Language Arts Books

I think the reviewer below summed it well in his subject line saying "McLuhan for the coffee table." Essentially this book is a list of one-liners and ideas of McLuhans. Snippets and paragraphs from books and articles. Could very well be for the beginner, but without explanitory notes (but with pictures); while it could also be for the person already well versed in McLuhans thoughts. Either way, I found it a great book as I find his thinking fascinating, curious and many times humerous. Well presented in large paperback format with slick paper and color photos, this book is a quick and easy McLuhan treat.

Forward through the Rearview Mirror: Reflections on and by Marshall McLuhan can be considered one of the greatest tributes McLuhan could have ever received. By preserving the particular organization, writing style, and design McLuhan used in The Medium is the Massage and Global Village, editors Paul Benedetti and Nancy DeHart are able to keep his soul and ideology alive. Insights not only from McLuhan himself, but also from many other media theorists who react and share their experiences about the readings, are the editor's elements to explain what was going on deeply inside McLuhan's mind.

As the MTV programming, this book has a continuous flow in which each chapter looks like a new video clip, which is totally related with the preceding, and flows directly into the following. However, instead of creating these connections with complete paragraphs and nice connectors, the editors choose to throw isolated pieces of pictures, paragraphs and quotations. It is the inner most meaning of every written and visual piece what makes a unified theory out of this book. A new way of communication which McLuhan would define as "Any new structure for codifying experience and moving information, be it alphabet or photography, has the power of imposing its structural character and assumptions upon all levels of our private and social lives" (106). Therefore, a chapter named "Violence and Identity" will start with a two-page-black and white picture of a Ku Klux Klan's ritual followed by a quotation: "Violence, whether spiritual or physical, is a quest for identity and the meaningful. The less identity, the more violence." On the next page, a picture of a ten-year-old child wearing latex gloves and a gun in each hand; then, McLuhan's theory is introduced with big blue letters: "IT'S WHY THEY HAVE TO KILL," and so forth. This continuous fluidity of meaningful images and writings, involves the audience in an exciting rhythm, making it interact and experience what McLuhan was trying to say by "The Medium is the Message."

Instead of having a defined introduction, body and conclusion, Forward through a Rearview Mirror is composed of three different types of writing: biographical information, writings by McLuhan, and writings on McLuhan. Each one of them is placed by the editors to ease the reader's understanding of McLuhan's speech. Information about his background, life, and surroundings is provided by a timeline that covers his most important years: his experiences at different stages of his career, the birth of his own family, and his social life. All these factors influenced his way of analyzing our culture. From interviews, speeches, and books, Benedetti and DeHart quote McLuhan to provide objective information about his insights. Because most of his citations are abstract aphorisms, the audience can read his words either superficially or deeply, stimulated by the adventure of discovering his hidden insights, always present in his works. However, the reader is not alone in this adventure. Other media theorists such as John Fraser or Lewis Laphom share their experiences when reading the philosopher. Moreover, as the biographical information, these media producers also help to guide the reader by providing him/her with different analysis and points of view towards McLuhan. Although the book doesn't follow the conventional three-part linearity, it seems custom made for the rushing reader of the nineties. It doesn't matter on which page we open Forward through the Rearview Mirror. It can always provide an interesting analysis of our own society.

However, Paul Benedetti and Nancy DeHart do not only keep McLuhan's organization and writing style, but also preserve his idea of convey insights using the visual medium. Therefore, Forward Through the Rearview Mirror is designed to the image of McLuhan's major works The Medium is the Massage and Global Village. These two books submerge the reader into a multidimensional medium of meaningful abstract and figurative visuals. For instance, the editors create the same type of metaphors that McLuhan employed in his publications, by explaining the world's current globalization with ten bottles of Coca-Cola all written in different languages. Moreover, as Marshall McLuhan's last works, the unconventional format of this book also stands out in the reader's library. While both the medium is the massage and Global Village are smaller than any standard size book, Forward through the Rearview Mirror is wider and shorter than any conventional book.

Forward through the Rearview Mirror shows the complete involvement of Paul Benedetti and Nancy DeHart in McLuhan's life and ideas. Following Marshall McLuhan's guidelines, they carefully place each element in their book to create an outstanding piece. From its outside cover to its inner most meaning, this book breaks all standards, thus, draws the attention from an audience willing to find a new and high-quality product. Guided by McLuhan's print media by juxtaposing significant images and phrases to create movement and rhythm. When experiencing this book, the reader combines the sound of his reading and the meaningful visuals inside his mind, creating an audio-visual medium out of Forward the through the Rearview Mirror. If this phenomenon is achieved, McLuhan's theory is confirmed: "It is man who is content of the message of the media, which are extensions of himself" DeHart and Benedetti understand McLuhan, preserving his thoughts alive, and honor him in their piece of art.

Without trying to undermine the insights of McLuhan himself, I think that this book represents just another episode in the `everybody loves Marshall' series. Similar to `Digital McLuhan' by Levinson, this book is crawling with remarks stating how great and wonderful McLuhan was and that it is such a big loss for the world as we know that he's dead. I sincerely wish that - as McLuhan put it himself - the comments would engage more in a dynamic discours on his insights and thoughts and would try to make something out of it. But no, I find myself flipping through oodles of pages for the simple reason that it just contains one of those trival McLuhan-anecdotes/memorabilia. Supposedly McLuhan made it to the top ten of all-time thinkers - such as Nietzsche, Kant, Plato etc. Sure, the insights provided by him are pretty slick, but one has to look for them since most of the books concern the opinions of others that would also like to say a thing or two. It's like a bunch of groupies standing at the far end of a stage thinking that they now too are famous. As far the rest of the book is concerned, there are some nice quotes from McLuhan himself that could very well change your perspective on things happening in our world today. It provides some interesting insights and line of thought for further study. Respect goes out to the extensive bibliography that make it easier to trace back his work. It is truly `McLuhan for the coffee-table', but mind you, there might be a lot of uninvited guests.

If McLuhan is new to you, and/or if you have a short attention span, this is the one to pick up. McLuhan's timeless insights into the evolution of man's synthesized environment are juxtaposed with in-your-face photographs and artwork that serve as indisputable evidence of the truth of his analysis. Reading this book at 30,000 feet, I was struck at just how clearly McLuhan is able to penetrate the distraction, distortion, and pre- conceptions endemic to modern technical civilization. The book is indeed like a high altitude surveillance flight over the electomagnetic infrastructure of our age. The combination of images and text have a synergy imploring the reader to understand the accelerating importance of man's media in shaping his behavior. Serve with "Propaganda", by Jacques Ellul, and "Manufacturing Consent", by Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman.

Good book for learning english language grammar. Bought as a gift for a friend learning english. Three books in the series.

I've understood the correct use of English with this book, You can use it to learn or teach. It has a lot of exercises.

I have used this text in the ESL/EFL classroom for many years and although I have seen others this is the best. I especially recommend it for English for academic purposes programs.

As a teacher of many grade levels and English fluency levels, I found this book very useful. It has perhaps the best explanation I've read on "perfect" tenses. My ESL student couldn't understand why he should use a simple past tense versus a present perfect tense, and this book helped him.

The book features many useful charts on major and minor grammar topics. I find the charts very effective and easy to learn and teach. There are also plenty of exercises in this book, too.

I've used the book with 5th graders, 12th graders, and ESL adults. I highly recommend it. It's very well organized and quick, quick, quick to use in the classroom.

Why does Amazon have this listed as out of print? It only came out three months ago. Other places on the net have it in paperback, so why not Amazon??? Guess I'll have to go shop there.

Why doesn't Amazon have the paperback version of this book? There are a lot of us out here who would like to buy it.

This is by far the most expensive Gaelic dictionary available today. It is worth the price. It has an immense store of idiomatic uses and examples that are found in no other dictionary. The entries for especially important words, such as irregular verbs, are frequently several pages long, and cover many meanings, usages and variations. The appendices alone would make a small, but very useful reference grammar.

There are only three other dictionaries with which it can be usefully compared: the two older dictionaries, those of Dwelly and MacLennan, and the recently published dictionary by Angus Watson. Mark's dictionary is much easier to read than Dwelly's; it has a smaller vocabulary coverage, but the omissions are of words that have become archaic and are now rarely, if ever, used. Examples of usage are far more numerous. MacLennan's dictionary has the advantage of being the only large dictionary with an English-to-Gaelic section. MacLennan's Gaelic-to-English section is totally outclassed by Mark's dictionary. Watson's dictionary has a much smaller vocabulary coverage than Mark's weighty tome, but has a number of definitions which are in some way better, for example "seadh", which in Watson is seen to derive from the older "is eadh", where "eadh" is the now-obsolete neuter pronoun, rendered useless by the demise of the neuter gender. Watson has only two appendices, a table of definite articles and a much longer one of irregular verbs. Mark has no comparable appendix; he puts his extensive information on the irregular verbs in the dictionary entries; he does have an extensive appendix on the Gaelic verb which is quite different from Watson's appendix.

The first dictionary that I use it Watson's - it's small size makes it easier to find an entry, but missing words very frequently send me to Mark's dictionary. Dwelly's is the last resort, when an archaic word or usage must be found. I rarely use MacLennan's dictionary now that I have the ones by Mark and Watson.

This is one of the very best Gaelic dictionaries, and is absolutely indispensable for the serious student of the language. It provides extensive, detailed coverage of the language as currently used in prose and the media, filling the gap between Dwelly's and modern usage. In addition, there are no fewer than twelve excellent appendices, containg all sorts of valuable information on grammar and usage, much of which isn't to be found in other dictionaries or textbooks. If you are a serious student of the Scottish Gaelic language, if you read any Gaelic literature, you need this dictionary. I use it, quite literally, almost every day.

It's an excellent educational resource for teaching ESL. I recommend it. My students have enjoy the games I have done with them the first few days of class.

This is a very good resource book for your ESL classes. The games were easily adapted to our specific needs and I'm glad that I purchased it.

What a great resource this book is. I will definitely consult it often. Games for anything and everything.

This is an invaluable resource for language teachers. As any classroom teacher knows, games often add life to a class that is about to fall asleep. They add energy to a class and give the students a little burst of motivation. This book covers a wide variety of games for teaching English as a second language. The games are divided into discrete categories. For example some of the categories are psychological games, magic tricks, story games, and memory games. Since the games are divided in this way, it becomes easy to find the game that will suit your classroom goals. I've used the ideas in this book many times in my classes and they work well.

An excellent reference for both modern and historical Germanic linguists. A concise history and grammar for each of the historical and modern languages is provided. Even includes some of the more obscure languages and dialects (such as Pennsylvania Dutch(German) and the German creoles, which are often ignored.

THE GERMANIC LANGUAGES is an entry in Routledge's Language Family Descriptions series that gives brief grammatical overviews of the main languages in this family, ancient and modern. The languages covered here are Gothic, Old Norse and Middle Scandinavian, Old and Middle Continental West Germanic, Old and Middle English, Icelandic, Faroese, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, German, Yiddish, Pennsylvania German, Dutch, Afrikaans, Frisian, English, and finally Germanic creoles.

Like other entries in this series, the grammar, population, and lexis of each language is treated. It is nice to see so many descriptions of ancient languages and emphasis on historical linguistics. The chapter on Gothic, which attempts to use the language to reconstruct Proto-Germanic was written by Winfred Lehmann, one of the greatest comparative Indo-European linguists of the 20th century and a keen investigator of the Germanic branch. Among the entries on modern languages, the careful attention to tones in the chapters on Norwegian and Swedish make this a useful resource. The book also includes many maps to show geographic divisions of languages and their dialects.

My only real complaint about the book is that it does not provide a sample text in the language with grammatical explication at the end of each chapter like, for example, Routledge's survey of the Uralic languages. It also doesn't treat several minority languages like Luxembourgish or Swiss German, seeing them as dialects in a grander scheme.

This book is very complete, as there are twelve long chapters about the corresponding most important Germanic languages spoken today, as well as other chapters about Proto-Germanic, Gothic, Old English, Old German-Dutch and Old Norse. However I have found it very difficult to read as I'm not an expert linguist. Instead of comparing each language with the others, as I'd have desired, it just enumerates and details every single peculiarity of the grammars, including phonology, morphosyntactic aspects and lexis.

This book is very typical in its study on the three common divisions of the Germanic Languages (East, West and North), ancient and modern. Among these divisions is as follows: Gothic (which is concentrated heavily on, being the only "Eastern" Germanic language), Old and Middle English as well as Modern English, Icelandic, Faroese, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, German, Yiddish, Pennsylvania German, Dutch, Afrikaans and Frisian. Each chapter is devoted to one or the other of the languages and goes into great detail on History, Phonology, Present-day usage, Morphology, Developments, Systems, Structure and some Grammar. Mind you, this is not a language course or even a brief for the beginner who wishes to learn vocabulary or anything like that, it is simply a very forward explanation on History Developments and their overall play and role in society today and before.

The Germanic Languages is a very useful book to the linguistic intermediate beginner. I recommend it to anyone whose heart lies in Scandinavian Language and culture, for it presents a very foundational knowledge sourse that is fundamental to all in that course of study.
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I'm someone who's always had ideas for books throughout my life, but I never felt like I had time, and even if I did, I had no clue where to start the process. Now that I'm semi-retired, I have the time and the same passion to put my ideas into print.

Having scoured the marketplace and found some good reads, I can honestly say that this is the most accessible and interesting book to help writers, both serious ones and ones like me...who just want to write books in their spare time. It DOES NOT read like a self-help manual or a how-to guide at all...it really is a page turner. Probably why it's been endorsed by some of the top people in the publishing industry.

I think that this book would be perfect for any Baby Boomer who has ideas, stories, knowledge, or creativity to share with their peers or the younger generations...like Shulman and Spencer say, it's a way to "leave your legacy." This book is your "helping hand" to get there!

As a person with several ideas for books, I've been scouring the marketplace trying to find the best books that will help me to get my ideas onto paper and then show me the full range of my publication options once my manuscript is completed. Get Between the Covers is an amazing book. There are many useful resources that are specific to different areas of writing or marketing that are out there, some of which I found helpful, but this book encapsulates the whole process for me in a way that is manageable and has me excited about the prospect.

The organization of the book makes this easy for anyone to with a desire to a write a book, even just as a hobby or a way to pass time, to sit down from Day 1 and see the process through to completion. The anecdotes and success stories of different types of authors facing the different challenges in writing and publishing were very insightful. I highly recommend this book to anyone, and you can see from the endorsements from some of the top individuals in the publishing industry that they also feel that this is a valuable book for anyone.

Simply an amazing read! I originally heard about this book from a family member and bought Get Between the Covers as a gift for a few friends who have ideas for books, but needed that "final push" and also help with knowing how everything works.

Even though I wasn't planning on writing a book, I read this book cover to cover just to learn more about what goes into the industry. Now I'm sold on writing a book myself! Dr. Shulman and Eric Spencer have created a masterpiece here for the creative spirit. I feel like a whole new realm of creativity has opened for me!

In a world of information and dis-information comes a breath of fresh air for anyone who is considering just writing or even publishing a book. Eric and Neil have cut to the chase in simple, easy to understand language to help guide the would be author. In this day and age of high tech information, we often forget there is a wealth of information being lost each year as we lose the knowledge and experience of a generation. I applaud Eric and Neil for not forgetting "The Greatest Generation" and creating a map to follow so their stories and knowledge are not lost forever.

Easy to read and unbiased in their approach, this book is sure to impact future generations for years to come. Well done!
Brad Tirey
Senior Author Services Representative AuthorHouse

This book tells it like it is. How to get the point across to various audiences using a variety of media. This book must be in every executive's library.

Most Americans either fear public speaking or do not know how to properly give a presentation. Get To The Point gives many helpful insights to the many aspects of presenting your points in the best light.

Very often, the average audience member comes away with 10% of the content of a speech. Get To The Point helps the presentator maximize that 10% and maybe even icnrease it. Authors Berg and Gillman emphasize the importance of getting to know your aduience from many points of view. Know your relationship to the audience and the aduience within itself. From there, a good presentor will use clear concise jargon and possibly throw a few key buzzwords for effect. The importance of a conservative dress code as well as a confident animated matter are also emphasized.

Many other key details are explored such as the types of questioners at a presentation such as the fillibuster. Gillman and Berg detail well how to deal with this type of personality as well as how to handle yourself when interrupted. The conservative approach is very level headed.

Other topics such as meetings, job interviews, and introducing speakers are discussed in detail. Special effects in presentations are also discussed. Because this book was written before the invention of PowerPoint, many fo the visual aid examples are a bit out of date. However, the bottom line point illustrating that the speaker makes the presentation rather than the effects, still overrides any technology advances taht Get To The Point does not incorporate.

To summarize: Get To The Point meets its mark and will help out budding speakings greatly.

Gilman and Berg achieve two primary objectives: They help their reader to determine, first, what the most important "point" is; then, they help the reader to "get" to it ASAP with clarity and precision. The same principles of the program are relevant to every situation in which there is a need to communicate but it is important to note that this is not a "how to" book for those who need help preparing and then presenting formal speeches. "Rather, we are referring to the relatively short and informal talks with clearly defined objectives that take place most often in a work-related context." The authors prefer the word "presentations" to "speeches" as in a one-on-one situation in which someone must persuade her or his supervisor to make a certain approval decision or take a specific action. I think this book is very well organized. The authors have dozens of key points which they get to in exemplary fashion. Their approach is practical rather than theoretical, based on many years of real-world experience with training all manner of persons who needed to understand how to say what they meant inorder to get what they wanted. Although most of the examples in the book are in a business context, the lessons to be learned are also relevant to presentations elsewhere, such as a committee report to members of a church, a briefing to members of a social organization, or participation in a "Career Day" program at a school. The authors also explain "How to Introduce a Speaker" (Chapter 24). In earlier chapters, they offer some excellent advice on other subjects such as "Clothing: What the Well-Dressed Presenter Wears", "Picture Perfect Videoconferencing", and "The Job Interview." For many people, this may well be the most valuable book they read during the next 12 months.

A value-packed book with a strong emphasis on overcoming stage fright. Detailed description of how to write a quick speech, keep note cards, what to wear, how to use visuals, and how to deal with hostile audiences, among others. Provides most of the good solid speaking tips and presentation skills found in larger and much more expensive books. A good book to bend the pages and mark up useful passages with highlighter. Definitely worth the price in paperback.

I've always found Robert bly's books very interesting and informative. This one I especially like since I have a dream of getting my book published. I honestly believe that with the step-by-step approach that Bly has used successfully dozens of times, I will finally see my dream become a reality. Another great job!!

This is probably one of the most concise and well written resources on Getting Your Book Published available on the market today ! I know the author Rober W. Bly is one of the most successfully publishedl and prolific authors of our time. This book is a must have for any one who dreams of getting published ! WOW !

. . . or publishing yourself. Getting Your Book Published describes how to find and work with an agent and how to find and work with a publisher. Eighty percent of the books purchased by the five big (New York) publishers are agented; 20% are sold to them directly.

Bob Bly describes evaluating your idea, creating your outline, proposal writing, locating a literary agent, selling to a publisher, negotiating the contract, and delivering the manuscript. He even compares selling out to self-publishing.

Bob Bly is a very successful author and business copywriter. (Click on his name above to see the list of his Works.)

As the author of 113 books (including revisions and foreign-language editions) and over 500 magazine articles, I highly recommend this volume to writers DanPoynter@ParaPublishing.com.

While working at a 9 to 5 job, I read this book, and it got me thinking that I could write non-fiction books. I followed Robert's advice and wrote a proposal, which got accepted by a publisher. I immediately quit my job. I'm now writing my third non-fiction book.

I found this book to contain great ideas and images about the changes in masculinity and femininity as portrayed in the American media. My students enjoyed the ideas in class discussions as well.

America is more than familiar with the stereotypical blonde bombshells that grace the covers of magazines, television programs, movies, and advertisements. In Carolyn Kitch's book she is able to outline the origins of how stereotypical images came about. Her extensive background in the media along with the use of actual magazine illustrations allows her to present her arguments in a way that anyone with an interest in women's history in the media can understand.

Kitch's book maintains the reader's interest by citing specific examples, providing information about the time period, and providing illustrations. Keeping a loosely chronological form allows the book to flow, but the ideas of the time period are more important to Kitch than keeping a pattern. She breaks at appropriate points to discuss alternate visions that challenged and reinforced stereotypes in the media.

While Kitch's book is effective, it is not extensive. Its sheer size just doesn't allow Kitch to get as in depth as she could. She promises so much in the introduction, but isn't able to deliver all that she promises.

The books briefness keeps it from being extensive, but it is still able to provide me with a more organized knowledge of how stereotypes of women in the media such as the ever-popular blonde bombshell came about.

After obtaining some old women's magazines from the 1900's, I wanted to learn more about drawings of women which graced these magazine covers. I also wanted to understand why illustrations were used far more often than photos, even after photos were used for the ads within the magazines themselves.
This book was just what I needed to understand not only what the illustrators were trying to say about women's roles at the time but about how so many of these images and stereotypes of the "ideal" woman still permeate our magazines (and culture) today. If you've ever doubted that "what goes around comes around again" when it comes to women's stereotypes and ideals, reading this book may change your mind.
For those familiar with such icons of The Golden Age of Illustration as C. Coles Phillips's Fadeaway Girls or the rather sophisticated women of J. C. Leyendecker or any other artists of the time, this book will be a delight, revealing new insights about the artists visions. For those interested in social history, the book is equally engaging, showing how artist who drew cover girls for popular magazines such as Life, Saturday Evening Post and Good Housekeeping also worked for major businesses and even the government, helping to perpetuate the popular images of women throughout the culture.

As the saying goes, "Beauty is not skin deep." Of course, that doesn't matter to the American media; it would seem that in their opinion, there's no place in our society for anyone whose beauty is not evident on the surface. Moreover, the standards of beauty on television and in the print media set the bar quite high. A pretty face won't do; to be a superstar, you need to bare lots of skin, like Britney.

Thinking back to Victorian-era prudishness, when a girl's *ankles* couldn't be exposed and when a woman's place was in the home, it's hard to imagine how our culture got to this point. How did we women get to where we are today? And what relationships, if any, are there between the way we live life and the media images surrounding us?

To learn the answers to these questions and more, read "The Girl on the Magazine Cover." Kitch, a journalist and historian, presents a compelling case for women's journey from "matronly" to "dangerous but beautiful" to "cute, skinny, and sexually free." Her focus is on 1895 through 1930, a period of some of the most rapid changes in our history, when technology, early feminism, and higher education intersected. Kitch argues that one result of their intersection was the "new woman," whose liberation was quickly co-opted by the forces of capitalism and consumerism into little more than a marketing tool. (Progress, indeed!)

Note that Kitch's focus is broader than the title would imply: She devotes one chapter to depictions of African-American women, another to the crisis of masculinity faced by men in this era of change, and still another to families. Her epilogue is quite strong, drawing connections between the depictions of women in early magazines to the depictions of women on television today.

In sum, "The Girl on the Magazine Cover" is an evocative, compelling contribution to the fields of mass communication and women's studies. Kitch's arguments are sound, backed with extensive research and illustrated by well-chosen reproductions of period magazine artwork. If the media, women's rights, and/or stereotyping are of interest, then this is the book for you!

I thought The Giver was a very creative book. The story is very interesting,and makes you want to read more. It is easy to follow,and hard to put down. The Giver is very well written,and I hope there will be a sequel!

This book was the best book are grade 7 class read all year. I thnk everyone enjoyed it. Our teacher picked avery good book for our science fiction unit. I recommened this book tho teachers and all students!Ü

This book is an exciting, and suspense thrilling book. I may only be 13, but I people think i don't uynderstand the meaning of a book. Lois Lowry did a very good job telling my eighth grade class about this new mysterious world. She expressed the feelings of each character very nicely. If anyone would say otherwise, I would wonder why they think that.
It is true that it is a sad book, but it kept me in suspense and I like that in my reading. My class was very surprised about the ending and about how they released people, in fact I was deeply saddened by the way they release. I was touched by the thought that Jonas, the young Six, Gabriel, and The Giver were the only ones with pale eyes.
If anyone would like to know more aboiut this book,I recomend reading it. I will read it again even though I have just finished today. It was a great book, Lois Lowry if you are reading this review, I will tell you right now that it was a painful, joyful, hateful, great book. I have to admit, while I was reading this book in class, my teacher would stop reading at the best parts, so I was little upset about that, but I finally got to the end and it was wonderful. All my thanks to Lois Lowry for her book.
Dear Lois Lowry,
If you are reading this please consider writing a sequel to this book. I would be greatful to find out what happens next to Jona and little Gabe. If you decide not to write a sequel please contact me somehow, I would be greatful to hear from you too. well that is all for now.
From,
Elizabeth Johnson

I think this book is one of the best books I've ever read. I liked how Jonas was so innocent and unaware in the beginning of the book and by the end was breaking all the rules to do what he felt was right. The book is a great for giving the little guys courage to do whatever they want.