Educational Books

I collect carousel material and do glass painting and polymer clay.this book is such an inspiration.Its one of the best to just have and try out techniques before making that color choice on the real thing.B.W.

Based on the reviews here, I bought this for my niece's birthday. She loved it so much she has carried it around with her for weeks. And she will not share it with her sister, so I am buying another one for her sister for Christmas.

This is a must-have for carousel enthusiasts(sp?)!The drawings are large and easy to see,and kids will spend a while coloring the pictures!

Carousel collectors and children who love to color will appreciate the attention to detail and beautiful blackline illustrations of this book. Many styles are represented, presentation is accurate and merry-go-rounds are always a favorite. Sure to be a best-seller in museums, bookstores, and amusement sites. Not limited to ponies, the book contains other creatures as well -- I particularly liked the tiger! I also liked the create-a-pony page, where young artists may add their own details to the drawing. Price is within even a limited budget.

This book was sooooooooooo funny!
It's about Alfie Mason, who lives with his topsy-turvy family. His mother is somewhat drunk and his grandfather, who has a point but never shuts up, and his sister, Alma. He spends every minute he can get drawing cartoons in the attic. But when his spoiled brother, Bubba, comes back to live with them, he has to sleep in the attic. Alfie decides to keep his beloved attic to himself, by shutting himself up in there. His family tries to get him out, but it is no use. He even skips school to stay in there. But I can't tell anymore, or I'd spoil it.

ISBN 0440410460 - Betsy Byars always does a good job with the various worlds of her young characters, and The Cartoonist is a great, if somewhat disturbing, example.

Alfie isn't just the youngest in his family, he is also the least. His mother loves her oldest son, Bubba, almost to the exclusion of her other two children. His grandfather, who also lives with them, rails against the government and has begun to feel useless, a feeling Alfie's mother reinforces often. Alma, Alfie's sister, is really the only adult in the house and through the book she slowly becomes vocal about Alfie's, and her own, dislike of their older brother, Bubba.

Alfie's family has moved many times, but this time they're in a house with an attic and Alfie has laid claim to it as his own retreat. Alma understands, but no one else seems to. Upstairs, Alfie draws cartoons, which he believes are works of art. Other things take a backseat to his interest in drawing, even school. His drawing and the attic are the most important things to him, so when Alma tells him that Bubba will be moving home, and bringing his wife, and that the couple will be living in the attic, the single thing Alfie has to call his own is threatened. His art isn't impressing people the way he thought it would, and now Bubba's going to take away Alfie's private space unless Alfie can find a way to stop him!

It's interesting that Alfie chooses humorous cartoons as his outlet, when throughout the book, he feels badly about himself that, unlike Bubba, he cannot make his mother laugh - worse, the only time he HAS made her laugh was by telling her a story about Bubba, but Alfie doesn't seem to realize that. Other than Alma, Alfie lives amongst people who don't seem capable of thinking of anyone but themselves. This Byars book is well worth reading, as usual. Richard Cuffari's illustrations are few but perfect.

This is a great example of what children's literature should be about. It tells a lot in a very few pages about how sad a child's life can be when the adults are less responsible than the children. We see Alfie's grim world through his eyes.

Alfie lives with his mother, grandfather and sister. Alfie's only interest in life is to draw cartoons. He draws at night, at school and any other time he can manage to sneak away. In the evening, he climbs up to the attic and closes the world of his loud abusive obnoxious mother behind so he can draw and dream about a better life.

Betsy Byars does a wonderful job of realistically portraying a grim world with an alcoholic mother and grandfather who do nothing but argue and watch television without beating the reader over the head with the harshness of it all. I felt real hope in Alfie as he tried to control his little world and keep it out of the hands of the irritating mother who fails to understand his artistic interests.

This book is really good. It's about a boy who loves to draw cartoons but his mother doesn't. He stays up in the attic drawing all the time. One day he finds out his older brother, who he dislikes, is moving in with them. Also he will be staying in the attic. Read the book to find out how Alfie defends his attic

Well worth ordering! The Celtic knot work is intricate, with an occasional surprise detail tucked into a corner. Very authentic-looking, with it's maze-like elements and fantastical creatures!

This book became an immediate favorite!

Way cool coloring book for older children & adults. Celtic design animals are hardly found in nature, but in the realm of the imagination they are wonders to behold. Celtic Animals Coloring Book is part of the useful Dover Pictorial Archive series, which means you can use these line drawings in your crafts or scan them & post them to your web pages.

Bob Rixon

this is a wonderful book which will keep you buy for a very long time.

The publisher allows you to use up to 4 images in a publication.

This is one of my favirite gifts to give to a 2 or 3 year old, since it ends with a Birthday Cake (or Birthday Spider, if you prefer). Never the same book twice. The illustrations fit together perfectly. I just wish there was more!!

This is a delightful and fun book that my 3-year-old just loves. It's very silly and it's something that a small child can "read" on their own too.

My almost three year old daughter and I love this book. The pages are divided into two parts so that each page features one bold picture cut in half of a spider, grandma, ice cream cone, etc.... You can mix and match the pages so you end up with silly combinations such as a strawberry flavored volcano or a birthday lemon. The combinations are endless. This book really keeps my daughter entertained. Opposite the pictures are the phrases describing the pictures also cut in half. On the top there is a descriptive phrase relating to the picture and the bottom features one word which tells you what the picture is such as cake, pizza, man. I read the descriptive part "eek a wriggly" and then encourage my daughter to try and fill in the one word part for example "ice cream". I think she is starting to make the connection between the word on the page and the picture. The other great thing about this book is it is sturdy. The pages are well made and it has kind of a spiral notebook binding which makes it really easy to flip the pages. I think this is a great book for keeping even the most atttention defecit toddler engaged in reading.

My 5-year-old son read this book at a friend's house and truly loved it. He is still talking about it several days later. The book consists of "dutch door" pages that allow you to turn the top & bottom independently creating belly-laugh-evoking combinations. This is sure to entertain any preschooler or early reader.

I thought that a comprehensive book explaining all basic stuff in a lively way would be an impossible task. But Mr. Eade has really made it!

Firstly, I love the 3-D diagrams, the layout of book is more visual as in usual chess books and I must admit it really works! There are first of all all the elementary stuff, rules etc but after that you get ao overview of opening principles, not forgetting the hypermodern approach. There's a section describing openings and their general ideas, there's a section for tactics and strategy.

I'm just overwhelmed of this superb book. James Eade explains some fundamental pawn structures which are typical for specific openings - that's something most beginner books don't do. There's some nice guide for essential endgame stuff, this book is simply the best beginner book availible I think players up to 1800 can benefit most of this book.

I'm about a USCF 1600 (Class B player) and I'm improving from this book because it is suitable for me.

This is why l like this James Eade chess book.
1. This book relies on the chess diagrams, not the chess notation, so learning from this book is easier because it's less confusing. Easy to follow diagrams!
2. I love the spiral form because the book holds flat by itself on a table! It is much better than paper back and hard back form!
3. There are 3D diagrams on key positions on almost every page, so I can easily follow through learning new strategy.
4. This book covers all aspects of the game clearly, TACTICS such as the fork, deflection, pin, overloading, discovery etc, endgame such as opposition, triangulation, basic king pawn endgames, queen vs rook endgame etc. , MIDDLEGAME/ STRATEGY such as making a luft, bad bishop, good bishop, how to make use of your rooks, knights, outposts, pawn islands, pawn chains etc. OPENING it shows you different kinds of opening such as the Silican, Ruy Lopez, French Defense, Queen Pawn opening, how to play the opening such as development, timing, etc.) so I can improve my all around game!

This is why I don't like this book.
1. There are no chess excercises/problems to test your knowledge in the book. This is key to improve and I hope James Eade can add chess excercises/problems to another edition of this book if he writes another edition of this book.
2. There are no 'winning game pointers', such in the other book, The Idiot's Guide for Chess. (Patrick Pointer's) I hope James Eade can add 'winning game pointers' in an another edition if he writes one.


Overall, This book is good.
Why?
1. It has helped me gain about 100 points, (1500 to 1600) in about 4 months.

"The Chess Players Bible" -James Eade

Author James Eade seems to be distancing himself from his earlier standard, "Chess For Dummies" and I'm very pleased to see him introduce another beginner's chess book. This one is better by far.

This is a different format from the majority of chess books, for a couple of different reasons. (1) It is spiral bound, so that once you fold the book open, it stays open, and will fold flat for easy study. (2) It is ILLUSTRATED throughout with clear, concise images of the chess board and piece positions, and in COLOR too!

The coverage of OPENINGS is excellent, from the Romantic Openings to the Queeen's Pawn games, etc This is really great material, in its presentation, for easy assimilation by beginners. Because of the novelty of the splendid illustrations, this book receives a special recommendation.

TACTICS: Eade gives good, basic coverage of tactics, and I believe his illustrations help clarify these for beginners.

***About the Author: James Eade***

James Eade is a very STAND UP guy, taking on the entire chess establishment in the USA with charges that the U.S. Chess Federation was being mismanaged and driven to bankruptcy (which it was at the time!). Notwithstanding, EADE was one of three individuals to bail out the USCF when, near financial ruin, USCF could not afford to send a chess team to the OLYMPIADS. EADE is a strong advocate for chess in the Olympics. By any standard, this is a STAND UP guy.

***The Price***

The price is fair, and not excessive, because AMAZON reduces the full retail to $14.95. Even the full retail price of $21.95 is not necessarily excessive, because spiral-bound books are more expensive to produce. In my opinion, most beginner books priced over $20.00, are a rip-off, but that is for 2 specific reasons. Paperbound books are not that expensive to make, so that $21.95 is a "padded" price for a plain paperback. That is not the case here. The second reason a $20.00 book is a rip-off generally, is that paperbacks that are EXCELLENT beginning instruction have been around for years, and often sell for around $9.95, so that many new books are merely endless and mindless REPETITIONS of the same teachings that have been around for over a hundred years.

However, I am recommending Eade's "Chess-Player's Bible" as a fine book, if you are waiting for the next edition. The reason you should wait is that there are some obvious PROOFREADING errors that require correction; for example, this crazy mix up on the endgame study from page 190 where White is supposed to promote the rearward pawn to a Queen:

White K at f4, white pawns at f3 & f2
Black K at f6, WHITE TO MOVE:

1.Ke4 Ke6
2.f4 Kg6??? (only if Black's K moves 2 squares at a time!?)
3.f5 Kf7
4.Ke5 Ke7
5.f6+ Kf7
6.Ke6??? (violates the Rule that says KINGS must stay one square apart. Here, the White K moves right next to Black K, an obvious ILLEGAL move!)
continuing, Black King plays 6. ...Kf8

I don't know the solution to the problem, but the 2 major errors here indicate that the proofreader did not do his work. Please do not mistake the criticism here, because the book is still worth having. Even some of the great classics of chess literature, such as REUBEN FINE's books, contain errors.


The ILLUSTRATIONS are a superb feature, far exceeding most paperbacks, and Eade may be setting a new standard. This book is highly recommended. ---Bruce R. Bain, President, Denver Chess Club

A very informative book on how to play chess and well illustrated. Two Thumbs Up!

This book is phenominal. Many of the questions that I have had as a parent of a child with Bipolar Disorder are outlined and answered in an easy-to-read fashion. This will be a must-have for parents and therapists alike.

"As a licensed mental health therapist working with the chronically mentally ill for over 13 years, I have seen
first-hand the destruction and anguish caused by ignoring or putting off a diagnosis and/or treatment. People
end up suffering for years and often turn to drugs/alcohol to self-medicate, or even worse, some take their
own lives. That being said, I am also the parent of a 7 year old who has been recently diagnosed with Early
Onset Bipolar Disorder. Working in the field and having a detailed knowledge of the disease made the
diagnosis no less devastating. This book is an invaluable resource; the authors have provided the reader
with a wealth of important information in a format that is easy to read and understand. It is not only helpful for
recognizing symptoms, but also helps to identify possible solutions. I feel the knowledge gained by reading
this book has helped pave the way for me to learn about and accept my child's illness while simultaneously
providing hope for the future."

Lisa R. Steller MA, LPC

This book, like all of the others written by Tracy Anglada is a must have for your bookshelf if your child is diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder or any mood disorder. She answers questions clearly and simply. The book is divided into categories to make looking up information you need easy to do without a lot of research. After reading this book, you will feeling very informed and confident to help your child receive the best of care.

"Hands down this book gets 5 stars! Having the opportunity to review this book prior to its release, the authors do a phenomenal job conveying to their readers everything there is to know about childhood bipolar disorder in an easy to read question/answer format. This layout allows the reader to navigate directly to areas of particular interest, with information invaluable to not only the newly diagnosed but the seasoned parent as well. This book is an essential resource for all!"
Annette Seelig
NAMI-Contra Costa,Ca

Playing chess and living life provides many vivid opportunities for handling challenges and facing consequences that will assist the players to mature through many problem-solving lessons that are learned and chess aids the players to understand how to become increasingly knowledgeable players. Chess expert and author, Dr. Alexey Root talked about how chess train players how to handle life's challenges in her book. Dr. Root in her "Guide for Educators" the game, teaches players that they are in control of their decisions and choices. She explained how the players learn through actions and behaviors and about interacting with and facing new situations that occur in life. Through your reading, you will learn how Dr. Root, chess expert and author, relates playing chess is a lesson about life.

I have been teaching chess to children for the last 15 years.
The first steps of learning this wonderfully complex and artistic game are the toughest for children. So, it is important to implement some special teaching techniques, as described in the book "Children and Chess: A Guide for Educators". By using these techniques, educators such as myself can help children learn about the abstract concepts of chess in a fun, hands-on manner.
I already use a lot of the techniques described in the book because they are effective. In addition, the book comes up with fresh and new perspectives that can add to the learning environment of chess. In this book, I have found new ideas that children love, such as the Charades chess game. All the children enjoy it, and even the shy ones participate in role-playing and acting as a chess piece!

Children And Chess: A Guide For Educators by academician and chess expert Alexey W. Root is an in-depth analysis of using the game of chess as an effective educational tool as evidenced through psychological studies. Introducing readers to the incorporation of chess into a classroom curriculum, Children And Chess deftly explores the contribution which the game can have with respect to enhancing children's reading, math, science, and social studies skills. Providing a remarkably comprehensive grasp of the game's valuable for a child's intellectual skill development, Children And Chess is very strongly recommended reading for teachers and homeschooling parents of young students searching for a fun and highly educational activity.

Children And Chess: A Guide For Educators by academician and chess expert Alexey W. Root is an in-depth analysis of using the game of chess as an effective educational tool as evidenced through psychological studies. Introducing readers to the incorporation of chess into a classroom curriculum, Children And Chess deftly explores the contribution which the game can have with respect to enhancing children's reading, math, science, and social studies skills. Providing a remarkably comprehensive grasp of the game's valuable for a child's intellectual skill development, Children And Chess is very strongly recommended reading for teachers and homeschooling parents of young students searching for a fun and highly educational activity.

I just returned after 6 weeks in China. This book is excellent in terms of the useful words and phrases that it lists for virtually every situation you might encounter. It also has a nice little dictionary section at the back (both English-Chinese as well as Chinese-English) that comes in handy. HOWEVER, it badly needs an update in terms of the descriptions and "tips" that it provides regarding things like travel, currency, food, taxis, shopping etc. If you're buying this book - and I certainly recommend it as a handy phrase book - I strongly suggest that you ignore all the tips and advice it provides you. You're better off getting something else that is more up-to-date for this.

This book is an excellent resource for both the tourist and the student. Carry this handy reference around China or keep it within arm's length as you study the language at home -- you'll be reaching for it often in either case.

I've done international business with China for 20 years, speak some Mandarin, and I carry this book in my passport/airline ticket folder. My general Chinese is pretty good, but this book is invaluable. The tips and hints are also extremely insightful, and I heartily recommend it to anyone traveling to China or Taiwan for the first or the hundredth time.

This book was an incredible resource for me as I toured through China this summer, studying the language and culture. I kept it in my pocket everywhere I went until it finally wore down and broke apart. But have no fear, I taped it back up and let it work some more Chinese magic. The book is organized into sections such as "Meeting People" and "Shopping" and "At the Doctor" that will help you with more than enough information, from vocabulary to suggested travel iteraries to understanding of the indigenous culture. I just lost my copy in the New York Subway so I'm gonna get another. «Ü¦nªº®Ñ!

I as an adult am a collector of these Dover coloring books. They are not for small children to color. I use colored pencils. For me they are a form of stress relief and some are quite complicated. This one is just pure fun to read of the traditions and color the pictures.

My family knows when I am really stressed as the colored pencils and books come out. It is a unique and fun thing to collect and doesn't take up much space. I think over 30 yrs or so I have about 20 different ones.

My 15 yr old and 11 yr old love to color and learn about how other children celebrate Christmas in other Countries. This book is very well done with wonderful information that kept their interest. The paper is exceptional quality to color on. It will be a nice memory for the girl's to share in years to come.

I am a teacher, and my first grade class studied holidays around the world. This was an awesome teaching tool. Each coloring page was full of detail and made a nice follow-up activity to a story read about traditions from other cultures. There is informative text at the bottom of each page, which I used for a shared reading experience.

My little girl loves to color when I read, and I like the coloring page to be related to topic. When I found this book I was so happy. For the month of December we added this book to our geography lesson.

I think this is a great book for Junior and Senior High Students that have trouble rememboring information for big tests, such as final exams.

This is a good, consice book on how to maximize your studies. It's strength is that the author sets out what has worked in his experience, not only as a student, but as a counselor as well. There are many ideas, and it is well to take the basics that he lays forward, and then to modify them to one's purposes.
The only weakness is that it is concise and at times it would be well to have a more thorough presentation of the some of the methods. Still however, much of this comes through practicing the techniques more so than having them bottle fed to you.
Highly recommended.

This book was great for my long history of memory problems.
It's a relief to find a book that has more than a couple
chapters of useful information. Every chapter "bangs" you
with advice that is right on target. Another book that is
this way for both memory and high grades is one called
SURVEY OF 300 A+ STUDENTS (by Kenneth Green). He graduated
from school with 12 A+'s on his academic transcript and then
got into Harvard. Next, he graduated valedictorian of his class
at Harvard University.

Why did I buy this book? I am a middle-aged professor, comfortably situated, and needing neither to impress anyone, nor to make more money, nor to "take exams." But for me, it is a joy at any age to improve my mind.

This book is excellently designed for self-study.

The first part gives you a wide variety of standard techniques, explaining clearly the kind of memory task where each applies, e.g., sequential versus non-sequential. The second part allows you to practice and develop your new skills on 11 different academic subjects, which run the full gamut of humanities and sciences, such as might be encountered in high school or college.

One very effective feature: throughout both parts of the book, the author follows brief tutorial sections on the techniques--seldom longer than a page--with an exercise where you can solidify your grasp and get immediate feedback. I think when you see how well you are doing, you'll be strongly encouraged to continue. This is also an advantage over the well-known Memory Book by Lorayne and Lucas, which I once attempted to study; in that book, the chapters were fairly long, and at the end the authors might suggest you make up an exercise on your own to test the new technique. However, passing a test you made up yourself seems a little chintzy! Or maybe, my creativity was not up to the task. In any case, I gave up on that book after about 2 chapters, notwithstanding all the amusing anecdotes that fill it.

In the second half, I wanted to strengthen my grasp, so I did all the subjects outside my own strong area (physics, math). These are areas I normally have neither much interest nor aptitude, but the techniques came through with flying colors. Out of the 43 exercises I did, with 319 separate items of information, I missed only 10.5 items (and I graded myself conservatively). In other words, my score was 96.7% correct. Now I don't know how well I would have done w/o those techniques, but my memory is entirely mediocre--I am one of those unfortunates who turns the page on a book and sometimes cannot remember what he just read--and it is very doubtful that my usual "brute force" techniques, applied over a similar study time, would have netted me a retention score above 33-50%.

At first glance, techniques of memory play a role somewhat similar to that of glasses on a near-sighted person: they do not enhance his natural biologic capacity, but they give him "workarounds" using other factors at his disposal, in particular, visual and verbal associations built up with help of his own creativity. I was surprised and delighted, as I worked through the exercises, to discover in myself an ability to make creative mental associations I never knew I had. So in this sense, it seems that the techniques did change my brain for the better. I imagine that the techniques, if used often, may become more and more second nature and eventually even "first nature."

I am so glad I found this book: unlike many a self-help book, it did live up to its promises. Dr. Browning, thank you for making available such a readable and well-structured guide!