Language Arts Books

Somewhere in the mist of growing up,
Robert Hewett met more than one pup.
He'll introduce his friends from the start.
Love for animals comes from his heart.

Mr. Hewett can make you see why,
Goodness is not something you can buy.
Robert will show you, if you let him,
That beauty is way under the skin.

Poems that will delight any child,
Buy this book and they will be beguiled.
If you're grown, take a step back in time,
Just relax with a great book of rhyme!

©Daveda Gruber (author of "The Blonde Who Found Jesus", "Castle of Ice", "A Blonde View of Life", "Tales of a Tiny Dog", "More Snapshots" and "Snapshots ...a Blonde View")
August 16, 2007

"When I Grow Up" is a beautiful book that can be appreciated by both adults and children. The Author has some lovely children stories, with characters that have the cutest names. The stories are a true delight and have magical quality to it as well as awesome imagery and content.. There are lovely poems that have spiritual value and give messages about morals also. There are some poems that I believe are true events in this author's life. I especially liked, "The Rainbow Easter Bunny", "Ik-A-Tee-Bica-Tee-Boo," "My Brother and the Bee Tree", " Prairie Flower", "Ol Digah", and "Ode to a Mockingbird". All of the poetry was well expressed with great descriptive words. There was great emotion within each verse. The Author took me away to a magical land with many different animal creatures and it was absolutely breathtaking.. Outstanding!!it captured my interest and I was unable to put the book down. I will be reading this to may Grandkids the next time they visit. I will often pick this up to recapture these characters in these lovely stories. I would highly recommend the book for all ages. It is absolutely superior in all aspects of writing and poetic flair. Christina R Jussaume - Published Author and Poet of "My Walk with Jesus" by PublishAmerica.

When I picked up this book, I expected a children's poetry collection. I found so much more. The poems and stories are funny, delightful and filled with insights. For example, Hewett's silly poem "The toad and the flea" speaks of humility and what happens when we are rude to others. By telling these stories in a format suited for children, Hewett has opened doors of communication for people of all ages about positive moral values. Surely, the lessons and insights taken from this book can be used by us all.

All in all, I loved this book. I appreciated the creativity, humor and thought-provoking stories within. These charming tales are going to make you smile no matter how old you are- I urge you to read this anthology!

This book of poems is heartwarming. It can easily become the best bedtime book you have to read to your children. The stories are filled with everything a child ...and adults can relate to and enjoy. Patty Mews

This book is wonderful for grandparents to read to their grandchildren, creating special moments with so many delightful stories. Enchanting images come alive in every story, they are heartwarming, joyful, loving, full of emotion and magnificent imagery to tantalize the mind and touch the heart of both the reader and the child. Parents too can share these special moments, a keepsake to be passed on for generations, memories to last a lifetime. A gift of love. I bought a second one as a gift for my friend and her grandchildren.
Sincerely
Leokadia Durmaj Vella

There's a lot of variety here, and some very good stuff that will make you want to read the fiction written by the authors as well as help inform you on the craft of fiction. One of my favorite books on writing.

This elegant book is beautifully written and is a wonderful peak into the process of some very good writers. I now have a new list of writers whose books I want to read. What a treat!

This is a holy compendium of wisdom for fiction writers to keep themselves from pulling out every single hair of their frustrated heads on any given day. When I need intensive literary therapy, I sit down and read the book from cover to cover; I've done this on at least seven occasions. WHY I WRITE is my intelligent literary cheerleader . Every morning before I begin to write, I randomly open the book and put my finger on a paragraph, and read the section. Invariably, I get the boost I need. It's like having coffee with a witty, brilliant friend that happens to be a writer. Ann Patchett, one of the writers whose essays appear in this book, says that "writers are people who desperately need habits to fill up their days." One of the best habits I've formed is referring to this powerful volume on a daily basis. Will Blythe's introduction is one of the best essays on writing I've ever read; he has brought together a magical cast of writers whose blunt, holy words have the power to heal many an ailing writer.

Blythe is as fine and impassioned a writer as he is a shrewd and judicious editor, and the real gem of this wonderful anthology is his beautifully drawn, occasionally hilarious and ultimately inspiring introduction. In these literal-minded journalism-crazed days it's hard to imagine any work that exhorts the merits of fiction putting much of a dent in the near-monopoly held by fact-based writing, but this anthology should lure many readers and maybe even a few journalists themselves who are tired of splashing around in the shallow pool of stories that actually happened when they could be diving into the deep water of figurative and imaginative truth.

I'm a produced playwright who has been working hard on writing prose for a few years. I've taken some University Extension classes on writing and was even selected to be a part of a prestigious year-long university novel-writing intensive. I own many wonderful books on the craft of writing and I have to say that this is my favorite. It's the one I always keep with me whereever I go. I can literally open it to any page and find something that will help me at that moment. I read it when I'm stuck or when it's flowing, when I'm bored with my writing or when I'm happy with it. Some of the essays in here I have read literally hundreds of times, and each time I get something new from them. The pieces by Rick Bass, Thom Jones, Mary Gaitskill and William Vollman are, IMHO, worth the price of the book. I have purchased copies for many of my writer friends when they've hit a slump. If you are serious about your writing, are past the beginner stage but every so often need the sage advice of a seasoned pro, then buy this book immediately.

The junior version of Patricia O'Conner's WOE IS I, the best-selling grammar guide for adults, is written in a witty, fun manner for elementary to middle school grade levels and provides a lively series of examples covering both good and bad grammar. From confusing look-alike words to plural verbs which help multiply subjects, WOE IS I JUNIOR is an excellent survey adding life and fun to the topic of understanding English.

Who knew grammar could be such a good time? I like this version even better than the one for 'grown-ups'! This is a truly entertaining, informative and enriching read.

This is a terrific book to help the younger set realize that good grammar is not only important - it can be fun, too. Ms. O'Conner writes this one with the same wit and cultural relevance demonstrated in the 'adult' version. Her references to characters today's kids know and love provide an amusing and entertaining means of getting her message across - that using good English is easy ... and can be mastered without tears and fear. As a mom and a professional librarian also, I'll be recommending this book over and over.

Being a father of 2 girls, the younger 7 and the older 9, bedtime stories continue to be a compulsory nighttime ritual. I usually end the day with something from the "kids section" of the bookshelf that consist of books that I purchased when they were, erm...4 and 6, so as you can imagine, I was recently on Amazon ordering updated books for my daughters.

That's when I ran across this gem of a book.

It's a grammar book! But it's funny and doesn't get boring! Serious!

Now, granted, I'm the kind of dad who reads childrens books with wild enthusiasm, facial contortions, wide vocal range, the appropriate silly remark, sound effect or armpit tickle, but despite my whacky delivery, this book managed to keep my daughters interest focused on the prose itself! Not only that, but due to its interactive format, my daughters were even yelling out answers to the enticing questions which succeeds the seemingly impossible task of melding academics and entertainment in the dreary subject of grammar...a subject, which is about as delicious as unsweetened oatmeal.

Now there's some food for thought!

Jr. is every bit as funny and useful as the original. Although it is written for a younger reader the large print and witty illustrations (both the drawings and written explanations) also make it perfect for a Sr. reader who needs a quick reference. For example, I can never remember whether to italicize or use quotation marks for book titles. But I simply check the index under italics and quickly find my answer on page 93. What a great help! I wish I were the author (see page 56 - Wishful Thinking: Was or Were?).

This is a text that I teach which I've also given several times as a gift to serious word lovers! It's especially helpful for those of us who never had the opportunity to take Latin or Greek in school.

Word Clues is a book I am studying in English class. I think it is good because it really teaches about the vocabulary. It teaches roots, prefixes, and suffixes, as well as words that use them. There are about 15 words in each lesson, so it helps learn at a slow and steady pace.

I first ran into word clues when I was in middle school. Now that I'm homeschooling my daughter in middle school, we use it too. She loves to see how the words go together and is starting to have a deeper understanding of how language works. We use it to discuss how language is used and how it changes. The book is pretty basic, giving the information and some suggestions for exercises, but there are no worksheets as such. I highly recommend this book to anybody wanting to increase their vocabulary, scientific or otherwise.

This was our required text in high school senior English class in 1968. The words I learned from being able to discern their meanings from the roots opened up whole new worlds for me at a time when I had been failing school. You can go into Klein's Etymological Dictionary to pick out a word's connection to Sanskrit (i.e. noun=name=nym=nam). Word Clues is broken down into a Latin section and a Greek section. It would be a great addition to any business communications course. Science and dental-medical students would benefit as well. Knowing roots, prefixes, and suffixes helps one learn how to spell difficult words and understand them, too. The knowledge will stay with you for your lifetime.

I use this book everyday; it is a fabulous find, easy to use, has been in print for 40 some years, is organized in a way that you can look up Greek and Latin suffixes in English. (some books only use Greek alphabet for words, confounding those who did not study ancient Greek language) It is just the right size and can be used to self study and learn how to know what a new word might mean by recognizing the "code" in its prefixes and suffixes and root words.

Being a former student of Dr. Cerutti's, I am a little biased. But I took the class to which he refers in his text, and it was even funnier than the book itself. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, as did some of my colleagues who also read it. I remember the day he wrote a big "FA" on the board and then proceeded to lecture away, just as he did in the chapter on "fa" and "pha". Overall, a very pleasant adaptation of his class.

Cerutti's previous books have all been Greek to me but this one was written in the universal language of humor, making it accessible even to those of us who are not classicists! This book will teach you about the origins of words and expressions we use every day as well as Greek and Roman mythology. Best of all, you'll laugh your [...] off through the whole thing (and you'll probably blush a bit too). Cerutti's WORDS is for anyone who is educated, who wants to become educated, who wants to appear educated, or who wants to laugh at others who think they're educated. I'm hoping for a sequel!

I greatly enjoyed this book as an introduction to the ancestry of English. It is a fun read and has some really funny stories about word origins.

I bought this book on a tip from a friend who said it helped her hugely on the verbal portion of the GRE, plus she said it was the funniest thing she had ever read. I am getting ready to take the SAT so I read it and she was right! This book makes understanding words not only easy, but fun, too! The author is a great storyteller, and knowing the stories behind the words helps you remember what they mean much better than memorizing flashcards. This book actually makes you feel smarter. I plan to read it again right before I take the test! Wish me luck! But with Cerutti's Words of the Day under my belt, I know I'll do fine.

This book takes you on a roller-coaster ride through the classical origins of the English language from page one! Cerutti has a feel for Greek and Roman mythology that I've never encountered before, and I was a classics major as an undergrad! I learned more about the classical world from reading this book than I did in college. And it's extremely funny! Try "Homer meets Andrew Dice Clay!" I found myself laughing out loud dozens of times. Chapter five, on the sexual exploits of Apollo is worth the price of the book alone. This book would make an excellent gift for anyone with a healthy sense of humor and a keen interest in words--even the "naughty" ones. This book rocks!

I have been teaching for 8 years and love all the Words Their Way books. They help me teach spelling at my students instructional level. Love it!!!

This is one of the best book I've purchase to teach my daughter.
Each page is simple as I wanted and has enough activities with good key points.

This book is easy to use right away and very practical. A must have for K-2!

I've used Words Their Way for the last year and loved the strategies. This particular book gives lots more sorts for spellers in the letter name/ alphabetic spelling stage. It includes consonant blends and diagraphs as well as more short vowel sorts. These hands on materials have been a great help to me in teaching my mildly disabled elementary students, but all the regular lower grade teachers at my school are raving, and using these great strategies and materials.

This is a great resource for first and second grade teachers. Many of the skills addressed are those encountered in your classroom daily. Great companion to Words Their Way, and to offer a hands on opportunity for phonics, spelling and decoding words.

I purchased the book for my husband. He is a High School English/Journalism teacher. He really wanted to have it on hand for school.

This is a great book that explains how students learn new words and build their vocabulary. It gives you strategies that will allow students to hold onto what they learn and begin to use new vocabulary in their everyday language. Excellent for professional development.

An excellent resource for all teachers. There are lots of ideas to help activate students background knowledge. There are ideas to teach context clues, words walls, prefixes, suffixes, and roots.

My favorite section was an idea on how to use alphabet books with older students. I plan to incorporate this lesson in my classroom.

All teachers should buy this book. This is also a great book for a professional book study.

Regardless if you are teaching elementary school or middle school, you have students in your classroom who are poor readers and writers. Janet Allen's book -- all of them, for that matter -- are comprehensive guides to providing tips and strategies on how to assist them to "own their learning." So many pages of this book are folded down, as a means to remind me to use the strategy in my own classroom. Her book recommendations are also very handy, especially when you want to model different instructional strategies on learning new vocabulary while reading.

I can't say enough about this book and the rest of Allen's books without sounding like I am repeating myself. As an educator, I value good books that help me to become a better teacher -- this is such a book. You will not be disappointed.

Janet Allen has done a terrific job of blending theory with practice. Taking the last twenty years of research on vocabulary, Allen synthesizes the major guiding principles and illustrates a variety of strategies for helping students to acquire and develop vocabulary. As always, Allen writes in a clear, reader-friendly, no-nonsense style--a refreshing change from many of the language arts books in the field. As a reading specialist for the past twenty years, I highly recommend her new book.

The Write Answer is a fabulous tool for teaching various language arts and literacy skills. Although the recommended grades for use is grades 4-8, it can be easily modified for primary grades as well. As a classroom teacher in Chicago, this book has served as a beneficial way to teach across the varied abilities and learning styles of my students. It offers great ideas too! This is one book that every teacher needs to have in their resource teaching library!

This is an excellent resource for middle school Language Arts classrooms. I found many lesson plans that helped teach the 6 Trait Rubric to my students. The lessons in this book were also aligned with my district's curriculum.

A great resource for language arts teachers. Full of creative ideas to bring your curriculum to life!

the curriculum dept. in our school district distributed a half a dozen copies of The Write Answer to middle school teachers. Their general impress after using the book for a semester was that it had many fine ideas and provided them an easy way to plug in ready to use lesson plans.

I thought that the Write Answer was an excellent source of ideas for teachers who are looking for that learning edge in the classroom! A must for TE students as well who are looking for ideas to include in their own lesson plans!

I read the second edition of this wonderful book in preparation for creating a user guide for a software program based on its principles. The book was so effective I used the techniques in it to write the guide. Murray's method actually addresses the creative process, rather than the usual "find a quiet well-lit room and have plenty of paper handy" type of writing advice. Before you know it, you're drawn into trying his techniques and they work

Author, Donald M, Murray, practices what he teaches: he writes with a singular voice. I could picture him talking to me in an earnest, friendly way.
I liked the way he led us through his process of writing an article about his grandmother. I also enjoyed reading drafts of his students writings and their finished, successful product. I was enticed to keep reading and therefore learning.
The book has widespread application. My nephew, a college professor, used this as his favorite textbook, yet I adapted the information easily for younger students. It works for both enthusiastic or reticent writers.
I was going to purchase a later edition at our local college bookstore, but found the topics written about were too controversial for my taste and too adult for me to use to teach younger students.
"Write to Learn", 2nd edition, is more than a textbook. It is a LIVING book!

Anyone who is serious about becoming a writer, non-fiction or fiction, should get this book, write in it, highlight the points and study it like they are taking his course.
He starts you out with writing to yourself. Then takes you through each step of the process of preparing what you wrote for the reader.
Murray talks to you like are sitting in front of you. You feel like he can hear your questions, answers them, and then shows you what he is talking about.
The most important part of the whole book is Chapter 9, "'Read' as a Writer". He analyzes today's writers as a writer, a major step to really understanding the craft.
Other writing books tell you about practice sessions, structure, and voice. Murray shows you how to do the work.
Yes it is a very...book, but weather it is a textbook or not, it is a book of valuable information for those of us who can't work at the Boston Globe or go to Harvard--yet our passion to write is very real.

Possibly written as a college text, Write To Learn is for every adult writer, and for teachers working with children, adults, beginning and advanced writers alike. The daunting, mysterious process of writing successful texts in many genres is presented in easy-to-follow steps with short examples. The book is specific, detailed, based on actual writers' struggles, thankfully short, and worth every dollar. I left this book with the feeling that writing is fun and for everyone.

I read this book for a college english class. We used the book for its every facet, and I got a lot out of it. The book is divided into chapter like sections that made the writing process seem less complicated. His personal writing style appealed to me as I read through the chapters on the begining of the writing process. I recomend this book to anyone with the urge to become a better, more creative, writer, and to anyone with the money to do so. This book is a small paper back...i don't understand the price ($35.00!).

This book gave me even more valuable information than I anticipated. I recommend it for anyone who may want to write and get published in magazines.

I have developed a life-long habit of taking notes of every book I read. My bookmark is a blank piece of paper on which I write things of interest that strike me as I read along. Within a couple of pages of "The Handbook" I stopped taking notes. If I had continued, I would have had as many pages of notes as the book is long. This book is jam packed with very useful information for those thinking of a career as a magazine writer. I have just begun working in this field, and I must say that there is not an area not covered by the 56 contributors to this work. This is like a college course that instructs you on how to find ideas for articles, how to write a great query letter, the dollars and cents of running your own free-lance business, researching, interviewing, developing a style, it is all-inclusive. If you have thoughts of becoming a magazine writer, you can cut out a lot of the uncertainty, stress, waste motions, and rejections of this business by studying this book. I daresay I'll be turning to this handbook on at least a weekly basis. Thank you to the editor and contributors for a job very well done.

The information covers the entire non-fiction magazine market, not just journalism. Includes the best ways to break into freelancing, and compares small and large markets. Creating a niche for yourself versus generalizing is also covered. Some writing tips are offered, as well, but the focus is on selling your work.

I am very pleased with this book, and I recommend it.

I had to purchase this for an online writing course. I didn't expect much. I have read about half a dozen other books on magazine writing that weren't required reading. But this book is really solid and doesn't meander aimlessly, like a couple others I've read. I'd first recommend Jenna Glatzer's book, but this is a good addition to your writing reference shelf.

The "Writer's Digest Handbook of Magazine Article Writing" takes information from a wide variety of highly successful freelance writers and edits it together into a seamless instructional manual. It starts off with a discussion of finding ideas that addresses more than inspiration--it delves into methods to find topics that will sell. "Querying" and "Finding Markets" teach you to pick markets for your work and get assignments from them. "Selling Reprints and Rewrites" and "Business and Rights-Related Issues" help you to understand what your work is worth to whom, and how to make sure it remains worth as much as possible to you.

"Researching" and "Interviewing" get you through the information-gathering phase, which can take longer than the actual writing. "Avoiding Problems" helps you to avoid accidental plagiarism and similar legal problems. "Writing Techniques and Revision" deals with general issues of writing magazine articles, while "How to Write Common Articles" delves into specifics on article types such as profiles, roundups, how-to articles, service journalism, art-of-living articles, and even pieces for children's magazines. "Working With an Editor" shepherds you through the relationships that will make or break your career.

Because the book gets into so many specifics (there's even a sidebar on writing book reviews!) regarding particular article types and so on, you're likely to find it useful even if you've already done some magazine freelancing. It's so helpful to know all the little rules of thumb and instructions regarding different types of articles, not to mention what editors are looking for and get the least of in their submission piles.

The chapter on working with editors presents particularly valuable information in a remarkably even-handed and balanced format. It presents a number of ways to maintain a good relationship with your editor, and these tips are useful and specific. A "damage control" section is included, since everyone runs into trouble now and then despite the best of intentions. There's information on "problem editors" to watch out for and how to best work with (or avoid) them, as well as types of writers that editors hate to find themselves working with and how you can avoid being one of these writers.

Quotes from freelancers and editors liven things up and bring a personal touch to the book. Clear, bulleted lists of helpful points are balanced by enough detail to make sure that you can figure out what you're doing in specific circumstances. The information presented is broad enough to be applicable to any sort of magazine freelancer, and specific enough to be applicable to every sort of magazine freelancer.