Beginners Books

At first when i opened the book to read it i almost knew it was going to be good so thats why i had to keep reading it i wish it wasnt so short because i would like to now where raven went, and did she stand up to everybody that she thought was mean. how could she stand up to lucy's aunt if she was so mean this book have thoght me how to speak mty mind even more now and that your opoion always count no matter what.

The book The Indian School was a very good book. This book was about an Indian school that taught Indian childern without a family. The Indian childern at the Indian school have certain chores they have to do. A white girl named Lucy came to live with her uncle Edward and aunt Emma. They owned the Indian school. Lucy had to come to live with her uncle and aunt because her father and mother were killed in an accident. So Lucy was sent to her uncle and aunt. An Indian girl and boy came to the Indian school because their Indian father brought them to stay there while he went north. After the winter their Indian father came back to get them. He thanked Edward and Emma for taking care of them. Edward and Emma asked them if they would stay. Did they or did they not stay? Read the book and find out. I think you will enjoy the book.

I loved this book. It is a beautiful portrait of friendship and loss. There are three strong female characters--one white girl, and two Indian girls, all about age 12. When Lucy, the white girl, sees how Raven stands up to Aunt Emma, Lucy begins to wonder whether it is true that "The meek shall inherit the earth." This book uncovers many issues of American history that are usually left buried. I recommend this book to everyone. After I read this book, I turned the cover over and over, searching for a "gold" or "silver" medal. I could not believe that this book had not won any awards.

When I turned to the first page of the book,I thought that it was going to be boring.But when I went further and further,I was engrossed in the book.I feel more like Raven,one of the character in the book.Unlike,Lucy,Raven is bold and speaks her mind.She is obstinate but I think that children should be that way to get what they want.Lucy is too meek and never demands for what she wants.Every children must have their right to do something.We must stand up to the grownups.I also learned about friendship.Raven and Lucy were different in many ways but they still maintain their friendship.This book teaches me a lot of things.I especially like Raven's behaviour.I am very attached to Raven.I find this book very enthralling and it is one of my favourite books.

First concern: The book is written by a non-Native, albeit one sensitive to several issues around indigenous peoples' assimilation into "white culture." Second: I'm a teacher, not a child. This book claims to be about a 3rd grade reading level. I'm not sure a 3rd grader could relate to it. I'm not even sure a 5th grader would -- unless an adult read it to her. It's another one of those lovely books that grown-ups sigh over, but children find a little light on the action. The themes are important though, and this gives it reason to be read, at least aloud.

Our baby daughter loves this book. She'd ask for it every day for months. The story especially appeals to her because she enjoys dressing up and she also enjoys birds. The collage illustrations are clever and beautiful.

A children's tale about Jennie and her obsession with hats (she even sneezes "HAT-CHOO!"). The book's theme revolves around hat trimmings, a vital element in the success of any finished hat.

When purchasing a book without reading every word, there is often a drawback.
While it is a cute book, both in illustration and imaginative narrative, there is a reference to wearing a hat for "church" which may present an issue for those for whom this is not appropriate. You can always make substitutes if need be.
~I

I was thrilled to see that "Jennie's Hat" was once again available. I first "met" Jennie in the library of one of the elementary schools that I served as an art teacher. I liked the story and loved the illustrations which feature clever and colorful collages. It was the collage illustrations that led me to adapting an introductory collage lesson that I've presented to my fourth graders for years. It became a lesson that I always looked forward to as the children really enjoyed both the story (which I modified slightly to include children in the class) and the art activity derived from the story. The lesson evolved over my 32 years in elementary education but the story of "Jennie's Hat" has remained a timeless constant. I am ordering a copy of the book as a gift for my student teacher who will hopefully carry on the activity. Carl A. Hess Art Teacher Hamburg (PA) Area School District

Found this book after a recent move - in a box - with a billion other books - I haven't seen it in years - though I do remember and am grateful to find it again - Going to buy a copy for my sister (Jennie)Wonderful and joyous!!!

I even enjoyed listening to the funny antics of Junie B. She will never bore me or my kids.

My Son is in the 2nd Grade and is a good reader. They introduced Junie B. Jones in his reading class and he really thought the stories were funny. I bought some books and on a whim bought the audio cassettes, I let the boys listen to it at bedtime and it is so great to hear the laughter coming from their room. They have listened to the tapes about a hundred times and I highly recommend them for parents. I was pleased to see my 3 year old enjoys them as well. I am going to buy the whole collection. It does encourage them to read because I see them following along with the books they have from school.

Me and my sister listen to a Junie B. Jones story tape every night. I really like the one where Junie B. Jones is a party animal. And Junie B. Jones is not a crook. They're both a thousand percent five stars! I like how Lana Quintal reads it. She really sounds like a kindergarten girl.

These books are terrific for kids in a wide range of ages--mine are 3, 5, and 8, and they all love them (they are over the head of the 3-year-old, but he's still mesmerized). Amazingly, the audiobooks are even better than the print versions. Lana Quintal, whose child-like voice seems a little grating at first, stands up incredibly well to repeat (and repeat and repeat) listening. She gets the tone just right. My kids are happy listening to these tapes in the car even on those long journeys that are usually occasion for hours of complaining. Worth gold! We have a few of the cassette collections, and although they are all great, this one is probably the best.

My 4 year old and 6 year old want to listen to Junie B. Jones tapes every night and while on car trips. They started with an audiotape and soon were asking us to read all 16 books from the library. Very fun stories for kids and grownups alike. Barbara Parks has a wonderful sense of humor.

I initially checked this out of my public library. But I eventually felt I used it and kept it for so long that I had to have my own copy. It has beautiful and colorful pictures that make a great display for a kids parties.

Love this book, simple step by step and fun too!!. I am not a good baker, but this book is going to make me a very good one.
A must buy, and the kids can have lots of fun making these wonderful cookies.

I love to bake, and I've purchased quite a few cookie books, but this one -- which a friend gave to my children -- is by far the best cookie book out there. I've tried every recipe in the book, and they're all delicious. This book is not just for children. And there are cookies for a wide variety of occasions. Simply put, it's the BEST.

this book is worth getting. the recipes are easy for that age group. it uses simple ingredients. my grandchildren love making things from it. the illustrations are also beautiful.

I love this cookbook. The recipes are simple and delicious. I use it all the time. If you are looking for some great cookie recipes or a simple cookbook, buy this book- you won't regret it.

I do not feel this book is appropriate for young children. (4 years old). there are many weapons referenced throughout the story. On the first page, the young girl walks outside holding a sling shot. near the end of the story, the grandmother walks out holding an ax as she is going after the wolf, and then it reads, "she snatched her shotgun..."

This book is a really cute cowboy take-off on the old Little Red Riding Hood story. It is appropriate for 3 through 8 year olds. They would enjoy reading and comparing both stories.

This book entertains in an olde, but new fashioned manner.
It is a wonderful take-off of the Big bad wolf theme, and my granddaughter loved the cowgirl twist to it.

An American Southwest setting for the classic "Little Red Riding Hood" tale. Red's cowboy hat replaces Red's hood and the rest is literary history. Great illustrations of the Southwest and a right-on grandma from strong American pioneer stock: "That yellow-bellied, snake-blooded, skunk-eyed, rancid son of a parallelogram! . . . This time he picked the wrong grandma".

Far from the thoughtless, shrinking-violet waif-girl of older European tales, the red-headed, red-hatted Little Red of this fairy tale is a rootin' tootin' pre-feminist with a pistol for a granny. Our young cowgirl recognizes the Big Bad Wolf for the baddie he is but she was taught, in proper Texas tradition, to be polite to strangers....Granny and Little Red outsmart ol' Big Bad and hang out afterward to chew the fat about how girls can look after themselves. Hilariously illustrated and with authentic Wild West language, this tall tale will steal your heart!

This review pertains to the "We Both Read" series not just this individual volume.
I discovered these books when my 5YO brought them home from the school library. They are unique stories full of sight words and repetition on the child's page - all reinforcing the reading skills that they are learning in school. I have had a hard time finding books for the beginner reader that are neither too simplistic to keep their interest nor too difficult for the true beginner. The adult's page is not so simplistic as to bore an adult to tears but still simple enough that an older child can read to the younger one.
The process of taking turns makes the reading easy so as not to frustrate beginners if they have to get through a whole book themselves and at the same time does not let them sit passive while you read a whole book to them. The books keep the child actively engaged as they have to notice when it is their turn to read. In addition to learning the words, they are learning verbal cues from your tone to determine when it is their turn (often with a rhyming word) and they can learn how to read with expression.
I have bought at least a dozen titles in this series for my own kindergartener and for several other children at this age level. Everyone (parents and kids) has been very happy with them and they have asked where I found them. My niece, a first grade teacher, has even recommended them to her school for their "Reading Buddy" program where kindergarteners are paired with 5th graders.

The Mom's Choice Awards® honors excellence in family-friendly media, products and services. An esteemed panel of judges includes education, media and other experts as well as parents, children, librarians, performing artists, producers, medical and business professionals, authors, scientists and others. A sampling of the panel members includes: Dr. Twila C. Liggett, Ten-time Emmy-winner, professor and founder of Reading Rainbow; Julie Aigner-Clark, Creator of Baby Einstein and The Safe Side Project; Jodee Blanco, New York Times Best-Selling Author; LeAnn Thieman, Motivational speaker and coauthor of seven Chicken Soup For The Soul books; Florrie Binford-Kichler, Founder of Patria Press, Inc.- an award-winning independent publisher and Member of The Children's Book Council; Tara Paterson, Certified Parent Coach, and founder of The Just For Mom Foundation(tm) and the Mom's Choice Awards®. Parents and educators look for the Mom's Choice Awards® seal in selecting quality materials and products for children and families. This book has been honored by this distinguished award.

What's a little ladybug to do when the school bus is coming and she can't find her shoes? With the help of her friends she searches everywhere for the lost shoes. With rich colors, the detailed illustrations keep a child's attention riveted to the book. This book is one of the We Both Read series where more detailed reading is on the left side of the page for the parent to read and the child's page on the right has only two or three words in larger type. "Lulu's Lost Shoes" is a recommended children's book for all ages.

This book keeps everyone happy when my 6 year old (or my 4 year old) want to help read, but the 3 year old doesn't have the patience to listen to stories at their pace.

We have about four of the "We read togher" books. Lu Lu's shoes is the hands down favorite. Cute story line, nice illistrations and just a few words on the child's side.

Some of the books in this series were about equal difficulty on the child and parent sides. When your child can read that well, there are millions of books (many with better illistrations/stories) they can help read. The joy of this series to to have books they can help read when they still need to sound out each letter.

To see how difficult the book is, check the exerpts part of the 'look inside' section to see a sample of the parent side,the child side, and the illistrations.

I recently purchased "Lulu's Lost Shoes" by Paula Blankenship to give to my grandson who just graduated from preschool. I had the joy to watch his mother read it with him for the first time. The book is so creatively written and illustrated that my grandson was able to read his pages with ease. The ease of his reading comprehension captivated the attention of everyone in the room which increased his desire to read it again and again and again... This is creditably one of the best investments I have ever made.

What a great little story. Would recommend this book to anyone.

I thought this children's book was very well written. The book teaches lessens on how to overcome some fears children may have. It also shows the importance of family love. Excellent book!!!

I thought this little book has everything to keep a little one's interest. It has friendship, love and how to overcome fear as well as adventure. One of the nicest childrens' books I've read.

My little boy had a fear of darkness, after reading this story together it gave me a different veiw of helping him with this fear. Needless to say The story and I helped him, he no longer fears the darkness. What a cute way to get a message across.
Karen

I read this book to my granddaughter and I enjoyed it as much as she did! It reminded both of us how important family is and no material object can replace or show the love we have for each other.
Garry

Good old Amelia Bedelia! When Christmas is just around the corner, she just has to figure out which one! How can such a simple world turn out to be so complicated for America's favorite young housekeeper?

Only hoping to follow directions to the T, Amelia makes a date cake using dates -- but not the fruit kind, the numbers cut from a calendar page! And stuffing stockings for the neighbor's children is sure to be an adventure that defies description!

Merry Christmas, Amelia Bedelia is sure to be a favorite for young readers, and a wonderful opportunity to enjoy learning the wonders of word play!

Highly recommended!

I have to admit I don't quite get Amelia Bedelia's charms, but after reading this book series to countless ESOL students over the years, I have to say, it works like a charm. They love it! I am talking about beginning students in middle school as well as young children. I think that because the students are learning English and we have so many ways of using words and terms, that they identify with Amelia Bedelia. She also goes farther than they would in making mistakes so it seems safer and Ok to admit those mistakes people make when trying to understand many idioms. I think the books have always been successful to me when students are at this reading level.

This book is really good for children of all ages. It shows you that you have to explain things in detail, because someone might take you literally. The writer is comical and serious at the ssame time which is a good combonation. This book also shows that you can mess up and things can still come out right.

I think that this is a good book for little kids. It is fun for them to read. When little kids read this they always laugh at how Amelia always makes mistakes. She always seems to do something wrong.

When I was a kid, I wore Merry Christmas Amelia Bedelia out! I probably couldn't tell you much about the plot, but anybody who's ever read an Amelia Bedelia book knows that it's all about her doing everything wrong! The only thing that sticks with me is the picture of Amelia stuffing the Christmas stockings with turkey stuffing, which to this day I find hilarious. I don't know what it is about this one particular story, maybe it's because it's the only Amelia Bedelia book I ever read, but I love it just the same. I my mind, it ranks up there with Charlotte's Web and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory; it's just one of those funny, timeless books that fed my lifelong passion for reading and writing.

This book was recommended to me by a wonderful older jazz guitarist on YouTube.

This is a great book. Nothing fancy, just basic jazz.

Live it.
Learn it.
Love it.

I've had this book and volume 2 for over 30 years and always find myself coming back to them every so often. I learned my first jazz chords from book 1 and those voicings still feel like home. There's a lot of practical knowledge on chord substitutions and embellishment. I still play the little intro chord melodies that reminded me of the Mills Brothers.

The soloing section is a good foundation in what I'd describe as "post-Charlie Christian-but-not-quite-Wes-style" lines. Riff blues, Rhythm Changes, etc. As someone has said, these books are pre-tab and I'll make the obligatory pitch to encourage guitarists to read music - it doesn't take long to learn the basics and it will open musical doors that you'll never regret opening.

Volume 2 deals strictly with chord soloing and harmonization and some of the nomenclature (i.e. "T1 T2") leads me to think that Baker may have studied the Schillinger system at some point. I always found book 2 more difficult and less systematic than book 1, but I know there's good stuff in there if you're patient enough to extract it.


With the wealth of material available today I'm a bit amazed but happy to see these books still in print. It must be older teachers who used them years ago and remember how solid they were. I hope young players have the patience to get something out of them.

This is one of the few books I could get back in the mid 60's to help me understand what was going on in jazz chords. Mickey Baker teaches in this book rather like I was taught 50 years ago - look at these sets of chords, see how they sound better than a straight set of majors and minors, practice them like this exercise. And so on until you get better. Interestingly, Mickey talks about how much practice you should do - 2 hours a day and each lesson will take you about a week, he says - so there's a years work at 2 hours a day according to Mickey. But by that time you should be able to comp really well and solo over any jazz tune. (Well as well as you can get in one year anyway!) This is a very practical book and one that any player having got the basics down should be able to start. Some of the chords are difficult to finger - but who says playing is easy anyway? You'll find nothing here you can't use and an approach which is very much like all good player use - no unuseable chords or fingerings, no harmony or techique just for the sake of it. All good practical playing tools.

This book is pretty much the same as the blue version, which is revised and updated in it's layout. And there's a second book that's yellow and orange cover to follow this black and yellow book one (I know cause I've got them all).

By the way - being from the 50's these books don't have TAB. But as all the chords are charted and most of the music is written in simple keys like C D G F Bb, you should be OK. At this level of playing you should be able to do this sort of basic reading.

Mickey Baker Book 1 is a bit of a misnomer, it sounds like it could be a beginner's book, let me assure you it is not. You should have some guitar skills before tackling this book. It moves very quickly through the first few lessons (which will take you a while), but the exercises do help you develop an ear for jazz chord voicing and turnarounds. It's a great book and still a classic after 50 years!

I think Mickey Baker's Complete Course In Jazz Guitar - is very good book.

My wife and I just read this book to our five-year-old who loves farm animals, and all three of us were laughing out loud. My wife and I agree that this is our favorite children's book of all time, slightly better than Jan Brett's "The Mitten."

I purchased this book for my library and read it regularly during my storytimes to pre-schoolers. I have also read it to the kids during the Summer Fun program. The story lends itself very well to reading aloud and is a very entertaining book for all ages. I enjoy it so much, I've decided to buy a personal copy.

My children love this book. We have checked it out from the library so many times I figured I might as well buy it. The cows are so loveable and the story even appeals to adults.

I bought Minnie & Moo go to the Moon for my 4-year old daughter. While reading it to her, I laughed so hard I could hardly continue the book. It's a great story for children and adults alike. I liked it so much I went back and bought 5 more copies to send to family & friends to read. My office mates even bought copies for themselves. A wonderful hilarious story.

This uproariously funny book had every one --adults included -- laughing throughout. Minnie, always the logician, decides that all she needs to drive the farmer's tracker are his boots and hat. A skeptical Moo joins her for a tumultuous ride through the farm yard, passed a flying pig to...the moon? We loved the magic words the cows used to get the tracker started. The moonsters looked suspiciously like angry, featherless chickens.