Language Arts Books

"60 Ways" really helped shape my office systems and helped me organize my speaker efficiently. I feel this book is an excellent resource for all offices, no matter what industry you work in. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to manage better and create a successful work environment for yourself, your staff and your customers!

Teresa Esparza
National Sales Director for Jack Canfield
"Chicken Soup for the Soul"

This is a great quick, easy read for anyone involved in the speaking industry. Vic is a leader in knowing how to market a professional speaker and shares his years of experience in this book. If you are serious about growing any business you need to read this book.

60 Ways is practical, insightful and on target for veterans and newbies. It helped me get focused on activities that matter. For people new to the speaking industry it's a great book to read to get started.

Vic literally 'wrote the book' about running a speaker's business! Kerry Huntington

My 5 yr old daughter's favorite book. The focus is alliteration. Each letter is originally illustrated and has an interesting description.

This well illustrated and eye catching alphabet book is like no other. Children will be excited by the colorful and unique drawings while the reader will be thrilled to be using unsual vocabulary to descibe the extraordinary adjective and nouns. This is one book that can be repeatedly read for fun without falling asleep!

I'd have to agree with the previous reviewer that this is a great book.

I really enjoy reading it to our son, who, with this book's help, has articulated his first letter (O). It is enjoyable for adults and captivating for children.

The pictures are great, and I am very impressed that the letters drawn in the title are drawn differently to those throughout the book. Just detail is quite unusual in this digital age. The Peter Rabbit and Jemima Puddleduck books these days use the same pictures over and over again, just cut & pasted into different contexts.

Well done Mordicai Gerstein! 5 stars! Thoroughly recommended!

I chose to read this book for a Children's Lit. class in college. It was one of the most amusing alphabet books I found. The pictures are absolutely great. The book contains tons of volcabulary words (ie. ferocious, jabbering, and quizzical) for those who already know their ABCs. It could be used in the classroom by having kids make up their own monsters using letters assigned to them. Then they could all be compiled to make an alphabet book written and illustrated by the whole class.

Overall, I loved this book. Kids will have a lot of fun with this one!

This book is abought a boy that's shy and for his birthday he gets a puppy. He and his new dog make three new friends who change his life. I really liked the book because I love reading about dogs.

This book is called Absolutely Lucy by Ilene Cooper . The book is about a boy named Bobby Quinn. Bobby Quinn is a very shy boy, but that all changes when he gets his birthday present, a little squirmy puppy. Her name is Lucy. Unlike bobby Lucy isn't shy at all. To his surprise, she keeps dragging him into all sorts of adventures , and friendships too! This story is a great book to read, because it's funny and nice to read. So if you like funny, happy books with dogs read Absolutely Lucy.

Absolutely Lucy



Absolutely Lucy is a book by Ilene Coper. This book has a true message to it. This message is that friends come in all shapes, colors, sizes, and even species. Also that friends help build corage and ease your pain.


In Absolutely Lucy a boy named Bobby turns from a shy boy with no friends to an outcoming boy with many friends. All of this just from Lucy. I guess you can even say Lucy is a hero!!! Lucy and Bobby end up meeting someone named Mr. Davis. Lucy saved his life!!! WHAT A HERO!!! GO LUCY!!!



So as you can see Lucy is a great dog and Bobby is learning to live off his life the best he can. Lucy is such a great dog she is helping everyone.



Absolutely Lucy is a fun and enjoying book for kids of all ages. It will get kids to want to read on. Read the fun and enjoying book Absolutely Lucy and read the fun adventures of Bobby, Lucy, and Mr.Davis. Its absolutely the best book ever! I would!!!
By:Sarina

I've tried, unsucessfully, a number of times to introduce my son to chapter books. He is only four, but will be turning five soon. I wanted him to experience the imaginative process of developing an image in his mind from what he hears. This is the first book that has held his interest. He can't read it himself but I can see his face change expression as he listens - I know his mind is at work. We always only read one chapter at a time, drawing the story out. He always can recall the story up to the starting point and is anxious to hear another chapter. I feel like the "magic" of books has been taken to a new level for our little reader - what an amazing thing to see.

Josef Pieper is one of my favorite contemporary philosophers. He gives you all the commonsense, all the grandeur, all the Truth that has passed down through history, all the way back to Aquinas, to Augustine, to Paul, to Christ. What more dare we ask for?

Albert Einstein (1879-1955)once wrote, "It is better to live uncomfortably with the truth than contentedly with lies." Joseph Pieper would agree except, Joseph Pieper would argue that living with truth and honesty can make men live comfortably. Jospeh Pieper's small book titled ABUSE OF LANGUAGE:ABUSE OF POWER is a serious book which makes this very clear to readers.

Pieper begins this book with a serious treatment of Plato's (427-347 BC)serious dispute with the Ancient Athenian sophists who taught men to use clever words and communication to deceive men with total disregard for truth. Plato argued that the sophists were very dangerous men because of their intellectual prowess and supposed sophistication. The unleaned could be easily misled and become dangerous because of the respect given to the sophists which they did not deserve. Readers may ask what is the relevance of the dispute between Plato and the sophists to modern Western "Civilization." One answer may be studied in the Bolshevik (Communist)Revolution in Russia in 1917. Those who engineered this revolution were members of a declasse intelligensia who knew the use and abuse of language.

Pieper then makes a solid point that any communication (language) between an honest man and a liar is useless since the liar has nothing to offer leading to knowledge. Pieper states in effect that the honest man may just as well be talling to thin air, or hot air. The liar is trying to manipulate and gain power over the honest man which is destructive to the honest man if he unaware.

Pieper has an interesting explanation of the destruciveness of flattery. The flatterer is trying to intellectually disarm those whom he flatters to gain advantage. A knowledgeable man who is honest is immune to such flattery. However, flattery can be used to undermine the victim to the advantage dishonest person. A good example is in the Book of Genesis whereby the snake successfully flatters Eve to her destruction as well that of Adam.

Pieper uses Plato's DIALOGUES using Socrates' statements regarding an honest search for truth which could lead to bona fide knowledge, better thinking, wisdom, and ultimately Divine Wisdom which Plato thought should be the ultimate goal of civlized men. The religous implications of the concept of Divine wisdom are obvous. Sophistry (the sophists)has no regard for knowledge or Divine Wisdom and is only concerned with material advantage and corruption of language. This in turn means corrpution of thought and has nothing to with actual learning.

Pieper is not complaining about ignorance. This reviewer defines ignorance as not knowing. An honest ignorant man can learn from an honest learned man which benefits the former. A good example is the communication between student and teacher. Plato's DIALOGUES uses such example to let readers know that those who are not learned can indeed learn.

Pieper shows scorn for advertising and media. He comments that advertising appeals to the lowest human instincts in an attempt to promote materialism to the point of lack of respect of others and lack of self respect. Pieper argues that advertising and media appeal to sexual exploitation, disregard for any civilized values, uncontrolled violence, etc. The point has been reached in Western "Civilization" that the masses are taught to take sadistic pleasure at the tragic misfortunes of others.

With the emergence of mass media and advertising, tyrants and despots have enhanced their power. Tyrants are alert to the effectiveness of propaganda and advert6ising in deceiving the masses. Threats of physical violence are blurred by the abuse of language. Such words as purges, liquidation, etc. are substituted for actual concentration camp brutality and mass murder. The masses are complicit in such evil by their indifference and "a ruthless desire to conform." Tyrants and despots must have enemies, real or imagined, to promote a materialistic utopia which ignores wisdom and "ultimate values."

The second part of the book uses Aristotle's (384-322 BC) and St. Thomas Aquinas'(1225-1274 AD)thinking to futher illustrate authenic learning and honest reason to help men learn wisdom and ultimately "Divine Wisdom." Both men argued that through logic, learning, etc. men could approach God, The Prime Motor, The Unmoved Mover, etc. by serious study and honest truth. What Pieper implies that these men and many in the historical Catholic Church did was to enshrine reason next to Devine Revelation and to learn more of Divine Revelation. Reason and honesty were to be communicated to enhance learning and religious understanding as well as relgious convictions. HOnest communication meant so much to these men.

Another example from Ancient History can be gleaned from Thucydides'(c.460 BC-c.400 BC)book THE PELOPONESIAN WAR. Beginning on page 242 (Penguin Edition)Thucydides showed serious concern of how war and revolution corrupted language, honest character,etc. and enhanced corrupt political power. George Orwell's 1984 has disturbing comments on the abuse of language especially beginning on page 17.

Pieper's book should require careful reading even for its small size. Pieper's book is clear that those who are concerned with honest communication, truth, honest discourse, etc. are free from petty materialism and apprehensive concern for conformity. On page 54, Pieper cites a quote from Boethius (c. 480-520 AD)who wrote, "The human soul, in essence, enjoys its highest freedom when it remains in the comtemplation of God's mind." Boethius wrote this in his jail cell on the eve of his execution.

We drive down the freeway of life and are bombarded with little slogans and attempts to convince and smartly convert us to a way of thinking with marketing bill boards, or through the mail, on TV, in the paper - subtle attempts to steal our minds by over-loading them with a coorporate marketing agenda and sloganism. A bit abusive language on my part.

The question is worth pondering, and the questions raised in this book are of the sort that any educated man should ponder, even if there is no solution, it makes great "smartening-up" not "dumbing down" (sloganism) of the curriculum. Peiper persuasively argues that communication is not happening as much as might be thought, because communication must be void of ulterior motives. And his arguement that we must be able to express our view of the "truth of things" in freedom; why many do not is due to what he calls "the lingo of the revolution".

In this slender, but powerful work, the great (and often overlooked) Thomistic scholar Josef Pieper sends out a call to arms against "every partisan simplification, every ideological agitation, every blind emotionality . . . [and] well-turned yet empty slogans . . ." He pulls no punches in taking on those modern (and ancient) sophists who rape and pillage language in order to obtain political power and cultural currency. He also takes on modern advertising, noting that we live in an age and culture where "what is decisive is not what you say, but how you say it." In an era of politically-correct pap, vapid mantras and bumper-sticker philosophy, this book sends a clear, clean note of truth into the murky darkness of a deafened and confused populace.

I love to write. But honestly, I've been fearing having to teach writing skills to middle school or high school students. Yet when I found this book, my fears vanished. Golub delicately instructs teachers how to stimulate students of all grade levels to write. His focus is to shift the process of reading and writing from a solitary activity to an interative group activity. He gives WONDERFUL illustrations of interactive group activities that are both fun for the teacher and the students. He questions the traditional classroom setting where the teacher simply gives students a "hand-out" with formulas and patterns for writing a paper. He challenges teachers to take on the role of designer and director in the classroom. In this way, knowledge is construted, not transmitted. This interactive classroom concept is the intstructive approach all teachers should adapt to. Golub's ideas for teaching students to write are both refreshing and creative. Without a doubt, this is a wonderful book which educators of all grade levels should have.

I have Dr. Golub as a professor at the University of South Florida so I speak from experience when I say this man is a genious. His activities are proven by his students in class; we all have fun and that carries over into our own classroom. I have more ideas from Dr. G than any other insructor I've ever had. He truly gives humorous and unusual ways of challenging students. This book is only the start...

I love to write. But honestly, I've been fearing having to teach writing skills to middle school or high school students. Yet when I found this book, my fears vanished. Golub delicately instructs teachers how to stimulate students of all grade levels to write. His focus is to shift the process of reading and writing from a solitary activity to an interative group activity. He gives WONDERFUL illustrations of interactive group activities that are both fun for the teacher and the students. He questions the traditional classroom setting where the teacher simply gives students a "hand-out" with formulas and patterns for writing a paper. He challenges teachers to take on the role of designer and director in the classroom. In this way, knowledge is construted, not transmitted. This interactive classroom concept is the intstructive approach all teachers should adapt to. Golub's ideas for teaching students to write are both refreshing and creative. Without a doubt, this is a wonderful book which educators of all grade levels should have.

English teachers who are moving with the standards and performance models of change are sure to appreciate Jeffrey Golub's book because it has practical suggestions about how to set up a positive and supportive climate and teach skills. As he gives practical ideas on teaching discrete listening and writing skills, he also imparts his main ideas on the interactive classroom, a place where students make meaning as they develop their language skills. I found the book to be full of content, clarifying ideas, and a philosophy of teaching that matches and furthers my own practice. The added plus is that the style is lively, humorous and easy to read. A delight!

Definitely a book that I recommend to friends. If you are interested in the political process, Watergate, Nixon; or simply this tumultuous period in American history then this book is for you. And it's grammatically correct too. Rob--Fairhope, AL

Even today, it's difficult to be objective about Richard Nixon. Author Russ Witcher succeeds, however, in his seminal study about how Nixon dealt with the press in the two decades following his resignation from the presidency. Relying on articles about Nixon in the three national newsweeklies during this period, Witcher presents a dispassionate look at how Nixon's image improved in the national print media. By quantifying the number of positive and negative statements the newsweeklies made about the former president, Witcher avoids the subjectivity that has marred much of the earlier research that has been done about Mr. Nixon.

Russ Witcher's superb study of Richard Nixon's post-presidential rehabilitation in the media is long overdue. Many observers have said that Nixon was largely successful in improving his media image during the last 20 years of his life, but Witcher has the numbers to prove it. In an exhaustive look at every article written in Newsweek, Time, and U.S. News & World Report about Nixon from his resignation in 1974 until his death in 1994, Witcher finds that Nixon improved his image over time in all three of the newsweeklies. Such research is a testament to Nixon's perseverance to fight to be known as more than The Watergate Man. That fight found its ultimate culmination at Nixon's funeral when even President Clinton declared that the days of judging Nixon on anything less than his whole life and career were over.

Russ Witcher's book, that Watergate thing, is one of the best books that I have ever read. The tension kept me on the edge of my seat! The climatic conclusion is unparalled by anything except for certain Betty Davis movies. Keep up the good work, Russ. I hope to see more work from you in the near future.

Chock full of insights and thoughts on how to get your arms around the whole Web2.0 idea. This collaborative book is like talking over coffee with over 100 of the thought leaders. Highly recommend. And all proceeds go to charity. Brilliant.

I like to bring this book when I do speeches about viral marketing, Web2.0 and blogging because it gives a very tangible example of the power of new media. The whole concept of world conversation can be a bit intimidating or frightening to some, but The Age of Conversation brings it to a concrete level.

Looking forward to the August release of The Age of Conversation '08.

The Age of Conversation is a book about the conversations that are transforming the business marketing landscape. It is about how various marketing disciplines such as advertising, internet advertising, public relations and journalism have to change the way they talk to their consumers to be heard. It emphasizes that the most important part in a conversation is listening. This is why it is important :)

It is a remarkable book with many authors, each giving a very personal view on the topic of conversation - in the broadest sense. As an internet publisher I engage in a conversation with many thousands of visitors each day. Marketing managersm Journalists all have conversations with the audiences they try to reach. And the audience tries to start conversations with brands and companies - sometimes even succeeding. Mainstream media, the web, blogs, PR professionals, everyone is part of the conversation :)

I got the book from a friend, at just the right time. It was very helpful in figuring out how communication is changing in the information age. The origin is simple; Editors Gavin Heaton and Drew McLellan challenged bloggers around the world to contribute one page -- 400 words -- on the topic of the conversation. Over a 100 responded, and this book is the result. It is a stunning effort, and I recommend it warmly. I gave my first copy away and bought a couple more. Currently I have one left. I cherish it.

The group of authors in "The Age of Conversation" understand book marketing and online promotion.

Not only are the authors each experts in their own right, they have used best practices in creating a wonderful example of publishing done right.

1. Over 100 contributors. Social is everything

2. Heavy involvement on the Internet

3. Connections back to the authors for you to learn more.

I'm buying a copy to connect with these smart people. This is a group that you should be following too.

This book was written collaboratively by 103 authors scattered all over the world. It provides a wealth and variety of insights about conversational marketing (social media) from an incredible breadth of perspectives. Lots of gems here.

These are just the right size letters for my preschooler to practice his handwriting. I love this workbook because it is nice and simple, and inexpensive.

There are two pages for each letter. Children can trace both capitol and lower-case letters, then practice making the shapes themselves. They identify the letters when jumbled with similar letters and complete alliterated sentences. It's fantastic for helping with letter formation, recognition and phonetic sounds.

My daughter is three. These worksheets have been a wonderful help to her and fun, too! She loves playing "school". The best part is the free copying!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

This is a very helpful workbook. In the beginning of the year, we do them in class. Once the kids get the hang of it, I send it home as H.W. for extra practice...good morning work, also. Many letter writing workbooks available on the market (and pages that come with reading and phonics series) have too many to trace or not enough. This one fits!! Good job, Scholastic!

my mom surprised me with this when she bought the alpha tales boxed set. i was blasting through the roof when i saw the workbook. it is fun because you get a lot of tracing practice for each letter and the stories match the alpha tales books. and you have fun activites too for each letter. my mom made copies so she could use them for my little brother too. the book said she could do that and now if i mess up she can just copy me another page to do. this book has more times of the letter on it to trace than my other writing book so it is more fun. you should get this book. i am now finished with what i want to say about this one. really - stop typing.

They really enjoyed this book!

I didn't believe anyone can make "grammar" interesting to children. I have been teaching children English grammar for ten years. I was bored to teach them such boring things but the author of this book has changed my thought absolutely.

I want to show them this book, but I'm afraid my children won't let it go until they have read it thousands of times!

My kids like all the pop-up which are well done. Our second grade teacher borrowed it...it came back with a few of the pop-ups destroyed but I'm buying a second copy. It is easy to really understand the grammar concepts after going through the book. It was a good way for an adult to learn too--just in case you want to know about prepositions or adverbs or other long forgotten concepts.

After playing with this book myself for 20 minutes, I decided that my daughter, who struggles with grammar, would enjoy going through it and reviewing. Even at age 10, she found it entertaining, and even took it to bed to read before falling asleep (WHAT? A GRAMMAR BOOK? ). As a kinetic learner, it made a huge impact on her; it is literally a "hands-on" presentation of basic grammatical concepts. I believe it would be an extremely useful tool for any classroom teacher to incorporate into their lessons, as well!

It's hard to believe that anyone could make grammar interesting and fun to learn, but Jennie Maizels and Kate Petty have done the impossible. Their colorful, detailed and busy Amazing Pop-Up Grammar Book is full of inventive games, puzzles and mysteries that turn the very dull into the very creative. Kids lift flaps, pull tabs, turn wheels, find hidden treasures and pop-ups as they learn about the different parts of speech and then get lots of entertaining practice activities putting this new knowledge to use. Perfect for children 7 and up and packed with hours of fun, youngsters will find something new and engaging to do every time they open the book.

One of the best studies I have ever read on the nature of power and domination. Wedeen asks the simple question of how Asad is able to keep power in Syria when all of the people know that all of the state propaganda is false. Her elegant answer gets right to the heart of what makes a ruler powerful. Asad rules not through totalitarianism, but through authoritarianism. What's the difference? A ruler who controls everything that the people think (like in North Korea) is not really dominating them, they just don't know any better. But a ruler like Asad rules because the people fear him and become unable to dissent as a result of Foucault-ian discursive practices.

This book will facinate anyone interested in the modern Middle East or the nature of power.

When I first traveled to Syria in the late 90's, I found the eerie, creepy phenomenon of what Wedeen terms Syria's state cult to be the most inscrutable, absurd and mind-boggling feature of the entire land-scape. After Asad's death, the succession of his son, Bashar, saw the ubiquity of his father's visage decline noticeably but still it did by no means disappear.

Wedeen's work does forcefully and with keen insight what I once thought was impossible. Though known to be patently absurd by all Syrians, inside and outside the elite, Wedeen argues cogently that this cult in its own way reinforces power for the state by demarcating the boundaries of political practice 'as if'...i.e., politics in Syria are to be practiced AS IF the cult expresses reality. Her analysis also broadens to include investigations of the vast amount of state resources squandered on the cult and the circumscribed efforts to resist and protest the gov't. Highly recommended reading for anyone studying the modern Middle East.

This engaging and often witty work asks the basic question, "how do rituals and symbols that are widely understood to be false or absurd help to support a regime?" Her answers help to complicate our understanding of the relationship between state symbolism and legitimacy in authoritarian states.

Happily, the value of this work is not limited to political theory. Indeed, for most readers, these theoretical issues will be secondary to the insights and observations Wedeen offers regarding the workings of the brutal and repressive Syrian regime. Her authorial tone is wry and, despite its theoretical sophistication, this is an easy work to read. In particular, her reliance on everyday communications and popular media and the breadth of examples she provides bring Syrian society to life in a way that few academic works have.

A ground-breaking exploration of the subtle ways power operates to structure everyday life. Rich in ethnographic detail and eloquently written. Definitely worth _much_ more than $17. A worthy read, not just for people interested in contemporary Middle Eastern politics, but for those interested in issues of power, discipline and resistance. Ms. Wedeen is a rising star in the field of Political Science. Bravo!!