published 2004
“I walk on untrodden ground. There is scarcely any part of my conduct which may not hereafter be drawn into precedent.”—George Washington


With Needle and Thread : A Book About Quilts: Hardcover, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996.
In years past, quilting has served as a means of both artistic statement and social protest for those who had no other avenue of expression. Today, the craft not only survives but also thrives as new quilters add their own innovations to the patterns of the past. Here is a respectful look at the past and present of this vital, homegrown art form. Through beautiful photographs and lively writing, Raymond describes quilts and quilt-making as an artistic expression, handed down through generations of women.: Top

Reviews

Amish Home:
“ In carefully composed color photographs, Bial (County Fair; Corn Belt Harvest) meanders through the simple ways of a people seemingly clinging to the 19th century—a striking contrast, youngsters will find, to their accustomed 20th-century technology. From black-box buggies to colorful quilts and clothing (though patterns are not allowed, bright hues are acceptable), the Amish devotion to “plain” and avoidance of “convenience” is illustrated by common artifacts. (No people are glimpsed in these pages: while the Amish object to having their pictures taken, they do not mind if their “worldly goods” are photographed.) Although Bial’s unadorned photographs may lie beyond young readers’ sensitivities, parts of the text should prove absorbing. (“During their teenage years, many Amish boys go through a wild period called rumpaspringa…They may soup up their buggies with plastic reflectors, stereos, carpeting, dashboards, and speedometers.”) As the photographs focus on modest material objects, the text ably attends to the unseen objects of Amish life. Bits of Amish history, agriculture, environmental attitudes and education are presented in an all-important context of humility, community and productivity.”—Publishers Weekly

“An attractive and compelling photo-essay of the Amish. Their religion prohibits the making of human images, so the full-color photos depict all but the people themselves. While this may, at first, make readers believe they are missing out on something, in fact, the opposite is true. There are cozy kitchens, lovingly tended gardens, prized horses, and rolling landscapes. As well as being informative, these photographs create a mood through which readers enter another lifestyle. They will almost hear the quiet voices in the next room, laughter of children outside, or the steady clip-clop of horses’ hoofs on the nearby road. The text is brief; more detailed information can be found in Ammon’s Growing Up Amish (Atheneum, 1989) or Naylor’s An Amish Family (Amereon, 1986). What sets this book apart is its outstanding photographs. They are clear, well composed and harmoniously arranged, allowing viewers to savor their beauty. Bial clearly demonstrates his deep respect for these people and their complex system of values. —School Library Journal

“A talented author-photographer (Corn Belt Harvest, 1991) pays informed tribute to the “hardworking, productive people” who place little value on “worldly goods” and are known as the “plain people.” Respecting their wish not to be photographed (a photo is a kind of “graven image”; appearing in one is “prideful”), Bial presents their houses (inside and out), clothes (pegged out on a sunny day), food, horses, carriages, and fields in beautifully composed color photos. The absence of the Amish themselves, in honor of their beliefs, is a powerful statement, reflected in Bial’s concise but admirably detailed description of Amish ways—especially the carefully considered reasons they abjure many modern inventions and the compromises they’ve made (they use gas stoves and refrigeration, but not electricity: radios and TV prevent family interaction). An eloquent, honest book that points out that the Amish, too, have their difficulties but concludes: ‘In their world the individual occupies a small place, but is always valued. In the larger culture, the individual is foremost, yet people often feel isolated and alone.’—Kirkus Reviews

“ What sets this book apart is its outstanding photographs. They are clear, well composed and harmoniously arranged, allowing viewers to savor their beauty. Bial clearly demonstrates his deep respect for these people and their complex ”—School Library Journal

“ With clear, evocative photographs and an accessible and highly informative text, Bial takes us to the dignified, ordered, yet often complex world of the Amish. Frugal, god-fearing, communally focused, they reject much of modern technology, shaping their lives with a coherency and focus that can appear attractive in our dissonant land. Bial’s telling, yet economical exposition is in keeping with his fascinating subject.”—Parent’s Choice Foundation

Cajun Home:
“Adding another title to his excellent series of photo-essays about distinctive American cultures, Bial uses his lens to illuminate the Louisiana Cajun lifestyle. Through stunning full-color pictures of little things—a boat, a chair, a washboard—he meticulously builds a portrait of a fascinating people. The readable text is as illuminating as the photos, starting with an informative but concise discussion of their history and migration from the northern coastal regions of France to the bayous of Louisiana where they now reside. In spare prose, Bial offers essential facts and also covers a broad spectrum of the Cajuns’ daily life, past and present, including their food (with a recipe for jambalaya), their music, and their own particular brand of Mardi Gras. The book provides an excellent look at this unique culture and is by far the most informative and accurate children’s title on this subject. A short, useful list for further reading contains both fiction and nonfiction. All together, a quality production.—School Library Journal

“The title and photo of a wooden house on the jacket notwithstanding, this book is about more than just houses. It is a history of the Cajun people and their long struggle to find a home, in the larger sense of the word. Bial begins on the northern coast of France, where the small farmers and artisans who lived there found Parisian authority restrictive. In 1623, a group decided to seek freedom in the New World, eventually settling in Canada. Wars between France and Britain eventually forced them to Louisiana, and later more persecution pushed them into the backwoods of the Louisiana swamps. Once the Cajun people found a place for their community, however, they maintained a distinctive culture whose influence reaches far beyond its region. As he has done in previous photo-essays, Bial combines an interesting, well-written text with simple yet compelling color photographs that give insight into a community about which only its more flamboyant elements (such as its music and cooking) are known. Bial incorporates many Cajun words (with pronunciations) within the body of the text. This may slow readers down a little, but it adds to the book’s Cajun flavor. Bibliography appended. —Ilene Cooper, Booklist, ALA

“Bial’s exquisite photography glorifies Cajun life, past and present, in a format similar to his other books, including Shaker Home (1994). After a note on dialect, Bial includes many French phrases, with meanings and pronunciations, within the text he launches into the origins of Cajun people, sketching in a historical framework and telling how their lot as refugees inspired Longfellow’s ‘Evangeline.’ Customs, homes and land, household objects, cooking, music, tangled blood lines, and rich language are all clearly described, appearing with striking photographs of quilts, wooden shoes, textiles, furniture, and shops. The book is accessible and inviting, but few readers will know how to discriminate between Bial’s introduction to the Cajuns “Deep in the woods and swamps of Louisiana live the Cajuns” and “the Cajuns were driven deep into the Atchafalaya Swamp, [which] teems with fish, alligators, crawfish, and other wildlife. It is the heart of Cajun country” and his later blasting of a stereotype of the Cajuns as ‘coarse people who lived in the woods and swamps thick with alligators and snakes.’ He then provides another kind of oversimplification by uniformly praising Cajuns as ‘delightful people known for their hard work and generosity.’ Readers who can get past these minor points of confusion will close the book with a sense that they, too, have traveled to Cajun country. Further reading.”—Kirkus Reviews.

“Attractive and compelling. As well as being informative, the photographs create a mood through which readers enter another lifestyle.”—School Library Journal Starred

Corn Belt Harvest:
“At first glance, this brief volume seems to be aimed at a very young audience because of its big, beautiful, full-color photographs splashed across every page and its large type. However, closer examination reveals that the text is actually pretty meaty, both in scope and presentation. Bial describes the cultivation, harvest, and uses of corn in complete, concise detail. His photographs are both graceful adornments to each page and full of important information, truly complementing the text in every way. The captions fill in many details, never repeating the text. However, he sometimes uses technical terms such as ‘disk,’ ‘herbicides,’ and ‘auger’ without defining them, and there’s no glossary for greenhorns. The book fills the gap between Aliki’s Corn Is Maize (Crowell, 1976), for a much younger audience, and Anderson and Ancona’s The American Family Farm (HBJ, 1989), which includes a segment about an Iowa grain farm and features black-and-white photographs. Bial writes in a smooth, precise manner, yet conveys his love for the region. Overall, this is a jewel of a book, well suited for reports.”—School Library Journal

“A straightforward presentation of current American practice in raising and using ‘the most abundant grain in the Western Hemisphere’—not just methods of planting, harvest, storage, and marketing, but telling details about living in corn country (in August, ‘The horizon is now just a memory; you have to stop at every crossroads…because oncoming drivers can’t see you…’) and vivid descriptions (‘The dry leaves now rustle, like the sound of the ocean in a shell’). Like the text, the author’s color photos are not only commendably clear and informative, but they’re also distinguished by careful composition and an understated but pervasive affection for the heartland’s landscapes, machines, and people. Unusually handsome and useful. Bibliography.”—Kirkus Reviews

Frontier Home:
“Similar in format to Bial’s Amish Home, this book introduces readers to life on the American frontier. Bial briefly describes the clearing of land and the making of early cabins and their furnishings, including beds, tables, benches, toys, rifles, ammunition, clothing, soap, candles, and cookware. Occasional quotes from the diaries and reminiscences of pioneers add individual voices. Taken in full color at pioneer villages and sites in the Midwest, well-composed pictures of objects inside and outside of frontier homes appear on nearly every page. Concrete details of pioneer life will hold readers’ interest…Bial’s photography gives the book a look of integrity as well as a window into the lives of the pioneers.” —Carolyn Phelan, Booklist, ALA

“In another lyrical yet precise text, Bial (Amish Home) invites readers to imagine traveling by Conestoga wagon to an uncertain future on the American frontier. Bial details the daily life and concerns of settlers, adding immediacy with several quotes from early settlers, both male and female. (A few unfamiliar words—”puncheons”; “flintlock”—aren’t well defined in context; a glossary would have been welcome.) The presentation is enhanced by sharp, beautifully composed, unpeopled color photos, not captioned but well placed in relation to a text that’s short enough so that the lack of an index won’t inhibit use for reports. Bibliography.”—Kirkus Reviews

Ghost Towns of the American West:
“Bial’s latest photo-essay delves into the mystery of abandoned Western towns and offers insight into the region’s boom-and-bust legacy but ultimately disappoints. The volume begins by posing the questions ‘What sad and joyous events happened within the tumbledown walls and wind-blown streets?’ and ‘Why did people settle in these lonesome places?’ Unfortunately, the real draw of the ghost towns was the larger-than-life characters who came through them, and the sense of immediacy and the human cast that made Bial’s The Underground Railroad so successful goes missing here. The author’s solid research incorporates some primary source quotes and touches on some of the Wild West’s best-known incidents (the shoot-out at the OK Corral; Wild Bill Hickock getting shot in the back during a poker game), but never fully captures the flavor of these colorful legends. (Fans of these dark heroes would do better with Andrew Glass’s recent Bad Guys.) The best of Bial’s photographs zoom in on telling details: a metal sculpture of a prospector, aged to a gray that blends with a cloudy sky; a saloon’s windowsill filled with liquor bottles, overtaken by cobwebs and dust, filtering sunlight through plum and moss glass. But a few photos feature the same subjects, and several captions repeat nearly identical wording. Still, for aficionados of the Gold Rush or westward expansion, the photos here are worth a look.”— Publishers Weekly

“At the heart of Bial’s new book are the photographs, most of which are his: sharply focused, brightly colored daytime shots of remaining or restored buildings and the tools and necessities of their former inhabitants, or moody twilit skies against which the silhouettes of old buildings rear up. There is also a scattering of vintage photographs that stand out distinctly from Bial’s more vivid approach. The text, in which the author moves from a general discussion of how locales come to be abandoned to a more specific look at the ghost towns of the 19th-century American West and the people who created and vacated them, can be described as an extended essay. Period quotations, especially several from Mark Twain, provide pointed insights into the viewpoints of the people who lived in these communities. Bial also surveys some of the most famous residents of various towns, including the Earp brothers and their involvement in the shoot-out at the O.K. Corral. The lack of an index or a division of the text into thematic or chronological chapters will limit the book’s use for reports or research, as might the occasionally romanticized comments. However, this is a topic that has not been recently treated for younger readers, and fans of photography and the Old West will be charmed by the author’s details and the clarity of his shots. An extensive bibliography will also guide readers who want to know more to the appropriate books.”—School Library Journal

“Similar in design to Bial’s earlier books, this photo-essay offers views of America’s ghost towns and discusses their place in history. Several period photographs from the 1800s show these communities while they flourished, but the book’s most effective illustrations are the evocative color photos of ghost towns today. These pictures are notable for their use of light to create moods and to define and reveal characteristics of the abandoned towns. Although the book has no index, it does provide information that students will find useful in understanding the history of these towns and the forces that shaped the West, and reveals the beauty, dignity, and loneliness of the towns as they are today.”—Bibliography appended. Carolyn Phelan, Booklist, ALA

A Handful of Dirt:
“Readers who take a good look at dirt through Bial’s eyes (and his camera lens) will never again look down on this rich, life-full, life-giving ‘element.’ The readable, informative text introduces dirt dwellers from the tiniest protozoa through myriad invertebrates to the mammals and reptiles whose burrows aerate the earth, all depicted in large, sharp, full-color photos. The author includes basic instructions for setting up a home compost heap, and urges his audience to feel the same reverence for the soil and growing things as he learned from a beloved grandfather (whose well-worn tools are displayed lovingly in a full-page photo). Team this treasure with such practical works as Eleonore Schmid’s attractive The Living Earth (North-South, 1994), Laurence Pringle’s engaging Twist, Wiggle, and Squirm: A Book about Earthworms (Crowell, 1973; op), and Bianca Lavies’s stunning Compost Critters (Dutton, 1993) for a scientific investigation, or, for a more poetic configuration, try Ken Robbins’s lyrical Earth (Holt, 1995) and Peggy Christian’s poignant If You Find a Rock (Harcourt, 2000).”—School Library Journal

“Engaging children’s book on soil discusses how this essential building block of life is transformed into clothes, food, homes, and more. Amazing photographs document the multitude of microscopic creatures that live in soil, creatures that become food for insects who again enter the food chain. Discusses how soil evolves from rocks into fertile plains and how one can regenerate worn out soils with compost and soil amendments. Perfect for children ages 7-12.”—Acorn Naturalists

“Bial handily captures the interconnectedness of life, from prairie dogs to the tiniest bacteria, in this close up look at the importance—and beauty—of soil.”—Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

One Room School:
“A pictorial history of the one-room schoolhouse in the United States. Bial briefly discusses the emergence of public education in Massachusetts in 1647, and notes that the demands of rural life had an impact on the form of education on the frontier and led to the development of this type of facility throughout the country. The readable text describes a typical school day, the responsibilities of teachers, and some of the materials and textbooks available in the 1800s and early 1900s. Through a blend of historical black-and-white photographs and the author’s own full-color shots, Bial shows the types of structures that served as schools. Although there is a certain sameness to the more recent pictures, they remind readers of just how ubiquitous these facilities once were. Most interesting are the glimpses provided of the inside of these buildings and the supplies that were used. The narrative is fairly straightforward, but the author has an undeniable fondness for this bygone bit of Americana. Pair this with Rosmarie Hausherr’s One-Room School at Squabble Hollow (Four Winds, 1988; op), which portrays a day in the life of a present-day school for a slightly younger audience.’—School Library Journal

“Bial’s photo-essays depicting the mostly rural American scene are always a visual and informative delight, and this one is no exception. In smoothly written prose, Bial recounts the history of the American one-room schoolhouse from the early 1700s to the 1950s. He discusses the reasons such schools flourished, typical methods of instruction and activities for students, and expectations for teachers. Clear, beautifully composed photos on every page transport readers back to bygone days. They range from shots of the exteriors of brick-and-frame structures and pictures of desks, coal buckets, textbooks, and dunce caps to artistic images that take careful advantage of natural lighting. Most are full-color depictions taken at sites near Bial’s home in central Illinois. Several well-chosen black-and-white period photos showing children are also included. A good choice for units on pioneer life, with the bonus of browser appeal. Sources for further reading are appended.”—Booklist, ALA

Portrait of a Farm Family:
“This attractive volume showcases great full-color photographs and lots of interesting facts about farms. Featuring 12-year-old Mark and his 7 sisters and brothers, the book provides a realistic and touching portrait of life on a family-run dairy farm. The demanding daily work is discussed and illustrated, along with the additional chores needed to make the dairy profitable enough to support a family. The writing is interesting and includes facts and figures on such topics as cattle intake and output. The format of this volume is slightly deceiving, however. While younger children may be attracted by its size and colorful photographs—and may find value in them—the vocabulary and content are really directed toward an older audience (turgid udders, fluctuating, silage). Often terms are not defined at all; in some cases, they are defined when they occur at a later time. An appealing, informative addition where the subject is in demand.”—School Library Journal

“Bial’s photographs of the Steidinger family dairy farm in Illinois are attractive on their own, but it’s their blending with a complicated, critical text that makes this book more than just another view of cows, chickens, and smiling people. In clear, readable terms, Bial explores the specifics of milking, raising feedlot calves, and cutting silage and discusses the factors to be weighed before buying expensive equipment or choosing a particular kind of animal to raise. The pictures show the farm as it appears from the road and also take the reader up close to see the muddy straw underfoot in the feed lots and the dirty boots that are strewn around the yard to dry. The hard work and the economic complications of modern farming are visible in nearly all the pictures and so are the commitment and energy of the extended Steidinger family. Everyone works on this farm—from mom and dad to toddler Faith and the 20 barn cats. Without talking down to young readers, Bial brings the Steidingers’ everyday world to life, fitting it neatly into an excellent discussion of family-farm-based agriculture and the U.S. economy.”—Booklist, ALA

“Bial follows the Steidinger family from sun up to sun down, observing with clear full-color photos and text life on a small dairy farm…An armchair field trip that brings home all the hard work involved in raising food long before it hits the supermarket.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Twelve-year-old Mark Steidinger and his seven brothers and sisters live on a family-run dairy farm in Illinois. Without talking down to young readers, Bial brings the Steidingers’ everyday world to life and fits it neatly into an excellent discussion of family-farm-based agriculture and the U.S. economy.”—Ag in the Classroom

Shaker Home:
“Mirroring the simplicity and elegance of a Shaker chair, this book captures the spirit of a very special people. It is an eloquent introduction to the history and philosophy of the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, commonly known as the Shakers. After relating the founding of the sect and discussing the ideals that guided (and still guide) the lives of its members, Bial details both daily living and worship. His enthusiasm for his subject truly shines in his discussion of their workshops and marvelous creations, inventions, and innovations. With one look at the flat broom, clothes pins, oval boxes, furniture, and architecture, readers will fully understand the Shaker belief that, ‘Anything may be called perfect which perfectly answers the purpose for which it was designed.’ The author’s exquisite full-color photographs, taken at The Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, reflect the clean lines of the people’s art and architecture as well as the order of their lives. In a varied but clean layout, each of the perfectly composed and focused photographs is framed in a simple, fine black line. A true photo-essay, Shaker Home has neither table of contents nor index. An excellent prelude to Jane Yolen’s Simple Gifts (Viking, 1976; op) and Doris Faber’s The Perfect Life (Farrar, 1974; op).”—School Library Journal

“Similar in format to the author-photographer’s Amish Home, this handsome volume introduces the traditional Shaker way of life in a thoughtful text and well-composed, full-color photographs. Focusing on the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, the pictures show the buildings, fields, seeds, tools, and furniture of the people who live there. With no one in sight, the beautifully lit photos use the Shakers’ surroundings to express the integrity and simplicity of their ways. From the origins of the sect to their beliefs, activities, clothing, inventiveness, skills, and humanity, the text describes the people as they lived, worked, and changed. The sparing use of quotations is particularly effective. On hearing of the prices Shaker furniture commands at auctions, an elderly, modern-day Shaker laments, ‘I don’t want to be remembered as a chair.’ He also quotes the Shaker dictum, ‘Anything may be called perfect which perfectly answers the purpose for which it was designed.’ To Bial’s credit, he’s made a book with as much integrity as his subject.”—Carolyn Phelan, Booklist, ALA

“Photographed at The Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, an appreciation of one of America’s most significant communal groups. Bial (Corn Belt Harvest, 1991, etc.) perfectly reflects the Shaker ideal of functional simplicity in his summation of the Shakers’ origins, mode of life, and devotion to productive work (their legacy includes such sensible inventions as the flat broom, the hay rake, and the slotted spoon as well as the clean-lined furniture that has come to command such high prices as to distress the few remaining Shakers). Like his lucid text, the author’s beautifully composed, uncaptioned color photos—neatly framed in fine rule—have a grace and clarity that echo the Shakers’ open, light-filled buildings. An excellent introduction to a group whose ingenuity and striving for perfection have had an impact disproportionate to its small membership. Bibliography.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Bial has created a number of photo essays for children, notably, Amish Home, and he is a master at recreating the historical and philosophical contexts of the objects he photographs.

The subject of this book is the art of the Shakers, the American sect that rejected the ‘cohabitation of the sexes’ (as its founder put it), embraced communal living, and created furniture and small-ware of lovely and simple forms.

‘I don’t want to be remembered as a chair,’ lamented one present-day Shaker, and Bial does justice to the community by devoting as much space to the Shakers’ religious beliefs as to their art and inventions. He shows how the simplicity of Shaker furniture grew out of the Shakers’ desire to live a plain life—as well as their desire to create furniture surfaces that wouldn’t collect dust. The Shaker belief that the soul can only thrive in a healthy body led them to be among the first to use precise measurements of ingredients in cooking. Their founder’s belief that ‘good spirits will not live where there is dirt’ led to the invention of the flat broom.

Throughout the book, Bial spices the text with pithy quotations, such as this saying by the Shaker founder, Mother Ann Lee: ‘Do all your work as though you had a thousand years to live on earth, as you would if you knew you must die tomorrow.’

No higher praise can be given to Bial than to say that his photographs live up to their subjects. Bial is in fact one of the finest photographers working children’s literature, and his works in this book—such as a photograph of a spiral staircase, lovely as a lyric—are simple in a manner that any Shaker would admire. The pictures are also informative: a photograph of a Shaker meeting hall reveals how far apart from each other the men and women sat. The book’s design complements the photographs, using a generous amount of white space that echoes the lightness of the Shaker rooms.”—Greenbelt Interfaith News

The Strength of These Arms: Life in the Slave Quarters:
“Bial has produced another excellent-quality photo-essay, this time devoted to life in the slave quarters of large plantations. His well-researched and well-documented text focuses on daily life—showing how slaves tried to preserve their heritage, dignity, and hope in horrific conditions. The author gives insight into the daily routine, explaining that people coming in from the fields often worked in their own gardens ‘by the light of grease burning in an old skillet.’ The informative narrative describes the vast difference in lifestyle between the enslaved and slaveholders. The juxtaposition of photos underscores this difference. On one page, an elegant plantation dining room is shown opposite a bowl made from a dried gourd used in the quarter; a luxurious bedroom is compared to a slave’s rough wooden bed. The striking, full-color photos and reproductions along with an interesting text make this title an outstanding addition to any collection.”—School Library Journal

“Bial offers glimpses of American slavery in this striking photo-essay. This volume features clear, color photographs of sites and artifacts, as well as a few early photos of people living under slavery…makes slavery in America more concrete than many other books on the subject.”—Booklist, ALA

“An outstanding addition to any collection.”—School Library Journal

Tenement: Immigrant Life on the Lower East Side:
“As the title suggests, Bial (The Underground Railroad) focuses this illuminating photo-essay on the immigrants who settled on Manhattan’s Lower East Side from the early 1800s to the 1930s. Rather than finding the fabled land of opportunity, many lived in poverty in rundown tenement flats plagued by poor ventilation, little light and inadequate sanitation. Through period photos as well as his own color shots (many taken at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum), the author describes and depicts typical cramped apartments. These two-room flats sometimes served as both living quarters (for a dozen or more people, often newly arrived relatives or paying boarders) and family ‘sweatshops.’ Bial touches on the sobering particulars: with no running water to allow residents to bathe or launder clothes properly, diseases were rampant, and so many babies died that tenements were known as ‘infant slaughterhouses.’ Historic photos, including many famous works by the reformer Jacob Riis, make the plight of these families startlingly real. Bial’s conclusion, that most immigrants (or their children or grandchildren) eventually prospered, closes the volume on a positive note.”—Publishers Weekly

“Spacious layouts, with clearly reproduced black-and-white archival photographs-from Jacob Riis’s How the Other Half Lives and the author’s beautifully composed, stunning color pictures, many taken at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum-show a community that has been home to thousands of immigrants past and present. The finely written, spare text, with quotes from such people as reformer Riis and author Sydney Taylor, tells of people crammed into small, dark flats, seeking fresh air on fire escapes and rooftops, lacking adequate sanitation, ‘protected’ by rarely enforced housing regulations, and laboring long hours at home or in factory sweatshops. Bial’s detailed descriptions transport readers back into the cramped quarters and crowded streets and alleys of late-19th- and early 20th-century New York, but this could be any city with a large immigrant population. The material complements and expands on that in Russell Freedman’s Immigrant Kids (Puffin, 1995). Although the lack of chapters or an index makes the book first and foremost a work to browse, read, and savor, its brevity makes it suitable for a classroom read-aloud or report. The pictures are an added bonus for photography students.”—School Library Journal

“’Half the world doesn’t know how the other half lives’ goes the old saying. This book about tenement life will certainly be an eye-opener to many young people who are used to their own space where they can live and dream. Although there have been several books about tenement life, including the recent 97 Orchard Street, in this one, the writing is particularly clear and sharp. Calling upon and quoting the writing of reformer Jacob Riis (and featuring his compelling photographs), Bial explains simply, yet engagingly, what tenement life was like—the dank apartments, people packed against people, the noise and smells from the street that pervaded everything. Effectively weaving in quotations, laws, personal remembrances, and his own astute commentary, he paints a word picture of life at the turn of the last century. Along with Riis’ photographs, Bial provides some of his own, taken at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum in New York City. These crisp color photographs bring tenement life even closer: a dresser top with medicine and photographs, a mattress covering a chest and chair—a child’s makeshift bed. An excellent example of how books can bring the past to the present.”—Ilene Cooper, Booklist, ALA, Starred Review

“[Bial] conveys a visual sense of the area’s former (if not present) bustle and squalor. This is more than just a photo album…Bial also presents a substantial historical overview.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Bial focuses this illuminating photo-essay on the immigrants who settled on Manhattan’s Lower East Side from the early 1800s to the 1930s…Historic photos make the plight of these families startlingly real.”—Publishers Weekly

“The author’s beautifully composed, stunning color pictures…[and] detailed descriptions transport readers back into the cramped quarters and crowded streets and alleys of late 19th and early 20th century New York.”—School Library Journal

“Children who imagine their ancestors stepping from Ellis Island directly into the American Dream will want to take a look around the old neighborhood.”—Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

The Underground Railroad:
“Advantageously reproducing first-hand accounts and Bial’s arresting photographs…the book’s most impressive quality is the way it encourages readers to put themselves in the place of the slaves and those who helped them escape.”—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

“Bial’s simple, eloquent text explains how the Underground Railroad worked and why it was necessary, as well as the hardships involved in the journey north. The black-and-white period reproductions are good, but Bial’s full-color photographs are what make this title outstanding. Many of them show historical sites, including houses that served as stations along the escape route. Several of them were taken at night, and so readers see the places as the fugitives themselves might have viewed them. The simple picture of a child’s abandoned doll is a wonderful example of Bial’s talent. Although some background knowledge of the Civil War and the institution of slavery is helpful in understanding this book, it can still be read and appreciated without that background. This title could be effectively combined with Charles L. Blockson’s The Underground Railroad (Berkley, 1994) to add insight into the harrowing experiences of slaves during the Civil War.”—School Library Journal

“As Bial says in his introduction, photography was not yet invented when many of the daring escapes on the Underground Railroad occurred, and because everything had to be kept so secret, few documentary records have survived. In his simple photo-essay, he tries to re-create the experience of the brave runaways and conductors. He has photographed the places and objects that tell the story: the rivers the people crossed, the plantations they ran from, the homes that sheltered them with a lit window to signal a safe haven, the secret passages and trapdoors, and the courthouse yard where the slave auctions took place. He also includes drawings and prints from the times and a wanted poster for runaway ‘property.’ The text provides a brief historical overview, with quotes from some of the leaders, such as Tubman and Douglass. The book design is handsome, with thick paper, clear type, and fine reproductions; there’s also a chronology and bibliography. Like a museum exhibit, the stirring photographs help us imagine what it must have been like for those who found the courage to run and to help others.”—Hazel Rochman, Booklist, ALA

“Underground station routes and their management come alive in a picture book, which blends color photos, discussions of slave and ‘conductor’ experiences, and surveys of history based on written accounts and history. This brings alive the Underground Railroad’s past: the photos succeed in making it all come to life.”—Midwest Book Review

“Judicious use of first-person accounts and historical documents evokes the hardships that black people experienced under slavery and that eventually led them to seek out conductors who could guide them to freedom. Bial’s well-composed, dramatically lit color photographs add life to the book, which is much more than a standard history. A map of the Railroad routes and an antislavery chronology are included.”—Horn Book

“Advantageously reproducing first-hand accounts and his own arresting photographs, Bial effectively evokes the era of slavery and its divisive effects on the United States.”—Publishers Weekly

Where Lincoln Walked:
“Another of Bial’s beautifully executed photo-essays. This one follows Lincoln’s footsteps over the back-roads of Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois. The crisp, understated compositions inspire readers to imagine Nancy Hanks just out of camera range near the rustic hearth of her old one-room cabin. In another cabin interior, children can imagine a long-legged youth climbing the pegs to the loft. They can see logs being split with wooden pegs and a broom leaning against the doorway of the Berry-Lincoln store in New Salem, IL. The worktables in the Lincoln-Herndon law office in Springfield look as though the partners have just stepped out. Readers can almost hear the noisy laughter of the Lincoln sons as they roughhouse around the rooms of their Springfield home. Bial’s expressive text is as outstanding as his full-color photographs, a rich informative narrative that begs to be read aloud. This title concludes with a map, a list of places to visit, an excellent list for further reading, and a useful index.”—School Library Journal

“Bial’s photographs illuminate this unusual biographical portrait of Abraham Lincoln, unusual in that it concentrates on the years before he became president, and its illustrations show places familiar to Lincoln rather than Lincoln himself. A few photos of Lincoln and his family appear at the beginning and end of the book and on the endpapers, but almost every page in between offers a clear, beautifully composed photo of a midwestern landscape, site, or artifact. Pictures include a view down the Sangamon River (where Lincoln once traveled by flatboat), the Lincolns’ house in Springfield, and a copy of his first inaugural address. The text itself reads well and combines well with the illustrations to create a vivid impression of the man and his world.”–Carolyn Phelan, Booklist, ALA

“An extraordinarily honest, if brief, pictorial portrayal of Abraham Lincoln, whose journey from his humble, one-room-cabin origins to the presidency has taken on epic proportions. In full-color photographs, Bial (Mist Over the Mountains, etc.) not only shows the places Lincoln lived, worked, and walked, but discusses the defining events of these places—the death of Lincoln’s mother when he was nine, the death of his sister, Sarah, in childbirth, the death of his first love, Ann, when she was 22, and the death of his son, Eddie, barely a toddler. The facts of Lincoln’s life are well known, but Bial’s direct approach has immediacy that will make an impression on readers. (further reading, bibliography, index)”—Kirkus Reviews

Where Washington Walked:
“This well-designed book introduces George Washington through a clearly written biographical account of his life and achievements, illustrated with many sharply focused, well-composed photographs and a few reproductions of period paintings and prints. As in Bial’s Where Lincoln Walked (1998), most of the color photos show places that the president might recognize if he returned today. These include the banks of the Rappahannock River at Ferry Farm (Washington’s boyhood home), his house and farm at Mount Vernon, a reconstruction of Fort Necessity, and several buildings in colonial Williamsburg. An apt quotation from Washington introduces the appended source bibliography, followed by lists of recommended books and places to visit. Succinct biographies of America’s first president are not difficult to find, but students and teachers alike will value this book for its unusually vivid photographic record of the sites related to Washington.”—Booklist, ALA

“[Readers] will get a strong sense of the turf on which Patriots made their stand for independence. Granted, many of the well-preserved or reconstructed sites evince museum tidiness and polish (after all, many are now museums), but Bial takes pains to present less traditional views of Mount Vernon, a peek inside a Valley Forge barrack, a shot of the rickety stockade fence that boasted the proud moniker ‘Fort’ Necessity. For students who respond more empathetically to pictures than to words, this may be just the approach to shake Washington’s dusty old bones back to life.”—The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

“As he did in Where Lincoln Walked, Bial briefly recounts the life of his subject with reference to the places he lived and worked. Photographs of those extant sites and reproductions of contemporary prints and paintings appear on every page. Despite the simplicity and brevity of the text, enough information is included for researchers to compile a decent report. A list of places to visit is included. Obviously, many events are omitted, but readers will get a sense of who Washington was and why he is important today. The format is inviting to browsers, with clear blocks of type and white space setting off the illustrations. The text itself is interesting enough to pull them in.”—School Library Journal

With Needle and Thread: A Book About Quilts:
“From the warmth they provided settlers in drafty sod houses to the recognition they have generated for victims of AIDS, quilts have played a dependable and sometimes inspiring role in American history. Bial’s well-crafted introduction explains how, in addition to its practical applications, the craft has been an important means of artistic and political expression for women. The book explains how patterns and techniques are continually evolving as they are influenced by economic conditions, new technology, and the many cultural groups who bring their own traditions to the United States. African American, Amish, and Hmong quilts are highlighted. Vivid, full-color and black-and-white photographs of quilts and quilters are clearly captioned, and carefully placed to correspond to the text. Share this title with students working on women’s history projects. And for those who enjoy quilting, it will add another dimension to a favorite hobby.”—School Library Journal

“With quiet prose and clear, lovely full-color photographs, Bial has stitched together a “sampler” about people and the quilts they sew. Square in design, with lots of white space and thick, high-quality paper, the photo-essay connects the folk tradition of quilting with a dynamic contemporary art form. Bial outlines the main techniques, styles, and stages of quilt making, both by individuals and by groups. He begins with the roots of the craft in ancient times but turns quickly to the work of different communities in this country, from Appalachia to the frontier, from various African American styles to the work of recent Hmong immigrants. Bial’s focus is on social history, on how this laborious folk art began as an economic necessity for those who couldn’t afford to waste a single scrap of fabric and how it gave ordinary women a rare opportunity to express themselves and to enjoy a social life. He also shows that the AIDS Memorial Quilt is part of a long tradition of quilt making as social and political expression. Bial provides a bibliography but no direct citations for what people say about their work. Hazel Rochman, Booklist, ALA

“One version of women’s history, as it has been written into the tiny stitches of quilts. Bial (Portrait of a Farm Family, 1995, etc.) uses the practical craft of quilting as a piecemeal source to rediscover women’s heritage, finding that the patterns and fabrics used in patchwork quilts often provide clues to their creators or surrounding circumstances. A friendship quilt, for instance, was signed by all the quilters and given as a remembrance. Pieced quilts made by pioneers, or by women during the Depression, emphasize the scarcity of fabric; they relied on dress scraps, flour sacks, and even tobacco premiums for cloth. African-American and Amish cultures are cited for their unique contributions to the tradition. There are full-color photographs of quilters and the various steps of their craft (explained briefly in the text), along with pictures as bright as stained glass of the quilts themselves. While some quotes are included, many of them hint at longer stories; readers will be awaiting anecdotes or recountings of family history that never come. Otherwise, this is a good companion both to how-to volumes and books on women’s history. (bibliography, sources).”—Kirkus Reviews

“The narrative is accessibly simple, the photography clear and colorful, and a bibliography will guide researching students to other sources of information.”—Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

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