Educational Books

While I love all of Andrew Lang's collections, I think this has to be one of my favorites. This is a collection that pretty much goes out of its way to collect every strange, exotic, and unknown tale on the face of the planet. Far from the simplicity of other tales, these are complex and detailed. Which probably means they were not passed down quite as much, but are wondrous and inspiring just the same

Submittted by Pamela Kekst: I thought that the Violet Fairy Book was very well written and fun to read. The book is made up of many different short stories, all of them are fairy tales. Each has its own problem and solution. They all had their own setting as well. One of my favorite stories is called The Finest Liar in the World. It takes place at the edge of the wood. It is about a boy telling a story to an old man for a lying face-off. I liked the book because each story was different so you could never get bored reading the book. It was also very interesting because of all the strange pictures in the book. I would only give the book a 4 star rating, however, as sometimes the stories could be hard to follow. I recommend this book for any one that likes fairy tales.

For some reason, this is one of my favorites of the Colored Fairy Books edited by Andrew Lang. Once again, Lang includes tales from many cultures including The Boys with the Golden Stars, The Envious Neighbor, The Fairy of the Dawn, The Finest Liar in the World, The Story of a Gazelle, The Girl Who Pretended To Be a Boy, The Grateful Prince and many others. I am also a fan of H. J. Ford's illustrations. Be sure to admire them and wonder at the power of black and white. END

As always Andrew Lang's books continue to be great, this book being no exception. This book contains myriad great fairy tales, great for all ages, my mom read them when she was younger and know I am reading them. The Violet Fairy Book contains 35 fairy tales and 65 black and white illustrations. Fairy Tales include: The Finest Lair in the World, Schippeitaro, The Lute Player, The Grateful Prince, Stan Bolovan, The envious Neighbor, The Enchanted Knife, The Fairy of Dawn, The Nunda, Eater of People, The Headless Dwarf and many more. This book is a great bed-time-story book.
I would recommend this book.

Vivaldi's Ring of Mystery CD A young orphan, Katarina, meets the great Vivaldi who is music director at the orphanage where she has been sent. In searching for all she has lost fills the void as Vivaldi teaches her to play the violin. This is a wonderful story based on Vivaldi's life and his music is played throughout. A terrific CD for your family library to enjoy often

For parents who want to educate their Chidren about the beauty of music, this is a wonderful buy. It is a story of a young violinist living in beautiful Italy. This story not only is enjoying to children, but adults get into the story as much as the children. Buy this book. Its wonderful. Make sure you also order the tape for the wonderful music.

This cassette is a delight: it combines a strong storyline to hold your child's interest; the wonderful atmosphere of the Carnival at Venice hundreds of years ago; and the beautiful music of Vivaldi. If you're taking children to Venice, this cassette is a must. Otherwise, it's a lovely introduction to Vivaldi, and just plain enjoyable

What color was Vivaldi's hair? Why do Venetians fill egg shells with perfume? The only Christmas gift from a parent to a child that would be more valuable than Vivaldi's The Ring of Mystery would be the parent who listens to the story with the child. Parents will reward their children and themselves with this entertaining and informative mystery about Katarina, a young girl sent off to an all-girl orphanage in Venice, where Vivaldi is musical director. With the help of Giovanni, the gondolier, she searches all Venice during the festival for clues about her own mysterious past. Katarina tells her own story and interweaves it with more than 25 excerpts of the greatest music of her teacher, Vivaldi. The story and music are best enjoyed by parent and child on a cold Winter's evening in front of a warm fire! Or perhaps on a bright Spring morning in a field of flowers! Or on a warm Summer's night under a sky full of stars! Or on a blustery Fall afternoon overlooking an angry sea! Whatever the season, children will forever remember the first time they listened to The Four Seasons and heard the story of Vivaldi's Ring of Mystery.

"If a grain of wheat does not fall unto the earth and die, it is but a single seed. But if the seed dies, it will produce many seeds." (Jn 12:24) A seed must fall to the ground and die if it is to give new life. This is what this book did for me, it was the seed that once possesed life and fell into the dirt (Me) and gave new life to me enabling me to realize my own lack of faith, detestive prejudces, enormus doubt, lack of humility, servanthood, trust, obedience, vulnerability, the realization to a calling greater than myself, the reponsibility I have in life, and the purpose for living. Since I have read this book I have seen myself relate so much to Toby Jenkins and his experiences, and its only been one day since I have read it. This book is a great way to relating Christ in the 20th Century to the young adult as well as the eldest adult. I believe this book is awsome for everyone no matter what the age. It is full of principles we all can use, not only in our lives with God, but also in our daily lives with people. I give this book an ASTOUNDING 10 because it not only told a story but changed my life. I would love to read more books like this. Matt Casper, Georgia Southern University

"If a grain of wheat does not fall unto the earth and die, it is but a single seed. But if the seed dies, it will produce many seeds." (Jn 12:24) A seed must fall to the ground and die if it is to give new life. This is what this book did for me, it was the seed that once possesed life and fell into the dirt (Me) and gave new life to me enabling me to realize my own lack of faith, detestive prejudces, enormus doubt, lack of humility, servanthood, trust, obedience, vulnerability, the realization to a calling greater than myself, the reponsibility I have in life, and the purpose for living. Since I have read this book I have seen myself relate so much to Toby Jenkins and his experiences, and its only been one day since I have read it. This book is a great way to relating Christ in the 20th Century to the young adult as well as the eldest adult. I believe this book is awsome for everyone no matter what the age. It is full of principles we all can use, not only in our lives with God, but also in our daily lives with people. I give this book an ASTOUNDING 10 because it not only told a story but changed my life. I would love to read more books like this. Matt Casper, Georgia Southern University

The War of Jenkins' Ear
By Michael Morpurgo

Summary:
There are lots of wars in this world, but one is very special. It all began in Toby's second year in the school of Redlands. He was a regular student, until a strange kid called Christopher came along. He wasn't really scared of anything not even of the headmaster. He then shared a humongous secret with Toby, Hunter, and the littleSwann. They were of coursevery suspicious of course, and were wondering if it was really true. They then truly believed him, and wonders began to happen. The four of then swore to never reveal the secret, but something unexpected came. It turned everybody's life upside down except Christopher's who had all along predited it.

Why I liked it:
It is an interesting book where you really wonder if it could be truly like that back in time. It really makes me feel like I was in the school of Reedlands when the author started telling about the school, Toby, and Christopher. One example could be, "Beside Rudolph, stiff in her graygreen suit with a butterfly brooch, stood Mrs. Stagg." What made me like this book the most was that it makes me wonder if it could be true when Christopher revealed the secret, "It's Jesus, I know it is." Normally I would be bored to death, but it really made it so it was not like a bible book. That's why this book was interesting to me in the first place when I was choosing a book to read.

What part of the story was my favorite:
My favorite part of the story was the ending. It had a great turn in which I never expected. It was the time when nobody had faith in Christoopher anymore, but then proved to everyone even the mean Rudolph that what he said was true. As a result, it strengthened the beliefs of Toby, Hunter, and Swann even more.

The War of Jenkins' Ear is one of the most amazing novels I have ever read. This novel is considered young adult fiction, but the themes expressed here are for people of any age. The plot focuses on Toby. Toby attends a boarding school in England in the 1950's which he detests. But one year, everything changes because of a new boy in school, Christopher. Christopher is certainly different from the other boys at school, and he soon reveals to Toby that he has visions which tell him that he is the second coming of Jesus. Toby is picked as his first deciple.

Michael Morpurgo uses his unique premise perfectly to comment on life on different levels. First off, he captures the life around the boarding school extremely well. The element of class warfare between the oiks (village children) and the toffs (boarding school children) is present. Morpurgo also captures the intensity of the relationships between the students and between the students and their teachers at the isolated school. The element of first love is also introduced, and the characters in the novel are all fully developed. Morpurgo is most successful at studying the nature of faith, though. He presents how difficult it is to believe in the face of convention, and he also shows the extraordinary powers that faith in something can bring. The novel is also very successful at commenting on what peoples' lives around the Jesus Christ must have been like.

The War of Jenkins' Ear is a fascinating novel. Everything about it makes you think. Even the title can have a symbolic meaning. I think The War of Jenkins' Ear should easily go down as one of the great young adult reads of the century.

The Way of the Master is an excellent introduction to personal evangelism. The on-the-street witnessing clips are powerful and illustrative of the approach the program teaches. Our adult Sunday School class is excited about this. It has proven very effective.

This book is used along side the DVD version. It is like nothing you have seend before!
Do people say that you are a good person? Maybe you think you really are good in Gods eyes.
Do you really understand why Jesus had to die for your sin?
Way of the Master Basic training shows you how God sees your sin and how to share your faith without getting into an argument. Do you know someone who is not saved? A mother, father, brother, sister or just a friend? Then this training material is for you. It may even help you to answer those hard questions that come up around the office. WOTM has helped me to share my faith more boldly, but most importantly biblically. The way Jesus did.

Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort have teamed up to produce what I think is a great witnessing tool. May authors use the approach that accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of your life will make you feel happy and fulfilled in this life. Instead, Cameron and Comfort use the Old Testament Law (10 Commandments) to show how EVERYONE at some point and time in their life has broken at least one of the commandments and is danger of God's judgement. Additionally, the emphasis is also on the next life since we will spend far more time in heaven or hell than here on earth.

We had this course taught at our church and the basic class format is as follows: go over what we learned from the previous week's assignment, watch the DVD that goes with the book, discuss the DVD, and go over next week's assignment.

The book's chapters are as follows:

1. Cultivating Compassion for the Lost.
2. Discovering Hell's Best Kept Secret.
3. Learning to Overcome Fear.
4. Practicing What You Preach.
5. Crafting the Message.
6. Answering the Top Ten Questions.
7. Exposing the Myth of the Modern Message.
8. Spreading Your Wings.

If you or your church are looking for another witnessing tool, this is an excellent one to consider.

Enjoy reading the book and be challenged. Highly recommended!

This is really a great product. I had read a commentary by Ray Comfort and his approach to evangelism online and I bought this book and cds after investigating his website. What a powerful and useful approach to those who need to hear the message of Christ. I bought this along with Ray's book as a kit. This CD kit is an 8-part series on "The Way of the Master" that is basically the video series on Biblical Evangelism in sound-only form. It is a real bargin, although I would invest in the videos if I was teaching this to a class. It thoroughly walks you through breaking down the barriers that people have to hearing someone share their faith and it helps you to break down your own fears in sharing your faith. I look at this as another great tool that God is providing to reach people for Him. I strongly recommend this to anyone who feels the fire within but is worried about how to reach those around them for Christ.

I really can't understand why this book has come out in paperback edition, so that more people might read it. I read it when it first came out and made me do a lot of thinking not just about affirmative action, but more about just how does any society go about providing ways to bring about real opportunities for various groups of people to access to good education and employment in the midst of adverse social, economic, and political conditions.

The author's chapter "On Meritocracy" was especially insightful. It talks about the need for a "community-based" definition of qualified, rather than an elitist-based definition. This means that when we talk about a community-based definition, we're not looking at just a person's educational credentials, but her ability to contribute to the community in which she will be working. Does her background or experience with that community mean more than her scores on educational tests or her access to priviledged edcuation.

In this regard, the authors write that, "Historically, the demand for affirmative action came from communities with unmet needs. Ghettos, left without basic services because of white flight, needed doctors, lawyers, merchants, and teachers who were unafraid to serve there. Ethnic communities found that, without community-based scholars, their history, their culture was ignored or misinterpreted by outsiders..." Without affirmative action, what we get are people who qualified based on certain instutional credentials, but they lack real talent or history with the communities they serve.

It's really too bad that affirmative action debate has subsided, for it really helps us to grapple with how we build an equitable society where people are not held back because of their lack of previlege or because their racial, economic, or social background.

I am a second-year student at Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles. I read the book because I was looking for solid responses to the usual arguments against affirmative action -- and I definitely found such responses in this excellently written book. As I read a book, I collect in a computer file quotes or passages that I wish to remember. I must have transcribed nearly one-third of this book. The authors present strong, fair-minded arguments to support the return to affirmative action.

One of their main theses, and a unique perspective, is to redefine merit from merely a test score to a myriad of qualities -- qualities that insure a successful and productive person and also that benefit all of society. The authors also point out that without affirmative action for women and minorities, we are still operating under the status quo affirmative action -- affirmative action for white males.

This book is a must-read for all progressive people who sincerely believe in a return to affirmative action. We must now make our voices heard!

This book is certainly of interest for its individual stories, and I remain committed to supporting A.A. Unfortunately, the two authors are rather chillingly smug; is it so remarkable that an African-American and an Asian-American who have both benefitted from A.A. are both in favor of it? However, as an Indian-American, I have seen serious problems which A.A. presents to Asian-Americans, which economically and educationally priviledged white and Asian-American women pay lip service to but do not confront directly. As a feminist I found most of this book compelling. Nevertheless, they should not be so glib in speaking of 'women and minorities' in that manner because it feeds the stereotyping conducted by conservative critics of the Left's position on A.A. At some point we, as women of all races, have to confront the genuine problems of classism within the ranks of feminism, especially the priviledged feminist elite. Prop 209 could have been defeated in California, were it not for middleclass white women pre empting the much more urgent protests conducted by minorities. 'Women and minorities' is a useful phrase, particularly when addressing political unfairness. But Affirmative Action should *never* be an excuse for the feminist elite (especially academic feminists, who hardly speak for all of us!) to use discrimination as a soap box for their own interests. White women as well as Asian-American women, are well represented as students in most of prestigious academia; it is in teaching jobs that there are still problems of representation. This is ultimately a somewhat sanctimonious book, and is obviously only going to please people who already share their views; it won't convert a soul, and so I can't help wondering why they would risk diluting the field (there are a lot of books coming out of the debate over A.A.) in this manner.

This book covers the history of affirmative actions programs in our country and the positive impacts they have had on all our people. Affirmative action is for everyone and the authors show that. One author comes from an Asian-American background and the other author from an African-American background. They are both keen observers of the American race puzzle. Both are lawyers and sharp when it comes to legal references. This book was a pleasure to read and gave me hopeful feelings about the future of our great nation. Good ammunition for those of us who are defenders of a multi-cultural society. We are not alone and the best arguments are ours. I met Mari Matsuda at a university gathering. She is a wonderful speaker as well as a gifted writer. I look forward to meeting her co-author Charles Lawrence.

This text has numerous photographs and illustrations. The text is a little cumbersome for some readers. It does provide opportunities for enriching scientific vocabulary. As homeschoolers, our family is using this text together with several others. This definitely shouldn't be the text of choice for very small children, but it is ideal for older, more experienced readers/scientists.

This book was very useful when teaching my children about the weather. We learned lots of interesting things, and all from the perspective that God was in control of it all. They even explain El Nino. The pictures are colorful and wonderful. Anyone could benefit from using this book.

Almost everyone talks about the weather. But this is no run of the mill book on this topic. Oard, the author, is a professional meteorologist. He has fascinating insights on weather-related processes, and he also relates them to Biblical descriptions of weather phenomena.

Everyone talks about the weather, but this is no run of the mill discussion of the same. The author, a professional meteorologist, gives little-known insights about the weather, and also relates them to the Bible.

Wow, this book is an inspiring must read for more than educators, and more than high school students. Parents and guardians can benefit from this book too! Anyone who cares for and wants to understand teenagers. Specifically, if more educators read this book and felt this way, then the school systems would work a lot smoother and students would be more happy to be students! I would like to add that this book has inspired me to become an educator myself. Sadly, not everyone in the world will read this book, therefore those of us who read it have to make a difference!

And I will inform everyone reading these reviews that Professor Gilbert genuinely feels the way he writes. It's no lie, I'm a student of his- and he really truly cares. He's awesome- and so is his book.

"Welcome To Our World" tells us that students really DO want to be in School. But they want adults to be honest and relevant. "Don't waste our time! We have other things to do, also." "Don't insult our intelligence. We can do the Hard Math, reason the Tough Issues." "Respect our individuality." These are the issues and more, written by high school students who were fortunate enough to have Robert Gilbert as their teacher. Wonderful illustrations by Mike Robins.

This book combines insightful ideas about high school students' experiences with riveting first-hand accounts of their daily struggles. The stories are personal, yet universal. It would be a great read for anyone with a high school student in their lives, teachers, future educators, or anyone who went to high school. Robins' writing is articulate and complex, yet easily understandable. Get this book!

I found this book to be a fascinating sociological study of a typical suburban high school class. Of the 55 or so vignettes written by the students themselves, there were several that I was familiar with, including the student who exposes his school's National Honor Society to be nothing more than a resume-builder for athletes and the kids of rah-rah parents, and the black student who struggles to maintain his identity in a nearly all-white high school. However, there were many vignettes that shocked and angered me, including the student honors student who watches his accelerated curriculum being dismantled so that more funds can be channeled into athletics, and the student whose school and home life is disrupted by a teenage stalker. I hope that this book someday becomes required reading for all high school educators, because it would enlighten them as to the social pressures that suburban teenagers face in 1998, regardless of whether those teenagers are found in remedial, regular, or accelerated classes. I hope that the book gives educators a greater sensitivity to such students, and encourages them to adjust their lesson plans and administrative structures accordingly. It is also very refreshing to see a sociological study of a high school class from the students' perspective, rather than an outsider with a Ph.D. Educators, buy and read this book; you may never teach the same again.

I got this book to help prepare for the PRAXIS test for Elementary Education Teachers. I have found the book to be very informative. I have heard it is very helpful for a study aid for the PRAXIS so hopefully it pays off for me!

Want to know what your child should be learning??? This is a great book to help your child along, help keep up, keep interested, or keep learning in the summer. Excellent reference for interested parents.
Jeannine C

This is an essential reference book if your child is a sixth grader in a school using Hirsch's "Core Knowledge" curriculum. An amazing amount of information is packed in to this book and is presented in an understandable and interesting way with helpful pictures (mostly in color in the visual art section) and maps and graphs as needed. All major sixth grade subjects are covered (with the exception of PE and foreign language). If your child's school doesn't follow core knowledge don't expect this to be a guide to what he is learning in sixth grade as it may be quite different. However it could still be an interesting supplemental book for your child since it is filled with information a well educated adult should know.

I bought this book to prepare my child for Beestar online tests for sixth graders. Due to the vast differences among schools and teachers in teaching science and social studies, students often receive a rather unbalanced treatment of the subjects in their classroom. This book comes as a rescue of the situation. It tells you clearly what your child needs to know as a sixth grader. My child studied several important chapters from this book that somehow were never taught by his teachers. And yes the knowledge is essential and is needed in state standardized tests.

I highly recommend this book for aiding in the preparation for any general knowledge test. It takes you all the way through iambic pentameter to Benito Juarez. The math and science sections are wonderful as well. It provides very complex information in a very user-friendly manner. I'm very glad that we had this book.

I am the mother of a beautiful 4 year old boy with hyperlexic autism. He learned the alphabet and taught himself to read before he was 2 years old. I was delighted to see that another mother of a hyperlexic child wrote this book explaining how to channel a child's natural gifts to learn about the world and remediate developmental delays. The author makes it clear that every child has a different learning style, so what worked for her son may not work for other hyperlexic children.

This book is perfect for a family with an established Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) program for their hyperlexic child at home or at school. To my knowledge most ABA programs ignore a hyperlexic child's desire to read (at one point my son was actually forbidden to read at preschool!), so this is a refreshing change of course to incorporate the child's interests into an early education plan. The book is filled with step-by-step outlines and terrific illustrations for early literacy and communication skills. At home we use play-based therapy, not behavioral methods, but my son loves the flash cards from the book and typing up stories with me.

I had some problems with this book. On page 26 the author mentions that her son's therapy was partially or mostly covered by insurance and implies that other insurance companies will do the same. This is not the case in the USA - some states do not even provide early intervention services through the school district, and many parents of autistic children have sold their houses or gone bankrupt to pay out-of-pocket for their child's therapy. I would love to move to the state of Washington and sign up for the author's insurance plan!

Another problem in the book is the absence of any discussion about the severe anxiety, phobias and panic attacks that are characteristic of hyperlexia. In fact the author even says that she allowed her son to scream and cry through several weeks of behavioral therapy before he learned to comply, never even addressing the issue of anxiety. For parents who are looking for a more humane approach to anxiety, I recommend "Your Anxious Child" by John Dacey and Lisa Fiore.

I have a personal issue with author's frequent negativity about autism, for example, saying that autism was "eating away" at her son and, "We must fight this," and even naming one chapter "Line of Attack." How can we accept a child unconditionally if we reject such a large part of his life? Remediation should be based on building relationships, not destroying behavior.

With that said, this book is a rarity: it balances the core deficits of autism with its remarkable gifts, and offers one way to harness these gifts to support the child's healthy development. After reading this book, I donated it to the parent-teacher resource library at my son's school.

Having a 4 year old son with hyperlexia, I found this book exceptional. It includes information about hyperlexia, its treatments, and school related guidance Information is chunked in easy to read format with practical suggestions for implementation in the home.
Hyperlexia has so little information and resources, this is truly a one of a kind book.

I am admittedly biased, having had the pleasure of knowing the author and her family for several years, but this important book is wonderfully assembled and very readable. It puts into plain language the difficulties of identifying autism/Asperberger Syndrome early enough to effectively treat it, and the absolute importance of early detection.
From Audra's example, we have learned to be proactive with our children's early development. In this regard, this book is more than a wealth of information on a growing problem affecting our society today, but also a call for action to parents of young children. I really think this book can help all parents and people who work with young children.

I could not understand why my child had traits of both autism and Asperger's. I had heard of hyperlexia but thought it only applied to children that could read by age two. I was mistaken. After reading this book, I realized that my child has high-functioning autism AND hyperlexia (which has now been confirmed by two professionals). I saw so much of my own child in this book, including the way that she responded to ABA. I now understand my child so much more than I ever hoped for. We have incorporated some of Ms. Jensen's suggestions into my child's ABA program and daily living and are amazed at the difference they have made. I cannot thank the author enough for making such a difference in all of our lives.

We bought three book by nick greaves while travel in south Africa. We buy books for our three grandchildren( age 4,6,8) while travelling in South Africa last year. We have given them so many books through the years from around the world. They love these books so much. First the parents read to them,every night now the oldest reads to the younger ones. I wish the author writes more books for children.

My 9-year old son came home from school today very excited about this book, which his teacher had started reading to the class. He took out his wallet, counted his money, and asked, "Can we go on line and buy this book right now? I have enough of my own money to buy it." This is enough proof for me that kids love it.

The sub-title "And other tales from Africa" seems to suggest that this book was written for children, but it is fun to read for adults as well. Nick Greaves tells stories, tales, fables and legends from the African tribes about different animals and after each section gives facts about them. By doing this especially for tourists the book gives a general idea of the wildlife one might come across while traveling in Africa and furthermore the book supplies the not native speaker with useful vocabulary. The illustrations of Rod Clement are just as good as photos, sometimes even better, because good close-ups of mainly the small and nocturnal animals are quite rare. "When Hippo Was Hairy" was followed up by "When Lion Could Fly", which is highly recommendable, too.

We recently moved to South Africa and, prior to our first visit to a game park we bought this book to read on our adventure- it is wonderful, full of short entertaining stories that were gathered from the various tribes of Africa to explain why certain animals have spots, long trunks, sleep standing up etc....

Our children loved it and we bought the other 2 in the series.