Education Books

Cay has really outdone herself in this little jewel. It provides the most wonderful framework for a mom/teacher to build upon in regard to topics and the picture books that support those topics. Cay's years of research, reading, weeding and pruning allow her to present a wonderful finished product to the reader, a product worthy of much time and attention.

Thank you Cay, for making my job easier! I can envision my eldest asking for my dog-eared, marked and well-loved copy one day. She'll be busy educating my grandchildren and this book will be part of her preparation.

She's written another book that inspires, informs and helps parents create a reading atmosphere in their children's lives. Picture Perfect Childhood is a lovely book that incorporates essays about the value of picture books as well as many comprehensive book lists that will make easy a parent's job of choosing books. My favorite parts; the month-by-month list (I recently sat with March open while I reserved the books online at my library and purchased a few here), the spanning the world list and the Teaching Virtues Through Books.

Picture Perfect Childhood will be a valued and much used resource in any home where there are parents who are passionate about their children becoming readers.

Although I have read and enjoyed Cay Gibson's other books, A Picture Perfect Childhood exceeded my expectations. Without a doubt I can say that this the best and most helpful book I have purchased in a while.

A Picture Perfect Childhood is a book for anyone who loves children or even just art and books. It is not only a wonderful resource for finding picture books on a variety of topics or reading wonderful picture books month-by-month, but it is a wonderful presentation of the utility of picture books in a child's life... and even later on. Both the pictures (the art in the best picture books is truly beautiful) and the content in picture books are discussed in general. Mrs. Gibson included an assortment of lists as well; my favorite is Petit Fours for Mom.

This book is particularly helpful for those of us with special needs children. I find excellent picture books extremely helpful in teaching a special needs child as well as pleasing to me. The latter point is not a trivial one; I make better use of a book or resource when I enjoy using it.

This book is now at the top of my list of presents to give a new baby. This book along with one of the picture books recommended would be a wonderful start to a life of reading and joy.

I just got Cay's book in the mail. I speed read it just to get an over view. Now I am reading it slowly, savoring all the wisdom that the author has. We are a family of book lovers, but this book explains why picture books should be used for the whole family. The selection of books she has is wonderful, especially the list of picture books with recipes. The first day I ordered a dozen of her recommendations from the library. Great list for all types of families. Now I'll order more for my daughter and her children.

There are only a few books that I know I'll love even before I see them - and this was definitely one. Picture book afficionado Cay Gibson serves up a delicious array of picture books of all sorts to discover and savor for yourself from your local library (and hopefully start a collection of your own as well).

I'm a big fan of picture books - especially the beautifully illustrated ones that are wonderfully in fashion at present (my habits run along the lines of prominently displaying them in our house to inspire reading, purchasing picture books to coordinate with our homeschool studies - particular in history and science, and even, occasionally, reading picture books aloud to unsuspecting dinner guests) and I'm delighted to have this great place to start to discover many more titles.

The substance of this book is comprised of essays on the value of picture books and how to incorporate them into your lives along with numerous creative and inspiring book lists. Here is a sampling of the booklists you'll find:

List for Teenaged Readers and Reluctant Readers

Children's Hour (A Twelve Month Historical Timeline along with supplementary reading in subjects like science, art, music and language arts)

Teaching Virtues Through Books

Spanning the Globe

Let's Get Cooking with Literature (Picture Books about Cooking and Recipes)

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Black History Month

Gardening Treasures

Immigration Booklist

Pioneers and Westward Movement

World War II

Christmas Booklist

This is the sort of book (further enhanced by spacious margins and room for additional notes) that I can readily imagine dragging to the library and to book sales and keeping track of which favorites we've read and which ones we own. A very welcome addition to our home library and one that also looks to be useful in making purchasing recommendations to our public library.

Though this book was written by a Catholic homeschool mom (and includes a number of fine, specifically Catholic titles), its scope is quite broad and would be of interest to many parents, teachers and librarians.

this one of the sweetvalley series can be read to keep in tune with the series. the book revolves around the upcomin' prom and jessica and liz's date dilemmas. jessica has an ingenious idea she along with Lila rate the dudes of SVU. liz has to choose between todd and devon whitelaw.

I can't believe that the Twins are going to be 17 and they are moving on to the 12th grade. This is quite a surprise. I don't know if you know but at the sweet vallley page they told the next super and it is called Last Wish. It is when the twins turn 17!!!! This book is great but is sad because the series is coming to a end. (thats the way they made it sound) I have ordered the 2 & 3 book in the series but what is the 4th?????? Please e-mail me if you know! Thanx

Jessica and her best friend,Lila Fowler, make a list od uncool people as dates. They don't want to date anyone from Sweet Valley High,Bridgewater,Big Mesa,Lovette Academy,and I forgot what else. Elizabeth wants to date Devin,but dance with her Ex-boyfriend,Todd Wilkins one more time. Enid Rollins's date is Tad'Blubber" Johnson

I found this book interesting at least this time 2 guys are fighting over Liz and not Jessica who is totally unpopular with the guys this minute. That rating idea was good but she and Lila got caught what a shame. It would of been interesting to see who they pick. As for Liz, she is too wishy-washy. I mean just pick one already. Todd is the one that's right for her and Devon should give Jess a chance she's not as bad as people think. They think on the same wavelength and then have their ideas blow up in their face. She could fall in love. I just want to know how Jordan is going to handle having 2 dates at the same time. I can't wait till the next one. As for Enid I think she and that Blubber guy should go out and she should give the poor guy a chance, so what if he's not a genius.

Read this,by all means,if you would like to read a good and fun SVH book.Jess and Lila try to decide who they should go to the prom with by starting a rating system,sorting hotties from losers.When the boys find out,they are furious and is Jessica still popular with boys??...Nuh-uh!!!

Read 4 Arguments...Jerry Mander Then this book! If you are looking for "ways" to get rid of the TV, or "ways" to occupy your families (or your) time away from the TV. This is not the book. This is the book if you would like statistics, and startling information about TV in the lives of people. Although the TV refrences are quite early 80's ALL of the information is very useful, persuasive, and passionate.

Dont believe the hype up there! It is relevant to this day in age, take yourself to account, before the TV takes you! Buy this book and dont burry it into the shelves, pass it on the neighbors, your childrens teachers, family and friends! this book is for EVERYONE!

For a long time I have been discouraged in my efforts to establish two-way communication with children. I would bring books, toys, and games to social functions and share them with children. Once one activity was over, the children would stare at me, waiting for me to start another activity. Why won't they provide any input of their own? Am I overpowering them without realizing it?

This book explained everything: the children think I'm a television!

This book is about the effects of television on children and families.The use of television starts innocently enough.Too often TV is used as a child minder so that parents can get some peace and quiet: to prepare meals, so that Mom and Dad can sleep in at week-ends, etc.But dangers lurk in this innocent scenario.Before long, the kids are hooked on watching, and parents are hooked on a device for having the kids out of the way.Marie Winn aptly calls TV a drug.Many parents are aware of the dilemma, but often they are and the kids too hooked to break the habit.Winn explores the process of this addiction and the harm done to vibrant human living.For example, excessive TV viewing hampers the personal and social development of the child, so some mothers get a job to escape from their maladjusted kids!Winn offers helpful advice to families trying to cope with TV.She gives examples of the benefits families have experienced when they went without TV, such as increased family interaction, more creative and satisfying activities,doing various things that had been put of, and so on.Marie Winn gives many examples from family life which add great interest to this thoughtful and helpful book.

Excellent. A must read for parents of kids of all ages.It is really well written and should make a responsible parent a believer. Kill the TV before it kills your kids brains or at least be very selective as to what they watch.

A wonderful book, that all parents should read in order to eliminate their TVs and *live* again.

I'll be honest. When I got this book, I mostly expected it to be a compilation of funny stories about poop void of any substance or usefulness (much like feces itself).

Alas, I found myself continually intrigued by Praeger's unique research, and in the end I found that I was surprised that I had learned so much regarding the subject. To say it changed my life might be overstating the fact, but it certainly did change the way I considered one constant aspect of it.

The book was also well written, educational and thoughtful without being dry or stuffy. And the humor in the book is well balanced, managing to be clever without being over-the-top.

Poop Culture is a fun, quick read, and you will learn more than you ever thought you would about crap. And that's a good thing.

This is a very funny, well written book about a bizarre subject. I found myself laughing out loud......

This book will change the way you feel about poop. Not only informative, but very funny. I purchased multiple copies to give to my relatives.

Although this book contains a lot of humor, it also provides lessons on history, art, literature and environmental science. This is an enjoyable read, especially if you want to learn something. If you are looking for poop jokes, it's got some of those too, but that is not the book's primary focus. Some of the chapters read more like a college term paper, and sometimes the book is a little preachy when it comes to the environment, but overall, it's a good read.

Once you pick it up and stick your nose in it, you will be permanently stained... with knowledge and insight!

This book is both entertaining and informative, and scientifically argues why no one else will touch the subject matter.

This makes the ideal gift: I handed my Poop Culture over to my mom, and she loved it.

I have a ton of books on various aspects of coaching basketball, and this is by far the most comprehensive resource I own. I particularly appreciate Coach Wooden's attention to detail and his down-to-earth, methodical approach.

I'd give it 4.5 stars if that were possible, just because this edition looks like it was run off on a photocopy machine, particularly the photos, but in terms of content, it's almost certain to be the most valuable book in a basketball coach's library.

I found this book to be very informative. This was purchased for my grandson who is a basketball fan and player (age 14) and I am sure that he will be delighted with the book (a Christmas present for him)

Great fundamentals for life and basketball. From overviews to extreme detail.

I HIT THE LOTTERY WHEN I ORDERED THIS BOOK. IT COVERS EVERYTHING ANY COACH NEEDS TO BE SUCCESSFUL. YOU WILL NEVER USE EVERYTHING CONTAINED IN THIS BOOK BUT USE THIS BOOK AS AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CHAMPIONSHIP BASKETBALL. THIS BOOK COULD BE USED AS THE TEXT FOR A COLLEGE COURSE. IT COVERS ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING

This book is helpful for a coach trying to start a program. There are many things that a new coach could use. The ideas worked well for Wooden 30+ years ago, so some of it could be outdated. But most of it is pretty good. The diagrams are confusing. You need a magnifying glass to follow the cuts of the players. More time could have been spent on the stall section.

This is a fantastic tool for getting primary kids excited about math. My "mathletes" love the characters and fun problems.

The book is organized into chapters, with each chapter presenting a type of problem and the ways to think about that problem. And then there is a series of related story problems to solve, divided into 4 levels. For example, one chapter is about calculating whether an item (rope, building, etc) is strong enough for the intended use. Another chapter is about figuring out how much change you'd get in a store transaction. Another is percentages. Midway through, the concept of algebra is introduced and applied to the later chapters. The chapters are presented very conversationally, and explain how to think about the problem and approach the solution. They are illustrated with cartoons, and with characters discussing the problems.

My second grade daughter loves this book. She is gifted in math, and I was looking for some way to add extra challenge without "teaching ahead" in the normal curriculum. This has been great. It's not teaching new methods of computation (which she'll get in school thru the years), it's teaching approaches to problem solving. She usually does the level 1 problems with no help (but has to think fairly hard), but needs help on level 2. She is very proud of herself after conquering these questions. Levels 3 and 4 are beyond her for now. I can see us revisiting this book every year, and using it through about 5th grade.

What an exciting way to present additional math problems: the writing and illustrations capture one's attention, and the subsequent problems are at four distinct levels (from easy to very difficult. The student may solve all of the problems, or the parent/instructor can "save" those difficult levels for later (perhaps next year?) after the student has conquered certain tasks to facilitate success.

Although this may be implemented at various grade levels, I suggest second grade as the youngest starting point. You know your child best, however, and it would be wise to preview book pages at this site before purchasing.

I highly recommend this book for children in all types of classrooms: "regular" school, gifted school, and home school. It is a great supplement for students, and offers a challenge to all.

I'm teaching Challenge Math to 2nd graders and found this book to be very helpful in my preparation. This is my first time teaching this program, so, the examples, structure and illustrations in this book have come in quite handy.

My son's gifted teacher gave him homework from this book in third grade, and now his 4th grade gifted teacher gives him work from Zaccaro's next book for in-class enrichment this year. He enjoys working through it and I like the straight-forward approach and graphics. I teach and I bought it for my parent volunteer to use with our school's first grade math enrichment group. My kids love to go to group!

Principles of Electrodynamics by Melvin Schwartz is a very well written, very didactic book. The principles of Electrodynamics are clearly shown and the author explanations and demonstrations are rigurous but easy to understand. The book is a very good reference for certain topics of Electrodynamics not so well covered in other text books.

This book is somewhat famous for its heuristic derivation of the full Maxwell's equations using Lorentz invariance, but every topic is covered in an exceptionally lucid manner, on a par with Feynman at his best. The book is also a neccessary antidote for the excessive detail and overgeneralization of Jackson.

C'est de loin l'exposé le plus clair sur le sujet à ma connaissance. Quant au rapport qualité/prix, on voisine l'infini

This book is the best introduction to advanced electromagnetic theory I have ever encountered. The author does a masterly job at simplifying the mathematics without over-simplifying the physics. If you're looking to gain a deep understanding of electromagnetics and its relation to the theory of relativity, this book is for you!

Bref, c'est tres bien sauf que beaucoup d'erreur se sont glisses dans le livre. C'est le probleme principal de ce livre est que l'audience est tres restreinte aux eleves de secondes. J'en appelle donc au serieux de l'auteur pour se relire quand meme.

Il est ecrit que Integrale infinie de la derivee est egale a la fonction identite, non c'est faux. la constante a disparu. Beaucoup d'autres erreurs similaires sont surprenantes.

A GREAT CARTOON VIEW OF HOW TO UNDERSTAND AND DO CALCULUS!!!! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Of course, I must be biased, since I have not read every intro to calculus book ever, but yet I maintain my position. :-)

I first saw this book when I was about seven years old, and fell in love with the comics. I didn't understand the math at the time, but eventually I got to calculus level mathematics in college, and thanks to this book, I not only had no fear of calculus, but rather looked forward to it.

I only wish that the authors had went on to cover integral calculus and infinite series... but I shan't blame them. This book is great enough as it is. :-)

As one who struggled with Calculus as well as "Math Anxiety", I can only say 'thank you, thank you, thank you'.
I also saw someone with a copy of the book in my first calculus class and I ran to the library. All copies were checked out! Once I went through this wonderful book, it baffled me that not one instructor was using or recommending it. Yet all the students knew about it.
If delta-episilon has you mystified, Prof McSquared can help. It was enlightening, encouraging and confidence building. I still use it as a refresher.
My only question now is - will there ever be a continuation into Calc II & III and differential? I await the arrival.

Reviewer Jerry Harper spotted a typo in the 1975 edition
of Prof. McSquared's book and calls for a reply. The answer
to problem II.3.3 on page 205 contains the WRONG statement
(BUT 1/2 e < -e...). PROF. McSquared GOOFED! It should be
1/2 e < e!! This is corrected in the Expanded Intergalactic
Edition NOW reissued and available: ISBN 0971462402.
H. Swann, co-author, for Prof. McSquared

I'm a student at University of Chicago, and got into an advanced Calculus class, because of my good luck of having done well on the AP test. Immediately I was thrown into a confusing world of espilons and delta and omegas and proof and theorems not on the AP cirriculum. I am by no means an abstract symbol-based learner, so I was thrown by all these new concepts thrown at me at a breakneck pace.

Three days before my Calc midterm, and desperate to salvage my grade, I ordered McQuared's Calculus Primer.

And I was saved.

If you are a new student thrown by epsilon delta, and need a detailed, non-symbol based explanation to understand, this is the book for you. My only complaint is that the book only goes up to the first couple chapters of an real calc book (though at the high level of explanation it gives, it does those chapters justice at the highest level imaginiable.)

With its cartoony illustrations and backhanded sense of humor, Mc Square Calculus makes Calculus accessable and (dare I say?) makes learning fun.

Thanks Betty for sharing your family's story. I think the communtiy's and Sam's coach's behavior was outrageous and your family should not have been put through all that it suffered.

I agree with Elizabteh that Sam's PE teacher has all the appearances of being a good teacher. However, a good teacher shouldn't stand-by while this kind of teasing and cruelty take place. I commend your protests and hope Indiana will reign in schools who fail to protect our children. We must do all we can to make sure this never reoccurs.

This book reminds of a recent incident with our own son Erick (oldest of our 3 great kids) at our new school in St. Petersburg, Florida. Last week Erick started 5th grade and middle school for the first time. When Erick learned boys have to take showers together in their school PE class, he was more than a little nervous. Our family moved to Florida from Puerto Rico last Summer when my husband was promoted to a new postion. Our son grew up in a community and family where nudity was never seen, it is just was not any part of our children's upbringing. I think it is completely reasonable that Erick at first shrinked back from the situation. There are a lot of social lessons kids learn (or should learn and need to be taught) outside of the formal classroom setting, locker room etiquette is a prime example. It is important to introduce kids into situations they are not always comfortable with to prepare them for life. However, I think it is also important to make sure those situations are under control.

I expect there to be some adult supervision to offer support, or discipline those being disruptive. Anyway, some kids will be bullies, and be cruel to one another. But I also expect there to be some checks in place to keep things from getting out of hand - for instance to keep older and/or more popular students students picking on other kids.

This is a true-life story of a shy 12-year old boy Sam, and the rural town in which his family moved. The town's Jr. High which Sam attends requires PE and showers. Sam's family are odds with his gym teacher over the lack of privacy in the showers, but Sam does shower as school policy requires.

One day, Sam snaps a towel at another student in the showers which violates the strict no horseplay in the locker room policy. Sam's is given the standard punishment for this...20 push-ups, but is not allowed to get dressed first. The rest of the book details the ensuing battle between Sam's parents and the school over these forced nude push-ups. See the reviews below for more details on this battle.

For my $.02 worth, I don't think Sam's rights were grossly violated by his PE teacher. Sam violated the rules and was punished. School showers really need more adult supervision. Sam's punishment was unfortunately embarrassing, but for goodness sake, if you try and remove every single potential source out there for hurt feelings for kids, you will stop our schools and teachers from helping children learn.

I don't think it hurts students to get used to showering in a group shower. From my perspective, I think that public schools are the right place for students to be exposed (no pun intended) to the real world. School is a place to learn and "get over" certain afflictions. Super shy kids I am sure are somewhat tramatized by school. Should they get individual "learning cubicals"? No... nor, do I think should our kids NEED to have individual showers after PE.

powerfully written story
This book is a powerfully written story that should keep kids (older) and adult's interest. This story is about the young kid, Jacob, and his family's move to a new town and school. The kid's family has a very strong traditional sense of modesty and tradition (some would say to a prudish degree) while Jacob is nearing puberty and starting middle school for the first time. Required gym showers in public schools have become somewhat less common in the United States in recent years due to budget cutbacks and greater risk (lawsuit) aversion on the part of school administrators. But Jacob's town and middle school are still staunch supporters of school sports, required PE, and required showers. This book gives a gripping account of the uncomfortable collide of 2 cultures as Jacob assimilates to his new Middle School and town. On a personal note, I teach PE (for 3rd-5th graders currently) at my public school here in Flordia. Showers are always provided in the scheduled time...whether it's outdoors or indoors activities, swimming or what have you. I was little surprised to learn the school policy wanted to me to require showers of all elementary school students when I started teaching here in the mid-90's. There aren't any private showers and that upsets the occassional muslim or shy girl's or boy's parents every now and then. But our school has always managed to deal with these occassional irate parents. I think it's probably weather/climate that's caused the wide support for showers here. We're very far south in Florida (near Miami), and when little boys and girls play and exercise down here you can't help but sweat...a lot. My kids (and parents) all would actually be quite upset with me if they couldn't shower after exercising in this weather!

Mary
Elementary PE teacher
Pinellas County, South Florida

PS Our district actually made a mandatory county wide shower policy decades ago. Teachers are required to check and enforce that students shower at the end of gym class. Over the years, I've had to deal with some shower shy students as well as a small number of complaining parents. But I feel fortunate that our school has never had as disagreement as strongly felt as the battle between the Herron family and Jacob's school.

This book does a very good job of sharing this powerful and moving story about this unfortunate case. It is very sad that the teasing and harrassment Sam suffered by neighbors and classmates took place. The School and the teacher really should have done a better job to stop this.

However, I agree with the court's decision to dismiss the case on summary judgement in favor of the school. While the teacher could have done a better job in this situation, I think the law-suits, publicity, and taking Sam out of school were not to Sam's benefit. While Sam was unfairly traumatized by this incident, I think it is the job of parents and teachers to encourage children in the face of adversity, such as full-time Mom did with her son Erick below.

The School District and Sam's teacher should be commended for their many contributions to the school's Physcial Education and Athletics program. I personally think the requirement that a student shower and follow the rules of locker room etiquette is not out of line. After all, school is to teach one about life. Not only is there science, math, languages, music, but there is health, social, and physical education. Hygiene spans both health and social education, and showering is a part of hygiene. What better time to teach it than in real situations, such as after a PE class. Schools cannot change every policy according to each student's personal comfort level. Perhaps school districts should invest in private, individual dressing and shower areas for all students. But most have not chosen to do so, and privacy in the locker and shower rooms in most of our nation's schools is lacking. As a practical matter, public school students simply have a reduced expectation of personal privacy in School's required physical education classes.

Thank you Betty for writing such a powerful and moving account of the unfair mistreatment that your young son Sam was unfortunately maded to endure.

I think the Coach and teacher clearly made a mistake in judegement in ordering the nude push-ups as punishment for such a trivial infraction. However, the physical and emotional abuse Sam's classmates and neighbors directed against Sam and your family is truly outrageous. The physical abuse is criminal and those responible should be punished. The emotional abuse and despicable words show how cruel some people can be.

While the courts may be right that Sam's PE Teacher and Coach actions were within his legal bounds as a teacher (...)I think morally his punishment went too far and helped foster the divisive and hostile environment Sam and your family suffered.

Except for the unfortunate incident, Sam's PE teacher has all appearances of a good citizen and family man. By all accounts, he is a loving husband, a caring father of two teenage sons and a daughter, and very active and respected in the community. I truly hope and believe he did not intend any of the suffering his actions with Sam triggered. However, once events and unkindness take on a life of their own a mob mentality can set in causing people and communtities to perform the cruelest of acts on their neighbors.

I hope we can all find ways to help ensure such tragedies do not reoccur.

This planner should be required for all new nursing students. It has valuable information that can be used and reviewed as well as a calendar to keep you on track.

I wasn't sure if I should purchase this at first or not. I was not in need of a planner since I use a palm pilot to keep track of my appointments and school work. I was just going to purchase RN-notes instead since it has a lot of information. I ended up buying both. I highly recommend this book/planner. The first half is a book with 177 pages of information about nursing school and things that will be SO helpful and enlightening to new students, and it will also be useful after graduation as well. I feel much more prepared to start school in a few weeks after reading this. RN-notes is great for clinicals or practing nurses, but it won't help you much with being introduced to the field. Buy both, and you're set!

I know for a fact that I'd benefit from this planner 100%, not just at the time being but for as long I will be practicing nursing. I'm a student nurse and this is just a total must-have! Makes a great gift, too. What a thoughtful idea! It really helps to eliminate some if not most of the fears a student nurse is most likely to encounter. This is definitely not just another planner. You'd feel armed with just the right stuffs necessary to thrive while in nursing school, doing clinicals, and yes, I'd like to add, what a good item for the NCLEX review!

I just purchased this planner yesterday and after reading through it, I too agree with the rest of the reviews....it's excellent for fisrt year nursing students!!!! This book should be recommended in all first year nursing programs. ALthough i would like for the calendar section to be less time consuming for the student, I find this planner to be helpful.

This isn't just a planner. There is a lot of help in here on how to do well in clinical, give therapeutic communication, perform assessments, and even tells you what to look for in lab tests as they pertain to some common medications.