Language Arts Books

A great resource book! Not only do Herman and Black help the writer along from inspiration, to perspiration, to publication and all the steps in between, they offer a great section of resources. This book is a must for the Spiritual Writer's library. Listed here are resources that are actually "Spirit-friendly." Nowhere else can such a listing be found! I highly recommended this book for all Spiritual writers!

Spiritual WRITING, From Inspiration to Publication - by Deborah Levine Herman
with Cynthia Black - is professional, comprehensive and informative. The
seven universal life lessons, which range from God-love to love of humanity.
open readers to spiritual balance. Practical advice on writing a query
letter and book proposal arm authors with a winning approach to publication.
The Spirit-Friendly Resources section targets both agents and publishers with
spiritual interests.

Writers of spiritually-related subjects should celebrate: finally the link between right-brain writing and left-brain publishing has been met. As editor of OfSpirit.com, I have read shelves of books on both writing and publishing, but never has an author so brilliantly matched these two separate processes to authorship with a style and order that is practical, honest and useable.

I constantly hear the frustrations of OfSpirit.com's network of spiritual writers who are trying to pierce the publishing industry's requirements and protocol. Creative people sometimes lack the business know-how to translate their valuable messages into the proper format necessary to prove the marketability of their manuscripts. Like any business, publishers are as much concerned about how well their books will sell as they are about how well they are written, maybe more. Spiritual Writing teaches writers the realities of this business and how to package your book and yourself to increase your chances of success.

~ Bob Olson, OfSpirit.com Editor

Spiritual writers are drawn to the writing process by a sense of mission: Spiritual Writing gets down to the nuts and bolts of spiritual writing, showing writers how to combine their spiritual vision with the protocols of publishing. Writers will enjoy an exact guide which combines spiritual insights with how-to advice and practical applications.

As an author that is half-way through theprocess of having their 1st time book published I can say without qualification that THIS
is the book I'd wish I'd read before beginning the process. Not
only is it packed with invaluable information and guidance but also manages to help keep the new author in emotional and psychological balance with brilliant and insightful humor at the
crucial junctures. The resources cited within the book are also
essential material for anyone considering wandering down the rocky road that is getting your book published. After reading several other helpful books about getting one's book published
I am quite certain that I could have skipped all the rest and
read Spiritual Writing which would have saved considerable eye strain and, kept my spirits light at the same time. Highest kudos to Herman and Black on a super writing the tool for 1st time authors.

I bought this book because I wanted a comprehensive introduction on the statistical approach to speech recognition. There is no doubt that this is an excellent book, that achieves this. If you are new to the field of speech recognition, be warned that this book isn't exactly the easiest to read, though.

For example, chapter 2 which discusses Hidden Markov Models, laying part of foundation for the following chapters, is full of mathematical formulas that won't be easy to follow unless you already have some background on the topic. I would recommend that instead you read L. Rabiner's paper "A Tutorial on Hidden Markov Models and Selected Applications in Speech Recognition". Rabiner not only shows the formulas, he describes their meaning, and the tutorial makes it easy for you to follow the text and actually understand what is going on.

That said, every chapter includes a section on additional reading (the above paper is mentioned in chapter 2) so you can always look up the references to help you understand the material, if you need to.

To summarize, this is an excellent text, that I would recommend to experts in the field, but beginners may need additional reading to get a better understanding of the book.

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the statistical models and algorithms used for speech recognition. Jelinek sets up the speech recognition problem in the traditional way as the decoding half of Shannon's noisy channel model. While Jelinek glosses over signal processing, he provides an excellent overview of the symbolic stages of processing involved in speech recognition.

After a quick introduction, Jelinek digs into the statistics behind Hidden Markov Models (HMMs), the foundation of almost all of today's speech recognizers. This is followed by chapters devoted to acoustic modeling (probability of acoustics given words) and language modeling (probability of a given sequence of words), and the algorithmic search induced by this model. There are also advanced chapters on fast match (widely used heuristics for pruning search), the Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm for training, and the use of decision trees, maximum entropy and backoff for language models. He covers several auxiliary topics including information theory and perplexity, the spelling to phoneme mapping, and the use of triphones for cross-phoneme modeling. Each chapter is a worthy introduction to an important topic.

This book does not presuppose much in the way of mathematical, computational, or linguistic background. A simple intro to probability and some experience with search problems would be of help, but isn't necessary -- you'll learn a lot about these topics reading the book.

All in all, this is the best thorough introduction to speech recognition that you can find. Read it along with Manning and Schuetze's "Foundations of Statistical Natural Language Processing" from the same series; there's a little overlap in language modeling, but not much. You might want to start with the gentler book by Jurafsky and Martin, "Speech and Language Processing", before tackling either Jelinek or Manning and Schuetze.

This is an excellent book for people with speech recognition knowledge. The algorithms are very well described in a sound and comprehensive mathematical framework.

This book provides an excellent overview of speech recognition technology using Hidden Markov Models. Although Jelinek is clearly speaking with respect to his experience at IBM - he might as well be describing any other commercial speech recognition framework in the world. As a researcher and programmer in the area of speech recognition I regard this book as an excellent reference. It is concise, and I would say that anyone with a reasonable grasp of mathematics should have no trouble understanding most of the topics. In some of the more advanced areas some readers might need to refer to one of reference papers described in the book. I agree with the first reader - destined to be a classic!

This book is possibly the first of its kind - exclusively devoted to Statistical Speech Recognition. The author is a pioneer in the area - one of the 'fathers' of the field,as it were. Thus one expects the text to be authoritative, and it is. The 'information density' is very high - it's a small book, but absolutely packed with information. You'll learn a lot about Hidden Markov Models and their use in Speech Recognition, but it also addresses many other issues, like language modelling and grammar, making it much more than a mere 'speech maths' book.

However, this is definitely not meant for absolute newcomers to the field of speech processing, and it does assume some background in advaced mathematics as well, especially in probability.

If you're looking for other aspects of Speech Recognition or code, you've come to the wrong place - but please don't spoil the rating of an excellent book by complaining that it doesn't have what it never promised to :-) - if you want a solid introduction to the field as a whole, i'd suggest 'Fundamentals of Speech Recognition' by Rabiner & Juang, and if it's code that you're looking for, there's lots of excellent open source stuff available on the net, notably from CMU and Cambridge, and there are some recent books in the market exclusively devoted to implementation of speech recognition systems.

To sum up, if you have some exposure to speech recognition and want to learn the maths & concepts behind the Statistical approach to Speech Recognition, this is your book.

There seem to be two kinds of animation books: the "just the facts, ma'am" kind, and those filled with endless anecdotes of the lost golden age. Shamus Culhane's book falls between them and yet hits both extremes. He doesn't clean up history or trim the facts to fit the legends. Which is to say it's unexpurgated (which means uncensored) told in a rollicking, stream of consciousness you are there style.

It's also the untold backstory of animation, as well as a peek at numerous cartoons which have yet to make DVD. Shamus Culhane created the best Woody Woodpecker cartoons including "Barber of Seville," very different from but equally intriguing as "The Rabbit of Seville" (Chuck Jones/ written by Michael Maltese), as well as darkening the doors of most of the then current studios. Not only that, but it's absolutely crammed with photos, character sheets and other animania so as to render the book a visual feast. Anyone with even a passing interest in cartoons or looking for a good read will be delighted to find Culhane's book which is, ironically, one of the few animated histories of animation.

This book was recommended to me by another web/multimedia developer. He told me that I should read it, that it was the web industry in a nutshell. The main difference is the web has a very compressed time line. I first read the book over a year ago... it still reads like prophesy.

This is a "must have" for anyone who wants to create animation. Although not a how-to book, it has an incredible amount of insightful and useful information that is pertinent to those starting out or thinking about starting out their animation career. Shamus writes his animation life story in a way that will entertain and enlighten you. Many of his adventures and experiences are as relavant today as when they happened to him long ago during the Golden Age of animation. The author gives you a ring side seat as he is introduced to animation and evolves as an animator and producer. This was a book that I wish had no end; it actually made me sad to reach the final page.

This book is a must.It is extremely useful for those who want to animate cartoon characters.Shamus description of his life which he shares with the animation history is a very brilliant and inspirated storytellig.This is the book that all animator's should buy. It contains all the valuable information about american animation and all those wonderful pioneers who created the most amazing industry in the world: animation.Do not hesitate! Just buy this book and you will love it. I bet!

James "Shamus" Culhane is not a name that is instantly recognizable to the general public, as is Chuck Jones, but his contributions were every bit as significant. Like Jones, he can be maddeningly arrogant and dismissive of the efforts of his fellow animators, but the truly annoying thing is that he is often right. Culhane worked at virtually every major cartoon studio during its "Golden Age", and generally improved the output of every studio with which he was involved--however briefly. He turned the Fleischer's version of Popeye into a fluid, living character, whereas before Popeye seemed to move like some sort of animatronic figure at Disneyland. He directed one of the few bright spots at Walter Lantz, a Woody Woodpecker cartoon called "Barber of Seville" (which garnered an Academy Award nomination). He also takes us where few other books in animation dare to go--the early days of cartooning for television (did you know he was one of the first producers to make animated commercials for TV? The Ajax elves were his). He even attempted to get in the ground floor of the TV animated series market, though his efforts did not succeed.

This is a must-read, if for no other reason than it avoids rehashing the same material covered again and again by previous books, and gives us an insight into the inner workings of an animation studio as few other books do.

In one volume Bill Ringle has covered all the major technlogies needed by consultants who need to present. As a senior software engineer I have prepared dozens of presentations - I wish I had read Ringle's book first.

As speakers, trainers and consultants, we simply must keep up with the technology that helps propel our careers forward. Bill Ringle gives you the tools necessary to move to the next level and turbo chage your marketing and office. If you're serious about being a speaker, trainer or consultant, this book can help you immensely.
Terry Brock, professional communicator, Orlando, Florida

Bill Ringle, technology expert and trainer himself, explains all matters in technical, clear even eloquent terms. He shows how to make technology enhance both the craft and the business of presenting and consulting. In a most delightful way, he demystifies the techno-babble; makes specific product recommendations; and gives very practical advice for applying high-tech whiz-bang in the real world. Geek and greenhorn alike will find this comprehensive work an invaluable guide. Don Blohowiak, Leadership Development Keynoter, Author of five books on leadership, change and marketing, including co-author of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Great Customer Service"

If, like me, you have ever been frustrated in trying to research an industry or topic online, Bill Ringle's TechEdge has the simplest, most straight-forward approach to using today's technology in that arena that I have ever seen. And research is only one of the may valuable uses you will find for this book. Buy it and don't lend it out. It will be one of the best investments in your speaking career that you have ever made. George L. Morrisey, CSP, CPAE, The Morrisey Group

TechEdge makes using technology almost as easy as reading about it. Randy M. Zeitman, Phialdelphia-based programmer, educator, writer, artist, and musician specializing in multimedia and the Internet.

A very broad book on design, the content is insightful and thorough. The best part of this book is the timeline. I was especially inspired by the last entry. Why is the letter "i" upside down on the cover?

quite possibly the finest book i have ever been in the preface of

TYPE IN USE by Alex White transcends the trendy DTP "how-to" bookshelf with the real story on how to craft truly fine pages of typography! The first edition was the top selection for publication designers in The Designers' Bookshelf of The Design Center, but has been out of print for more than two years. Now this important work is back, and the editors at graphic-design.com agree -- Type In Use is the essential book for anyone who wants to really understand how to make typography do what it's supposed to do! . . . Alex writes: "Our job [as designers] is to compose elements to make them maximally interesting and comprehensible. 'Maximally interesting' does NOT mean 'Hey, Wow! Pop! Zoom!' It means revealing the content of the story instantly and efficiently." . . . Type In Use will train you how to accomplish that goal. You'll know where to put type on the page, and how to put it there. But unlike any other book in the past 25 years... Type In Use will tell you WHY! If your goal is persuasive, successful publishing, don't wait for this one to go out of print too... just click up there and buy it NOW. You will be very glad you did.

As a newbie to typography, I found "Type in Use" to be an excellent introduction to the field. It's written in a clear and concise manner; though it's straightforward and easy to understand, I didn't feel as though the information was watered down, either.

At least half of the book consists of pictorial examples, which serve to illustrate the principles laid forth in the text. There's also a good deal of "white space," which demonstrates White's ability to practice what he preaches. As a result, the book isn't too heavy on actual text. Nonetheless, White has an envious ability to express himself succinctly, efficiently, and in as few words as possible - so the lack of actual reading doesn't pose a problem.

The book's divided into twelve chapters, with one each focusing on the following topics: text; headlines; subheads; breakouts; captions; department headings; covers; contents; bylines and bios; folios and font lines; web typography; and the history of type. White begins each chapter with a discussion of the fundamentals, and then turns to real-life examples to help illustrate his points. A short paragraph accompanies each picture, and all are arranged in an organized, pleasing manner.

I only have two issues with "Type in Use." The text which sits alongside the examples is printed in red as opposed to black (black is the color of the introductory text). I'm not sure if my copy of the book was flawed, or if this is a universal problem, but the red type on some pages appeared to be smudged and smeared, making it difficult to read. Even on those pages without blemishes, I found that the red type strained my eyes; there's just so much red that it becomes distracting.

Also, I was happy to see that White included a chapter on Web typography, but I would have been happier had the discussion been more in-depth. The final chapter, "The History of Type in Use," was wholly unnecessary and didn't contribute much to the overall discourse; White's readers would have been better served had be omitted chapter 12 and extended his discussion of the Internet. I realize that the book was written in 1992 and revised in 1999 - and six years may as well be six eons in "tech time" - but the Web chapter struck me as very out-of-date. For example, I had to smirk when he announced that Photoshop 5.0 had recently introduced "significant improvements" in the area of type; I don't think I even know anyone who's using a version earlier than 7.0! He also appeared to be agreeable to Flash animation, which today is so overused and abused that it has become the bane of web design.

Nonetheless, I would most definitely recommend "Type in Use" to both novices and experienced typographers alike.

- Kelly Garbato

Author, ePublisher, Web Mistress
Peedee Publishing / Hot Dog!, LLC

As a web designer, I always found adding typographical elements to my layout to be the hardest part. I would create a great looking page only to ruin it with a weak looking headline or inappropriately selected font settings.

I've looked for a good book to teach me typographical basics and decided to try Type In Use, even though it is geared toward print.

I have to say I've been extremely satisfied with my choice and have noticed a great improvement in my designs. The greatest proof of the change in me is how I began to look at the design of the book itself differently, analyzing it and seeing how Alex White practices what he preaches.

In each chapter, Alex begins by explaining a different part of the printed page and then showing and analyzing real world examples. There are chapters about text, headlines, subheads, breakouts, captions, department headings and more. This may sound a bit boring (devoting an entire chapter to captions?) but Alex manages to keep it all very readable with plenty of inspiring examples.

I've found this book to also be a great source of inspiration to my work after I finished reading it and I come back to it whenever working with any kind of type, online or offline.

The only weak point I found in this book is the chapter about Web Typography. I don't know if Alex aimed this chapter at people with no web experience at all or at web designers who want to learn typography on the web but he failed either way. The entire chapter in nothing more then a series of facts (some of them plain wrong) about writing HTML, designing sites, file formats, etc. Feel free to skip this chapter, the rest is gold.

I haven't finished reading this book, but it's a real treasure. The pictures even brought me to tears at a couple of points -- yes, I'm a sap. Truly, though, the clothing just seems to resonate with lives long past. They were painstakingly made by hand and worn by men, women and children of varying walks of life, not just the wealthy, although their clothing survived most often, of course. The clothes have stories to tell that in most cases the people who wore them never put to pen and paper.
The book is exactly what the title says -- a look at how surviving articles of clothing (including shoes, hose, etc.) reveal the circumstances and stages of a person's life in colonial and federal America, not to mention the wider forces at play around them.

I can definitely recommend What Clothes Reveal for history buffs and writers -- not sure about costume designers, but perhaps that's covered in another review.

I am a historical seamstress that uses this book to copy the shape and style of Rev.War garments. I really love this book and go back to it over and over. It is a very useful book in my reference library.

After spending a whole day at a Living History event, trying to justify spending that sort of money on a book. Which at the time was sealed and the vendor would not allow it to be opened. I finally bit the bullet and made the purchase. It is one of my all time favorite clothing books. The images are stunning, both full shots of pieces and close-ups. There are accessories, undergarments, et cetera. It includes a range of styles in the 18th century for men and women. Some children's garments. It is not all just aristocratic or high fashion, though it isn't lacking it either. But, the uberness of this book does not stop there. After I stopped devouring the pictures like a kid in a candy shop I started reading. I was impressed with the practical approach to fashion history that the author took. Instead of focusing on the outrageous and bizarre fads of fashion. The book also touches on how historians have identified, classified and labeled garments. And how they have been right or wrong in their theories, going on to explain the current position of opinion today with scholars in the field. The text flows with interesting facts and a keen wit and humor. There are quite a few amusing side bars, and a lot of "myth busters". I think this would be a welcome addition to any collection.

"What Clothes Reveal" is first and foremost a history of American and British wearing apparel from the 18th and early 19th centuries found in the Colonial Williamsburg collection. It is also a social history of the period illustrated by garments and accessories that allows the reader to delve beneath the outer surface silhouette seen in paintings, prints, and on museum mannequins to reveal garment construction, fit, underpinnings, alterations, and simple thrift. While many costume histories focus on a single gender and social class, "What Clothes Reveal" includes examples for men, women, and children--not only gentry but also common folk. While author Baumgarten's "Eighteenth Century Clothing at Williamsburg" was intended to be a catalog of the collection, "What Clothes Reveal" goes several steps further. Baumgarten explores the deeper meaning of individual items and their construction, offers an curatorial interpretation of the garments and objects, and places them in a historical context by identifying details about the original owner where possible. While not intended to be the minute examination of garments in her "Costume Close-up: Clothing Construction and Pattern, 1750-1790," it is an important companion. While the general photos are typical, the detail photos are rare in costume histories. Readers shouldn't ignore the sidebars, the timeline, or the footnotes. The extensive bibliography offers a superb list of additional titles to assist with further research. This book is a must for costume historians, curators, collectors, re-enactors, and others who seek to understand 18th and early 19th century garments and the lives and times of those who wore them. Baumgarten unbuttons many mysteries in a thoroughly readable style, leaving the reader anxious for her next contribution to the field of costume history.

This remarkable reference book consists of six chapters and a conclusion segment. So much information is included in this work that one can review it on many levels. My interest in this book is 18th century embroidery. The work of an 18th century surface embroiderer is foretold in this book and is portrayed in many venues. Embellished textiles such as stomachers, heavily embroidered pudding caps, women's cord quilted waistoats, swaddling bands for the new infant, and a yellow silk infant gown with a matching embroidered satin cap. Also, stunning embelishments on items such as spangled men's waistcoats, still unmade but outlined, on a large piece of silk are displayed with magnified detail allowing stitch colors, patterns, and directions to be studied. Included in What Clothes Reveal are beautiful examples of embroidered aprons for both the gentile ladies and the common women, different styles of pockets, covered and embroidered buttons, men's embroidered bargello wallets, and impressive men's caps. Baumgarten also included beautiful examples of ladies' fans, a wedding gown, and full maternity and nursing gown details including stays.

I ordered this book upon its release and studied it relentlessly. Afterwards I went to Colonial Williamsburg and experienced first hand this entire collection. With knowing and understanding the inside workings of this display, I was able to totally appreciate and understand the items in front of me.

I'm working with several students in junior high to help them increase vocabulary for the SSAT test. This book helps teach the new words in context and lets them learn in a way that is more familiar to them. Love the book!!!

I am a 7th grader of a middle school, and this is what I think of this outstanding book. This book had a very interesting way of teaching... Instead of a textbook, this book was made into a chapter book with several excellent stories about adventures with three kids and a gargantuan, black cat. The stories were well put together and the advanced words fitted in perfectly. I shared my ideas with my family, and we bought more books of the same series. I think younger kids should just read the book for the stories if the words are a bit too complicated for them to remember, but I'm sure that they will enjoy it. Readers will no longer be oblivious about grammer. As a matter of fact, they might even excel in the field of grammer and writing. Anyway, to me, the words in the book were extremely easy to understand, because they were so well placed, that the context clues made the definitions very clear and obvious. There was also a glossary in the back that gave the definitions to the bold-faced words. Unfortunately, the glossary did not have definitions to all of the words, but if you have a dictionary, you should have no problem. Overall, this was a fantastic book leaving me craving for more.

I used to work as a professional SAT Reading coach, making big bucks; the key issue for most of my students was vocabulary. Rather, VOCABULARY. (The other is slowing down and thinking as--not after--they read.)

Many questions on the SAT reading section amount to vocabulary questions.

What this means is that if you want to improve your SAT scores, if you are an ambitious student trying to get into one of the top schools, there is no two ways about it: you have to study vocabulary.

And study vocabulary.

And study vocabulary.

You cannot study simply one book, or even one series of books. You have to study several series.

However, the Princeton Review Word Smart series is the best that I know of. You should start here. Even if you think you have a good vocabulary, start here just to be on the safe side, and you can move on later.

You would recommend studying any of the vocabulary books that I've ever seen--but I recommend mastering the Word Smart series. These really are by far the best--if you are shopping here, it probably means you need these books.

If you were one of my students, your parents paying lots of money, I would force you to master these books, and I would ride you like a horse until you did. And then your scores would come up, your parents would love me and tell all their friends, and I would get more jobs and more money. That's how it works.

Anyway, these are certainly the best vocabulary books on the market. Even if you're studying vocabulary for some other reason, these are probably still the best.

Good luck!

I am 11 years old and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, both as a story and as a no-stress way to learn new vocabulary. I am actually using the many words I learned in the book ~ it's easy because of the manner in which the book is written! I even enjoyed the quizzes at the end of each chapter ~ they were fun. I would save this book for after I had done my other work (I am a homeschooler) because I enjoyed this book so much. It was my inspiration to get finished with the other things so I could get back to this story!

The book is about three kids and a cat who have worldwide (and outer space!) adventures that lead them away from their real goal, which is to find Bridget's parents. You learn the new vocabulary from reading it in the context of their conversations. No memorizing lists! Great fun!

I bought this tape for my elementary age niece and two nephews. They have played this tape for weeks every night at bed time. They even fight over who gets to listen to it in the car. All of their vocabulary had sky rocketed. They are using "big" words properly and have no problem correcting the adults when we use them wrong. The way the new words are weaved into the stories give the kids the handle to truly understand what the word is, and what the correct usage is for any given situation. My sister and I are so impressed with this tape. We wish there were more of these.

Getting a book published on how to write a book proposal sounds like something that would be hard to do. One of the telling points of how good this book is that the authors explain how they did it: No one had ever developed a book that showed what makes for a successful proposal using actual proposals.

Like the Chinese philosopher would have said, seeing a successful proposal is worth 1,000 books about how to write one.

The examples are even more interesting because they are annotated for their good and bad points.

I am working on a business book proposal now, and four of the examples contained very valuable ideas and language that I need to capture for my proposal. I found it very practical, and marked up notes all over the text and examples. I will use this as a guide in my next redraft.

I must admit to being chagrined by how much my past successful book proposals fall short of the mark established here. But I would have been slow to improve without the benefit of these examples.

If I cannot write a good book proposal now, the fault will be mine, not that of the authors.

If you plan to write book proposals for nonfiction books, THIS BOOK IS A MUST!

Don't even think of writing a book proposal without reading this book. Jeff Herman gives you everything you need to know. Buy this book and Michael Larsen's "How to Write a Book Proposal" and you will not get turned down...

This book shows you how to do it. From start to finish, if you want to write a winning proposal, devour this book, and heed it's every word. Two months after reading this book and developing a working proposal, I received a contract from Random House for my book - Aha! - 10 Ways To Free Your Creative Spirit and Find Your Great Ideas.

It worked for me, and it can work for you.

This book gives excellent examples, with quick and concise advice on getting a proposal written. I sold my first nonfiction book, "In the Saddle: Exploits of the 5th Georgia Cavalry During the Civil War" in 1999 using "Write The Perfect Book Proposal." And last month I used it to prepare a proposal for my second book "Rebels, Saints & Sinners: Savannah Personalities of the Past." Yet, as useful as "How To Write A Perfect Book Proposal" is, I would also recommend reading one or two others to help flesh out more detail where Herman and Adams are somewhat vague. In this game the more knowledge you have, the better your chances of success.

I bought this book on writing proposals at the suggestion of my literary agent who told me my proposal for my first book *really* needed help. I studied the examples in the book and the suggestions in the text and re-wrote my proposal, using what I had learned. Six weeks later, my agent called to tell me she had four offers on my book. The information here is excellent, clear, and easy to translate to suit your own book. It will stimulate your thinking about your proposal in new ways. I frequently recommend it to people in my classes and workshops who ask for advice about how to get published. ~~Joan Mazza, author of DREAM BACK YOUR LIFE; DREAMING YOUR REAL SELF; WHO'S CRAZY ANYWAY?; and 3 books in The Guided Journal Series with Writer's Digest Books.

This Book was very helpful for my 5th grader, and me. It gives clear explanations of various forms of writing.

This book has had a strong impact on the way I write.My dream of being a professianel writer seems so close when I read about the process of writing in this book. I really think this is a wonderful book to have, all through your life!

I have 3 boys who dislike writing. It's frustrating to get them to think of ideas to write about even in their daily school journals. This book makes thinking of ideas fun and helps to know how to write them. I borrowed Writers Express from a friend after being told it was great. I then purchased Write Source 2000, as I was unsure of the age appropriateness. Write Source 2000 is great for 6th grade and above because it is less cartoon-like and has higher level information. Writers Express is perfect for 2nd grade and above. Much of the information is overlapping, but written age-appropriately.

Out of all the resources I was exposed to during my time in college (elementary education) this is my most treasured. It is thorough, entertaining, accurate, and creative.

It not only covers the writing process wonderfully (and it surely does that), but is overflowing with tips and tools to help the writer/student: tips on giving speeches, performing poems, test taking strategies, planning a writing portfolio, conferencing with partners about your writing, developing a personal writing style, conducting interviews, story elements, reading strategies, tips to improve listening and thinking skills, how to manage your time, just to name a few...

It is exhaustive in covering the various forms of writing (a sampling: persuasive and expository paragraphs, narratives, letters, poems, journals, newspaper articles, family stories, book reviews, observation reports, fantasies, tall tales, historical fiction, even writing songs and plays...)

Beyond the writing process itself, you will find information on all sorts of things: writing conventions, parts of speech (including every single preposition, predicate adjectives, direct objects and the like), synonyms, homophones, contractions, all the different types of pronouns, on and on...

But more than being an indispensable resource, it has a cool presentation. Students will actually enjoy reading from this book, and get excited about their writing. It's not your typical dry text most students at any level are subjected to.

This is good for everybody. The teacher (public or homeschool). The student (especially one struggling to enjoy writing). And the writers among us. I wouldn't put any age limit on it.

I've used it to homeschool. I'll be using it in the public school classroom soon. And I refer to it with my own writing.

As a teacher I wish every child had their own copy.

Get this. You won't be disappointed. You'll wish you stumbled upon it a lot sooner.

I am a fourth grade teacher in California. I first saw this book about 5 years ago and bought a few copies for my class to use. I was amazed at how it fascinated the students even though it was a writer's handbook. It was in constant demand during our daily sustained silent reading time. The book is colorful and inviting and contains a wealth of information besides just general writing how to's. It has maps, presidential timelines, helpful math tables, and much more. It is colorfully organized and coded for easy reference and written to appeal to kids and motivate them to write. I showed this book to my principal and other teachers and they were all so impressed that the decision was made to order the books for all of our upper grade classes 4 through 6. The Write Source books have become one of the key components of our language program. I would highly recommend this book to all parents and students. It is a resource that is as valuable as the dictionary or encyclopedia that you offer your child at home to support his/her education.

This is an awesome resource for new and student teachers. Very simple, basic and claerly written.

Full of ideas I don't have time to implement. Regie Routman is wonderful.

I purchased this book a few months ago as a textbook requirement for a graduate course I took. Little did I know that I would end up dog-earing practically every page! Regie's approach to teaching writing resounded with me on so many levels. As a kindergarten teacher coming off her first year in a classroom, I had felt a nagging dissatisfaction with our school's packaged writing "program", but really didn't have the professional chops to move from yammering at my kids about sentence conventions and "three sentences, three capitals, three periods!" to teaching the writing process in a joyful way. This book was an awakening, because it showed me how to do just that. If you're a teacher of just about any grade level, and you're uneasy about producing a classroom full of automatons who write in lockstep, BUY THIS BOOK. Yes, it is a textbook, but it doesn't read like one. Nigh unto every page is flooded with examples from Regie's own teaching experiences, and-- as if that weren't good enough-- the appendices give you the lessons Regie taught WORD-FOR-WORD so you can model her practices in your classroom! I cannot speak highly enough of this book. I wish more teachers had the opportunity to learn from Regie and realize that writing CAN be a joyful experience!

Wow! I've read plenty of books regarding how to score or grade students' writing, but this book finally contains the "how" of teaching writing. It's chalk-full of realistic ideas for writing instruction that makes writing a part of what students are learning, not a separate activity. Regie also gives plenty of hands-on examples as well as practical tips for integrating writing into every day instruction, while actually suggesting less work for teachers, not more. I couldn't recommend a better book for teachers of writing!

If you want to become a better teacher of writing, then this book is for you! I am a huge follower of Regie Routman's teaching methods, and I think this is her best book yet. The greatest part of this guide are the step-by-step lesson plan suggestions, each of which guide you over a 5-day period of time. The lessons cover a variety of genres and can be adapted for any grade level. The DVD shows Regie in action, conferencing with students. If you're serious about wanting to change the way you teach writing, read this book!