Most Popular Books by Jerry West

The Happy Hollisters and the Mystery at Missile Town (#19 in the Happy Hollisters series)A slender missile, fire streaming from its tail, rose majestically into the blue sky over the waters of Cape Kennedy. Suddenly it exploded into a thousand pieces, showering the ocean and beaches with debris. This was the first sight to greet the Hollisters on their arrival in Florida for a visit with their cousins, Sharon and Randy Davis. Anxious to help Uncle Walt, a rocket expert at Patrick Air Force Base, they join in the search for the rocket''s nose cone, which is lost among the debris. The payload lodged in the nose cone is a very special "treasure," for on it depends the success of future launchings.The holiday becomes an adventure when their new friend, Lady Rhesus, the space monkey, is stolen and they discover that her tracks lead to a fisherman''s beach shack. The secretive manner of the fisherman, plus a strange encounter with his friend, leads Pete to suspect that they are engaged in something more villainous than stealing a monkey. When he finds that their boat is equipped with a powerful radar device for deep-sea exploration, he is certain! From then on the Hollisters race against time to find the three-million-dollar payload first.This new story should be an excellent addition to the series, since it brings the Hollisters into the headline-making news of Cape Kennedy. First published in 1961, this charming mystery-adventure story, faithfully reproduced, is now available in paperback and eBook for the first time! Written for boys and girls between the ages of six and twelve, The Happy Hollisters are wholesome books, with an accent on humor and good, clean fun. Integrity always pays off and right wins over wrong. Parents, grandparents, and teachers love these books for their healthy celebration of life in simpler times. Kids are thrilled with the fast-paced action and will not want to put them down. The action-packed illustrations make the story - and the Hollister family - so vivid that the reader has a feeling of really sharing in on the adventures of this lovable and interesting family.

The Happy Hollisters are invited to stay on a ranch in New Mexico and discover a map leading to the cave of ancient dollmakers, the long-lost buried secret of the mountain.

As the Hollisters set out on a trip to historic New England, they learn that masked bandits have stolen almost a million dollars-and a carved wooden Indian has disappeared in the same town!

When the Hollister family set off in the station wagon to buy a Halloween pumpkin, the last thing they ever expected was a mysterious adventure. But then they stopped to help Farmer Johnson, whose wagonful of pumpkins had tipped over, and from the old barn near the farm house came a frightening sound . . . "Ooga, ooga!" Everyone jumped. Then Pete and Pam ran to investigate, but Farmer Johnson stopped them."That''s only the horn from my old car. No need to get scared." But who had blown the horn? There was no one else around.Pete caught sight of a girl in a red jacket running through the woods. When he described her to Farmer Johnson and the family, no one could imagine who she was!This is just the beginning for Pete, Pam, Ricky, and all the other members of the delightful Hollister family. They do find out who the girl is, but after they stumble onto an ancient gravestone behind the farmer''s barn, they discover some large footprints in the mud and meet a strange man who is searching desperately for a certain weathervane in the shape of a golden witch!THE MYSTERY OF THE GOLDEN WITCH is one of the most exciting adventures the Hollisters have had so far. And who would think that four-year-old Sue Hollister could be the one to solve this mystery? Well, she does solve it, and she earns a valuable reward that the whole family ends up sharing.

A trip to Circus Island in Florida in search of a houseboat to purchase puts the Happy Hollisters on the trail of circus dog thieves. As the young sleuths uncover sinister goings-on behind the scenes at the circus, they also learn exciting circus tricks like tumbling and tight-rope walking.

Trombone 1

When Uncle Russ Hollister arrives from California and announces that he plans to search for a lost temple deep in the jungles of Yucatan, the Hollister family plunges into a new series of adventures. Uncle Russ, a commercial artist and cartoonist, has been given a map showing the temple''s location and intends to use the trip as an opportunity to gather material for his cartoon strip. But others are also attempting to find the temple. On Russ''s flight to Shoreham, a snake has been set loose and in the confusion his briefcase, containing a picture of the temple, is stolen. The Hollisters decide to join Aunt Marge and their cousins, Teddy and Jean, in Mexico and soon after their arrival they, too, become involved in the deepening mystery. Among them, the Hollisters manage to locate the temple of the laughing idol and in the process to break up a gang of thieves who have been looting Mexican temples and monuments.

The Hollister children search for the lost Revolutionary War site of Fort Freedom as a mystery unfolds.

This report provides a portrait of children entering Head Start for the first time in fall 2009, as well as of their family backgrounds and the classrooms and programs that serve them. The report also offers comparisons across the past decade of the Head Start program to delineate trends and changes in the population served and the services provided. Data are drawn from the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES), which was first launched in 1997 as a periodic, longitudinal study of program performance. Successive nationally representative samples of Head Start children, their families, classrooms, and programs provide descriptive information on the population served; staff qualifications, credentials, and opinions; Head Start classroom practices and quality measures; and child and family outcomes. FACES includes a battery of child assessments across many developmental domains; interviews with children''s parents, teachers, and program managers; and observations of classroom quality. In 2008, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) funded Mathematica Policy Research and its partners--Educational Testing Service and Juarez and Associates--to design and conduct FACES 2009. (Contains 18 figures, 4 tables, and 61 notes.).

This report provides a portrait of children who entered Head Start for the first time in fall 2009 and completed a year in the program in spring 2010. It also describes their family backgrounds and the classrooms and programs that serve them. Data are drawn from the 2009 cohort of the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES), a periodic, longitudinal study of program performance. Successive samples of Head Start children, their families, classrooms, and programs provide descriptive information at the national level on the population served; staff qualifications, credentials, and opinions; Head Start classroom practices and quality; and child and family outcomes. Previous FACES cohorts were initiated in 1997, 2000, 2003 and 2006. (Contains 17 figures, 6 tables, and 82 notes.).