Education Books

I haven't read an animorph book I haven't liked. And I've read them all. Too bad the t.v. show couldn't stick more closely to the books and get Spielberg to do the special effects.

In this book the Animorphs must tell the govener about the Yeerks before it's too late. Marco, Ax, and Tobias are chosen for the job. They fly to the capital to tell the govener. Will the govener beleve them, not beleve them, or is she already a Controller? Read the book to find out!!

Now that the yeerks have the Morphing Power,the Animorphs have a lot more problems...Everywhere they go,everytime they even try to morph,a team of morph-capable Yeerks cut them off...And now the "National Guard" has sent an army of tanks into town,but it kinda obvious for the animorphs to know that the National Guard has been infiltrated by the Yeerks,and those tanks will most likely be for rounding up hosts....But,they have an idea,What if they got the Govenor to back them up,and warn people of the Yeerk threat.....It could work,but then again,mabye not..........

i loved this book,like I aslo love almost all the Animorph books.This one is very exiting,and I loved the part where they tell the Govener that Earth is under attack......i think any Animorph fan will love this book,and i think You will like it even if You aren't really a fan of it...I also recomend the other books from the series,and any book by K.A. Applegate.......

this book is very pivotal in the whole animorphs plot, and has just the right amount of humor. if you like sci-fi books, or even humor books, buy this one. it isn't too expensive, either.

My son wrote the following mini-review:

The team could not be any more surprised than when news leaks out that the National Guard has been captured by Yeerks. This book focuses primarily on the Animorphs' struggle to first ensure that the Governor is not a controller and then to protect her from the Yeerks. Ax, Marco, and Tobias risk their lives to prevent her from being infested; they are successful.

With this installment, K.A. Applegate begins the countdown to the conclusion of this popular series.

This is one of the finest books ever written on classical asymptotic analysis, one of the most useful areas in mathematics for engineering applications. The material is quite outdated now since the present research is almost completely computational.

Nevertheless, one of the finest applied mathematics texts.

It's a very good book for students and engineers of science and technology. It's worth reading Orszag's book.

I am a mathematics professor, and asymptotic methods is my area of expertise. Bender and Orszag was the standard text on this topic in the early 1980s, and it remains by far the most thorough book on the subject. I had two courses from it in graduate school and have taught from it 3 times now. I have never found a mistake. The book is very well written; its only weakness is that its graphics reflect the technology of the 1970s. Nevertheless, I am teaching from it again next year, because it is in a class by itself.

There is one thing that individual readers and faculty users should be aware of. Some of the exercises, including a few marked as "intermediate," are incredibly difficult. My instructor made the mistake of assigning exercises without working them first. I am careful not to assign any exercises until after I have worked them.

I had the privilege to explore this guide to the universe of asymptotics under Prof. Bender. I used to think, and still do (about 2 decades on), that this book is like the Rosetta Stone, and enables us to solve anything in applied mathematics.

A must have for anyone looking to understand the incredible universe we find ourselves in!

I'll echo the sentiments of the other reviewers here. I have a well-worn and well-used copy of the first (1978) edition. Believe it or not, I actually had a chance to use these methods as recently as last month (September 2005). I would recommend, though, if you want to get the most out of this book, pick up a symbolic calculation program or calculator capable of doing symbolic math. I use the open-source programs Maxima and Axiom for this, but if you want to actually spend money, Amazon has some calculators that will handle this sort of thing.

The Asperger Parent by Jeffrey Cohen provides a much needed source of emotional support for parents of children with Asperger Syndrome. It would be especially helpful for a parent whose child has been recently diagnosed. Mr. Cohen is very readable, and obviously has worked through a lot of his feelings about raising a young child with Aspergers. He presents simple topics in humorous terms that every Asperger Parent can appreciate. I found myself alternatively laughing and crying, but consistently relieved to have my feelings validated in print. I would recommend this book to both parents and professionals who want to know what it really feels like to have a child with Asperger Syndrome. While, you may not get any hard and fast answers to your problems here, you will get a good, solid sense of what you and others have to deal with to get the best out of life for yourself and your child!

This is a very funny book. I see a lot of my son in the stories told in this book so it is very easy to relate to. This book is great if you are feeling alone like you are the only one who has a child that doesnt "act normal" or if you have a new DX and feel over whelmed.
This is not a good book if you are looking for a "How to raise your child" book. Like the auther says this book is not about your child it is about YOU.
Many thanks to Jeffrey Cohen for sharing his story with us!

(((((HUGS))))
Lori

I got the item in no time and I have found the info in the book to be very useful.

This book has proved invaluable to me! There are some very good books and articles available about how to "handle", how to "parent", how to "deal with" a kid on the autism spectrum. This book alone gave me far more valuable advice: how to find humor in the tough moments! More profoundly, it emphasizes that it's okay to enjoy life, to laugh, to even poke gentle fun at some of the unbelievable things our kids do. As the author emphasizes, this book isn't about the child...it's about the parent.

I couldn't put the book down, very funny and informative. At times I felt like it was me who wrote the book because I could relate so much to the authors experiences. I would recommend this book to any parent or even relative who has a member in the family with Asperger's.

I bought this book because my wife are expecting a child and were wondering how to deal with the language issue in our family. We live in an English language environment, our mother tongue is Spanish, yet we are in an equally good position to talk to the child in German. The question was how to approach this "dilemma".

The book gave us many answers. Read it. And even if you decide not to, do not deprive your children of the opportunity to learn languages from the start. They have, as the book explains, nothing to lose and, as I can assure you personally, everything to gain from it.

The authors do a great job of explaining the research in plain terms and debunking odd mythgs. It's an easy read (not "researchy") and talks about different strategies for bringing up a bilingual child. My daughter is 7 weeks from her due date and I feel very well informed about how to teach her English and Spanish in the years to come.

As a parent of an elementary school aged son, I found this book to be extremely informative. The Bilingual Edge: Why, When, and How to Teach Your Child a Second Language: gives parents the tools necessary to make an informative decision about how, which language and helpful guides in introducing a foreign language. Parents everywhere will be pleased with the directions and advice that is given.

I always knew I wanted my son to speak a second language, but was torn between two myths. The first myth I believed was that in order to be bilingual you'd have to start at an early age or learning would be much more difficult. But the other myth I believed stated if you introduced a second language while a toddler is just aquiring his first language, the child would get confused and speech would be delayed. Hopelessly confused and not sure how or when to introduce Spanish to my 2 year old son, I purchased this book after reading the reviews in an attempt to get some tips on raising my son bilingual. This book is truly an inspiration and it immediately motivated me to get started. It clearly states that my beliefs were pure myths; the time to introduce a second language to your child is now! It is never too late. This book has motivated me a great deal and it is amazing how quickly my son has begun to pick up Spanish words and phrases simply by a little exposure to the language. I was so inspired by this book that I purchased one for my Spanish friend who has both a 9 year old and 5 year old who only speak English. I handed the book to her and yelled, "It's not too late!"

. . . when my first son was in the womb. We wanted to bring him (and later his two brothers) up bilingual, but didn't know how we could. We are a majority language family, albeit my wife's dialect of English differs from mine. All our children's living ancestors were monolingual English speakers. But had we had this book, we would at least have learned how to try to bring our sons up bilingual.

I bought this book to give to our youngest son and his wife, and I hope to give his brothers copies of it when they get married, in the hope that our grandchildren will be given the bilingual edge. Our son and his wife are, it turns out, almost ideally equipped to raise their children bilingual, using one-parent-one-language, especially if they live near her parents, both native speakers of Mandarin, as she is.

Altho written by two Ph.D.'s, this book is not a dry academic tome, but is written for us ordinary folks to read, understand, and use. It is full of practical suggestions and clear, understandable presentations of the results of scientific papers on bilingual education; not the details of the statistical techniques they used, but what the researchers learned and how we parents can use it to help our children.

Anyone who has young children, or children on the way, should buy and read this book. ALSO, IT SHOULD BE IN EVERY HIGH SCHOOL LIBRARY!

watziznaym@gmail.com

this book is still good. i felt there were times that EVERYTHING was working so well for her, but then there would be realistic moments, so that was okay. Would have liked a little more of a look into the attributes of older cutters, and with maybe a more vague ending, because it's an addiction, a rehab cannot cure, but suppress.

However, with all that little nit-picky stuff, it is a book about cutting that is witten by someone I can actually belive interviewed cutters. So hats off, especially that it's a got a little notion of Christianity, haven't run across a book like this elsewhere, so that's why I continued to give this a five star rating.

I am so glad Carlson started writing teen literature. She has done miracles through her work. Thanks to her, we are seeing a refreshing vein in young adult Christian literature. There is now an alternative to the bland novels that Christian authors have written in the past for teens. Either we have the Lurlene McDaniel books where everybody dies, the perky Christy Miller series, or the historical fiction like Anne of Green Gables or Christy by Katherine Marshall which has little relevance for today's teen. I know that all of these have their audience, but what was missing was Christian fiction for today's teen. What teens seem to want these days is books about REAL problems they are facing daily in their schools: drugs, sexual pressure, and self-injury.

Carlson's books fill a much needed gap. I think her books could be enjoyed by Christians or non-Christians because it is real teens with real problems told in a non-judgmental way. Each character does use their faith to help them cope with a traumatic incident, but it is not done in a preachy way.

Blade Silver is part of the TrueColors series, with each book in a different color cover. The lead characters have all been girls, so far, and each book has been excellent. The voices of her characters are realistic and the voice is true to life.

In Blade Silver, Ruth has started cutting herself as a way to cope with the pain she is feeling. Her father verbally abuses her and her brother constantly. Her mother, also a victim, tried to kill herself and now lives in an almost catatonic state. Basically her mom sits in a bathrobe in her bedroom and sleeps all day, leaving Ruth and her brother to do all the chores and take the brunt of her husband's wrath. The reader follows Ruth as she starts to become more and more controlled by the urge to cut herself, at first only once a day and then finally three times a day. Ruth shows how a cutter thinks, wearing long sleeves to hide the slash marks, working in a detailed way to cut, stop the flow of blood, and clean up. I really like the descriptions Carlson gives of the pain Ruth is feeling inside:

"Like a drug, that warm feeling rises up in me, a sense that I have control again, that everything's going to be just fine. Then I watch the red ribbon of blood for just a split second before I press the toilet paper onto it. I breath deeply, and for the moment I am fine. Perfectly fine."

Ruth finally seeks help from a school counselor and ends up in a group home for girls like her. One of the counselors there ends up being a Christians, but these scenes are done in such a natural, non-preachy way that I don't think they would make anyone feel uncomfortable.

I encourage all young adult librarians to familiarize yourself with this series because they fly off the shelf at my library, and they booktalk great. I have also read Deep Blue: Color Me Lonely about a girl who is lonely when her best friend abandons her for a more popular crowd and Bright Purple: Color Me Confused, which deals with a character who learns her best friend is a lesbian. By the way, I wasn't sure if Carlson could pull off such a controversial topic without getting preachy, but she did. Thumbs up to Carlson!

To hide my lies and my problems is one thing to make sure that they never get out is a completely different thing. No one must ever find out the humiliating secrets that I have kept so long. The longer I hide them the worse they seem to get.

In this book Blade Silver by Melody Carlson, Ruth has a lot of family problems and her mom is very "sick". Her dad is abusive and Caleb, her younger bother is talking back a lot to their dad. Ruth has a very terrible secret that no one knows about. For the last year and a half she has been hiding this awful thing from everyone that she loves. Abby her best friend finally finds out what the secret is and Abby is in shock, disappointment and in disbelief that Ruth has never told her the secret.

I believe the beat part is when Ruth is starting to realize that a lot of people actually do care about her and want to help her out. After she realizes that then she starts to accept the help she is getting, then she starts to respect herself a lot more.
The entire theme or the main idea of this book is that you need to love yourself and after you do that then a lot more people will start to take you more seriously. This book really does teach you that you need to love yourself.

This book was the best book that I have ever read. I would recommend this book to mostly girls because it is a little girly, but a lot of people can relate to this book. I just think that this book is all around the best book that I have ever read. I gave this book four stars because it was so hard to put it down. I just wanted to see what was going to happen next.

Blade Silver is about a young girl, Ruth, who turns towards self-injury in an attempt to cope with life. Her father is verbally abusive towards the whole family, which caused her mother to break down and attempt suicide. Ruth hides her cutting by wearing long sleeves and somehow manages to keep it to herself for a number of months.

As a former cutter, I really enjoyed the book in the beginning. It does a very good job at expressing the emotions and feelings that one experiences in self-injurying: before the act, during, and after. Ruth is a realistic character who focuses on trying to keep everyone happy, including her hard-to-please father. As a fiction book, I was expecting it to be different... Many of the fiction books I have read on cutting don't seem real. But it's obvious that Carlson is a good writer with a great imagination. She was really able to pick up on Ruth's feelings, struggles, and resistance to help. The only part that I was not too fond of was the sudden appearance of God towards the end (I guess I just wasn't expecting it). I didn't feel it was very necessary. While it might provide hope for the religious, the non-religious addicts are left with nothing if they do not turn to God. I had really enjoyed the book up until that point.

However, I feel that this book is appropriate for most people: cutters, friends/family of cutters, and even just people who know nothing about self-injury (as long as no one tries to shove God in anyone's face... the book made it very clear that the only way to stop cutting was through God). I would definitely recommend this book.

To say that Ruth doesn't have issues in an understatement. Her family is having problems. Her brother keeps running away from home. Her mother is depressed all the time. Her father is verbally abusive towards everyone in the family. Ruth is tired of putting up with all this, but feels that nothing she does can change it. The only thing that makes her feel better is when she cuts herself. The pain that comes from seeing her blood flow gives her a sense of calmness. But even Ruth knows that this wrong, but she can't seem to stop. She tries to hide it from others but someone wearing long sleeves in summer looks suspicious. It finally takes Ruth's admittance that cutting is an addiction that needs to be stopped for her to realize that she can do something to break the cycle that she's been living in.

This was one of the most difficult and painful teen fiction books I have ever read. It was so real, like I was reading an actual account of a teenage cutter. I wish that no one ever has to go through what Ruth did, but I know that there are so many kids who share the same experience. I could not stand Ruth's dad. I believe that verbal abuse is just as bad if not more so than physical abuse as inner scars are slower to heal. There is an explanation as to why he acted that way but I was glad that the story did not portray him unrealistically changing at the end of the book. It was horrifying to read about how Ruth would get a "high" from hurting herself in such a matter. Even worse because she would feel sometimes that she deserved it. I think that it was very sad that her extended family did not do anything to protect the kids from their abusive father. Ruth's recovery did not seem fake, in fact it only made it more realistic because it took her so long to accept help. Melody Carlson is gifted at bringing touchy subjects like this to life. The subjects in this series are difficult and not ones many Christians like to face. In fact, there are some who think that teens only face these kinds of issues because of a lack of faith. Thus, many teens especially those who are Christians find that they have no one to go to about their problems. This series shows readers what really happens out there, allowing for questions and advice about where to turn for help. I believe this is the first Christian book to mention cutting. There needs to be more books that talk about this subject as there are many people out there who need help.

I am an adult, but once I picked this book up, I could not stop reading. The Boy Trap is entrancing, clever, unpredictable, and unique. Well done, Ms. Matson!

Great book. Thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm a grownup but read the books my kids read all the time so I consider myself somewhat of an authority. My all-time favs include the whole Harry Potter series (of course), Holes, Youth in Revolt (one of my favorite books period), Epileptic (graphic novel from David B.).

I love the book, The Boy Trap. Why did you write it? Are you working on another book? What were you thinking about when you wrote the book? I think it wasn't very nice saying boys were a waste of human life.
Your friend,
Aaron Nesselroade
(Ness sil road)

Dear Nancy Madison,
What's your favorite book you wrote?
What was the name of the first book you wrote?
How many books have you written? I wanted
to hurt Emma when she said that boys are a
Waste of human life. But I loved the rest.


Your friend,
Spencer

The boy Trap is definately my all time fvaorite book.
I like how Emma and Louise try to prove that girls are
superior to boys. It's something every kid will want to read
again and again...Like me.

Pellicer's book was an excellent book for anyone in the education field. Through short essays, he gives a clear, sometimes humorous, always honest view of what it takes to be a successful leader. While reading this book, I was able to personalize many of the experiences he speaks of and apply the lessons that he has learned through the years to my own life and career goals. Because of the way it is written, the reader has the ability to "skip around" and read the chapters that seem the most pertinent at the time. As a classroom teacher, I found this book to be a source of inspiration to me--inspiration that I desperately need at this mid-year point! After reading his thought-provoking, encouraging essays, I think I might just be able to make it until the end of the school year after all!

Caring Enough to Lead was an easy to read, interesting, thought-provoking book. By sharing personal experiences and perspectives in his book, Dr. Pellicer helped me begin to understand what it means to be a leader and to focus on some of the attributes and attitudes of an effective leader. The questions at the end of the chapters caused me to stop and reflect on my role as a leader in my school and in my classroom. The short chapters in the book enabled me to read one or more chapters at a time depending on how much time I had available.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Dr. Pellicer's book, Caring Enough to Lead. It was easy to read and very entertaining while at the same time very applicable for teachers in any situation. It gently reminds us of why we choose teaching in the first place, to touch lives. Dr. Pellicer also reflects on several ways to lead as well as the responsibilities that come with leadership. It was easy to reflect on myself as a leader as I was reading this book. I was able to relate my own experiences to most of his chapters. His writing style of vignettes and questions was fun and unique to read. The short chapters made it convenient to read a chapter or two at a sitting and come back to it later.

This book, written by an education professor, should be required reading for everyone in the field of education. It is a very readable challenge to educators to reflect on their beliefs, practices, and reasons for becoming an educator. While reading the book, I highlighted many passages in order to come back to them and to share them with colleagues in the future. In reflecting on a career in education, the book helped reaffirm my belief that it is important to care about others and pointed out the fact that it is important to care about yourself also. This is a book that educators and leaders can read without feeling burdened with a lot of theory or extra rhetoric. The entire book can be read at one time or it can be read in small segments. It is a book that causes soul-searching and one that should be in every professional library.

Can a series of essays on leadership be described as pleasurable, thoughtful reading material? It can if it is Caring Enough to Lead by Pellicer. Pellicer presents twenty essays that are thought provoking as well as entertaining. Personal stories lead the reader into more in-depth philosophical questions about leadership. The essays contain countless statements that lead the reader to stop and think.
"Life affords us too few opportunities to show others how much we care, we can't afford to waste these opportunities."
"I wish I could find a way to encourage all the teachers in our school to run around and flap their arms on a more regular basis."
"Leadership is never about ruling others, it is about serving others."
"A good teacher can give a child power over his or her own life."
Pellicer feels that becoming a leader requires some who cares, excepts the responsibility of leading, and nourishes and supports others who care. All this is required in order to successfully educate our children.

My six year lod daughter can hardly put theses books down, she loves the wholwe series.

this book is great! its about malory, and how she connects to a new thourough bred hourse that arrived at Chestnut Hill.
and to the rebelling heartland lovers, it DOES have amy in it!!

This is a great book! I am reading the heartland series, and both series are great! This book is happy, and exciting! Has an interesting plot and makes you want to read it again and again!

I Loved this book!! It was wonderful, heart-warming and fun to read. I love horses and love to read so this was just my kind of book. The one thing I didn't like about it was that she had to have a boy friend, but they didn't make a big deal about that. So over all this was an awsome story!! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!!

Attention all Heartland Lovers! I have made a website dedicated to everything about Heartland. It is filled with info on all the books and the author. You also may review a book and log into the chat room. There is also a weekly poll that changes every week. I also have a little section for Chestnut Hill. The URL is http://www.freewebs.com/horse_lvr13/ . Come check it out.

A great book that talks about other animals that lay eggs other than chickens. I read this book to my preschool children and they loved it very much. The pictures are bright and very colourful. It's a must buy!

This was my favorite book growing up, because of it's catchy rhyming story, accompanied by colorful, ecclectic illustrations... and now, it is my sons favorite book - so much so, that I'm now looking into buying Ruth Heller's other science books. My 4 year old loves them, and the colorful picutres hold my 2 year olds attention (a feat in itself) so well, I'm amazed!

I'm so glad I've kept this book around long enough to pass it on to my son, who already has a great understanding of any animal, who is an "Oviparous"

I think it's really great that Ruth Heller introduces a complex subject in a children's book without talking down to the children. It's great that she uses "big" words like "oviparous"--kids, after all, can remember lengthy dinosaur names; there's no reason why they can't handle other long scientific words.
But I do have slight qualms. For instance, the part about amphibians says that amphibians don't have claws--what about African clawed frogs?
The illustrations are engaging, and the use of rhyme in prose makes the text flow nicely. The subject is interesting, too. I just wonder a bit about the accuracy of the "facts" presented here.

I enjoy the realistic non-anthropomorphic pictures Ruth Heller, author/illustrator, placed on each page. They are colorful, accurate and fun to look at. Some pages have just one animal and other pages are filled with lively looking insects and their eggs. I also enjoyed how she showed the size, coloring, shape and form difference between all types of eggs. I learned a lot from this book and think that kids over 3 will enjoy having this read to them. The only downfall I see in this story is that sometimes the words and sentences are in rhyming form and sometimes they aren't. I would've preferred one OR the other, not both. It doesn't flow as well with the two methods of writ, but other than that it was a good book.

Egg lovers, egg heads will especially enjoy this book by Ruth Heller a beautiful story. Oviperous you are, if you slithered or crawled or burst from your shell. Lots of children certainly love the expressions eggs generate. Crack open that shell and enjoy this play on the question, "Which came first the chicken or the egg?" Egg-xactly.

I had the pleasure of meeting Ruth Heller and husband in two completely different times in my life, in a bookstore in Carmel and on another rainy day in a bookstore in Ventura,CA. Both times I had her books, didn't know she was there, coincidental encounters, so I could and did get autographs. My girls loved her Designs for Coloring: Birds (Designs for Coloring), hint, hint parents. She was so tiny...and obviously a lovely person to get to say to, "I'm a teacher that always wanted to thank you for...."

Right now my first graders are reading about chicks, ducks and other egg tales. So showing the Reading Rainbow that contains this book being featured and read aloud is perfect. Heller's book is read by Georgia Engles with her interesting lilt it makes the poetic text very nice for them. It's still a bit hard to read for a few but I do have a set left over from days I taught not from canned scripts but from content connected literature. A few pieces of this text I'll quote hoping to get the sound which is so gentle and lovely, " Chickens lay the eggs you buy......Chickens aren't the only ones. Every bird wild or tame does the same. The ostrich lays the largest egg, the hummingbird the smallest. .."
As you read her lovely drawings bring you the text illustrated very factually and wonderful rendered. I always see those psychedelic 60 rock posters. I don't know why, it just happens in my head. I always enjoy teaching with Heller books. You go on to be introduced to reptiles, amphibians, fish, insects..."mermaid's purses", seahorses...moon snails, lots of ways to appreciate the egg layers.

If you enjoy video showing the Reading Rainbow: Farm Life with this is a great idea because you'll go to the farm to see a chick break out of the egg, watch loggerhead turtles be laid and hatched and see some great facts about egg layers. I can't imagine Ruth Heller's book out of the context of this tape because it expands the constructs so beautifully.

And if you love this "Animals Born Alive and Well (Picture Books) " is another great one from the author.

I just completed reading this book. I am on the Governance Council for a small montessori school, where my three boys have attended for 5 years and still going. I loved this book, but I must point out that this is from an AMI teacher and school not AMS. There are some differences that an AMS teacher or parent will immediately notice in the book. That being said, there isn't a better book that I've read regarding inclusive and peaceful negotations with children. Donna is a role model for all of us in how she interacts with the children, how she challenges the class to be involved in each child's challenges and truly loves and believes in each child. I have purchased a second book to have in our "parent resource" library for our school.

This book illustrates how a skillful practitioner and an artful teacher can make a difference in a child's life. It shows why our traditional methods of consequences and punishments, of making demands and rejecting children who don't live up to them create and maintain our hostile educational systems thus our society. Goertz demonstrates another way; a path toward healing and peace. She strengthed my resolve that respect, community and time are the way and that some children are on a unique journey.

It should be a must read for every teacher, especially teachers of young children.Children Who Are Not Yet Peaceful: Preventing Exclusion in the Early Elementary Classroom

Laurie Prusso M.Ed.
Professor of Child Development
Modesto Junior College
Modesto, CA

This is a great portrayal of the Montessori educational philosophies. It profiles students considered challenging in traditional educational systems and shows how they were welcomed and thrived in the Montessori school.
It shows how traditional educational systems based on competition have failed many young students.
The author is a fantastic teacher and advocate for the success of all children.
Must read for all parents considering Motessori or Waldorf. Also for parents of children who have been labled at an early age.

This is a wonderful book. Donna Bryant Goertz makes a strong case that 'problem' children should not be tutored, medicated, put in remedial or disciplinary classes or otherwise excluded, but allowed to develop emotionally and intellectually at their own pace in a respectful, loving, supportive, and highly structured environment. Arranged as a series of case studies, the stories of these young students dramatically support Bryant Goertz's thesis, and the personalities and voices of the children shine through. In addition, parents (or others who work with children) can learn much from the discussions of how to approach behaviors that are disruptive to a Montessori community (or household, or playgroup).

My very first Montessori teaching experience was in Donna Goertz' classroom in Austin Montessori School (her name was different then as was mine). I remember situations in the classroom and on the playground, which, to be honest, terrified me as a newly trained Montessori teacher serving as Donna's assistant. She would often step into one of those "terrifying" frays, placing herself strategically in the middle of everything of importance, and handle the children with respectfulness, fearlessness, and creativity. I still remember those situations with awe, and as I work with the children in my current Montessori school, sometimes wish for the really excentric and challenging children who teach us all so much. My late husband, also a Montessorian, wrote an article entitled "Why Difficult Children Are My Favorites." He remembered the stories I brought home from school as I was learning from Donna Goertz. I recommend this book to any Montessori teacher who finds him or herself silently and guiltily cursing that child who disrupts and seems to defy the normalizing effects of the Montessori approach. It is a gift to all of us.