Canada Books

A library search of quilting information produced this book. I was actually looking for a quilt instruction book. and didn't realize that it was an actual story until after I requested the title from the library. I was initially disappointed because it was not what I was expecting. but since I was intrigued by the title, I read the little book.

THE CANADA GEESE QUILT takes place after World War II in Vermont. The main character is Ariel, a 10-year-old girl who loves being outside and has a natural talent for drawing. She lives on a farm along with her parents and her grandmother. Grandma is a lively lady and a gifted quilter. People around the country and even the world have purchased her wonderful quilts. Ariel shares a lot with her Grandma except for one thing. Ariel hates to sew.

The story begins with Ariel watching the sky as the geese return from colder areas up north. It's one of her delights to see the large flocks of geese in flight. This is also a time of change for the family because they will have a new baby in the fall. Ariel has mixed feelings about the baby and her Grandma decides that the two of them should make a quilt to welcome the little one. Ariel draws the design and her Grandma does all of the sewing.

All is going well until the old lady has a stroke and after weeks in the hospital, she returns home. Grandma can barely speak and when she does, it's hard to understand her. She must now use a cane to support herself when she walks. Ariel doesn't know what to say and even how to act with this lady who is like a shell of her real Grandma. Over time, Grandma and Ariel reach an understanding and decide that they must get back to the quilt, but since her grandmother can't even hold a needle, Ariel must now finish sewing the quilt.

Growing up can be frightening for children when they are faced with all of the changes that come with life. This gentle story handles two situations in a warm and loving way.

I loved it because her grandma made her a quilt just for her.The quilt helped Ariel feel better about the coming baby.This reminds me of my life because when my sister was born I didn't get that much attention.

Ten-year old Ariel's best friend is her grandmother. After her grandmother suffers a stroke, Ariel is afraid of this woman who has lost the will to live. With her help, her grandmother begins to walk and talk again, and Ariel gains a new understanding of the 'knowledge' that is passed on through the generations.

I am teaching my 10 year old daughter to quilt. She found this book in the "Accelerated Reader's Program" at school and read it because it had quilt in the title. We read two chapters every evening and we loved every page! It was hard to wait for the next evening to arrive so we could read the next chapters. This is a story about a young girl with many changes in her life. Her mother is expecting another child and her Grandmother comes to live with them. The girl loves to draw ane her Grandmother asks her to draw a picture so she can make the new baby a quilt.Many changes occur within the family because of the pregnancy and then serious health problems for the Grandmother after the quilt is started. The story revolves around the young girls struggles with the changes and who will finish the new baby's quilt. A great book to read with a warm and believable ending.

Canada's First Nations is a solid piece of scholarship detailed enough to satisfy advanced historians and well written in order to please a greater audience.

Make no mistake, this is a vast topic covering 15.000 years in history and pre-history that had to be shrunk to 560 pages only. Of course there are a few omissions, of course there needed to be some sort of selection of incidents and sources. Most of the author's choice regarding her focus can be understood easily and makes the book a good read.

The only grave criticism of which the author cannot be spared is that at some places Dickason does not sufficiently question her ancient written sources, but rather takes for granted what has been said about amerindian behavioural patterns in the 16th and 17th century.

While this can be attributed to the vast undertaking itsself, it nonetheless may be one wrong approach to sources leading to a perhaps distorted picture of amerindian ancient culture.

One example: "All Iroquoians practised torture and cannibalism"...[56].
While the first can be regarded as proven, sources related to the alledged latter behaviour are definetely not to be taken at face value, as Heidi Peter-Röcher (Kannibalismus in der Prähistorischen Forschung, Studien zu einer paradigmatischen Deutung und ihren Grundlagen.) in her doctoral thesis of 1994 (University FU Berlin) quite convincingly points out.

In fact, as Peter-Röcher succeeded to show, remarks related to cannibalism have to be taken with utmost care. Peter-Röcher goes as far as questioning the existence of such a practise in history at all and relates that there is not one single case in history when such a practise has been positively witnessed, that is neurotic missionaries - themselves living under a constant threat of getting slain - made up these stories of "Gog and Magog" in order to illustrate their braveness among the barbarians, to put it short.

Despite these flaws Canada's First Nations is a solid piece of work well worth the time it takes to read it.

This book is a wonderful synthesis of Canadian aboriginal history. I was impressed by the author's detailed and well-balanced approach. It is neither a moral fable nor a panegyric of conquerors' exploits, but rather history as it should be told. The only downside is the book's episodic style but that is necessitated by its ambitious goal. Olive Dickason did an especially good job highlighting the different histories of Canada's natives both pre- and post-contact.

This is an excellent book, which can be used as an encyclopedia for the history, traditional names, and geographical location of the Canadian Native peoples. The author has used numerous primary sources and maps and her style is very readable. Dickason gave also the aboriginal perspective of many events but in a very balanced account. The book can grasp the attention not only to professional historians dealing with Native history but also to all readers who have some general interest in the past of Canada's Amerindians.

Oliva Dickason, the Canadian doyenne of academic Amerindian history, delivers an excellent university introduction textbook to the history of the First Nations of North America, concentrating on those of Canada.

She deals with four periods: the pre-colonial era, the colonial, the 19th & mid-20th century, and the end of 20th century.

Her pre-colonial history is often speculative, since there are no written records, but much can be determined from oral tradition and archeological finds. For instance, the Iroquois confederacy was established shortly before the French landed in the mid-16th century; North America housed a diversity of distinct nations; many Amerindians cultures lived in permanent settlements; west coast nations had developed explicit property rights and had a system of land entitlement.

The colonial era was one of co-operation and alliances between the Ameridians and the Europeans settlers and soldiers. The Europeans brought their wars and diseases with them, while the First Nations brought their wars too. The partnership was equal and the First Nations on the winning side benefitted, at least until the 19th century.

From the 19th century onwards however, White rule has much to answer for. The diseases of the colonial era were brought inadvertently, but not so the 19th century land grab, or the disastrous assimilation attempts of the 20th century.

The end of the 20th century has seen a revival of Amerindian self-government. The First Nations have begun using Western institutions to their advantage. In the 1980's Elijah Harper, then member of Manitoba's provincial parliament, single-handedly, and rather heroically, derailed a Canadian constitutional accord (Lake Meech) which failed to address First Nations concerns. Earlier in the 1970s, the First Nations successfully negotiated with Hydro Quebec and created the precedent that their agreement was needed for development on their lands.

Overall, an excellent reference.

This book higlights the out of control cost of US Medicines. Many people need somewhere to turn to in order to get their meds safely within their budget. Here is a great, safe place to order if you decide this is right for you:

(...)

I found this Guide to be a comprehensive, un-biased, detailed resource on a life-threatening issue. Health care costs are a major social and political issue in the U.S. and the cost of prescription drugs is one of the major concerns. Millions of Americans, including many on Medicare, do not have insurance to pay for their drugs. So they need to look for the best price on the drugs they need.This book gives them that information. In very clear language, it helps them through the process of selecting a source and even ordering from Canadian pharmacies. I recommend it to hospital administrators, managers of senior citizen homes, corporate benefits staff, and to anyone who doesn't have prescription coverage.

I was given an advance copy of the book to review. I gave it to one of my co-workers who has a son who is taking an expensive medication. The son lost his group insurance with the loss of his job. He is too old to be a dependent of his parents and not realizing the value of COBRA, he failed to make the election. When he could not find another job and moved back home, his parents had to pay for more than food. Purchasing the drug was a serious financial drain on the family. By using this book they were able to discover a program through the drug manufacturer for which the son qualfied. Without the medication, the son probably would be unable to hold a full-time job.

Many people I know are on fixed incomes, and need life sustaining or saving drugs that are not availble in generic form and/or are prohibitively expensive in the U.S. Keating's book provides valuable and precise information concerning resources for people to be able to have access to their prescrition drugs, prescribed by their U.S. doctors, safely and with great savings by using Canadian online pharmacys. This book is a treasure trove of information for those most in need because of their struggle to find reasonably priced prescription drugs.

Yes, I do judge a book by the cover. This cover was so cool, I had to buy it. Then, I started reading it. What a hoot! I learned about Canadian good girls, bad girls, winners, losers, saints and sinners. We have an amazing history of chicks in Canada! Thanks to the author for making it so much fun to learn about the women of my country. I loved the sections on being a "good' wife and about the war times and what women went through. This book runs the gamut and my eyes are certainly opened wider to what my mom and grandma went through! Canadian Chicks Rock!

You don't have to be an official Canuck Chick to fall in love with Ann Douglas's hilarious guide to Canadian women's accomplishments. If you've ever wanted to know more about the kind of women the "Great White North" has produced, look no further. The book kicks off with a side-splitting "Good Wife Exam" that cleverly pokes fun at so-called "expert advice" to women during the early to mid 1900s. Thankfully, a whole lotta Chicks and Mamas refused to take this advice. Douglas leads readers on a light-hearted but fact-filled romp through Canadian accomplishments and exploits in sports, the media, Hollywood, etc. If you ever thought history--particular women's history--was dull stuff, you haven't encountered Canuck Chicks.

I had no idea that Canadian women had accomplished so much throughout our history! Ann Douglas has written a book that is sure to become a Canadian classic. Written in an easy-to-read and humourous style, this book shines with its thorough research and fascinating information. Canadian women can finally be celebrated for their achievements. You go girl! My holiday gift shopping just got a lot easier, since every girl/woman on my list will receive this book!

Not being bias, but I love this book! It's a great reference book for any Canadian trivia buffs, or just people interested in how we got where we are. And, I truly believe this book is not just for Canadians - it really is quite interesting & informative. A fun read, a good challenge into your own personal will: "I would have never stood for that..." Amazing how far we've come. Actually, more amazing is "what we came from". Cheers to the Chicks that pave the way! Dudes should read this, too. It's definitely NOT arrogant, or man-despising. You'd get a good chuckle.

WOW! recommended for someone with at least some experience in carnivore plant keeping, rather more advanced knowledge but very good review over native plants of North America, its worth buying if u want to know more about native american carnivorous plants.

This book will surely replace Dr. Schnell's first edition as the bible for North American carnivorous plants. Excellent photos, descriptions, and distribution maps. It is a book needed by all CP'ers.

The book is a nice in-depth look at the carnivorous plants that are native to the United States and Canada. The coverage is expecially thorough for Sarracenia, although still adequate (and probably more extensive than any other book available) on Drosera and Pinguicula.

The pictures included are mostly excellent, showing the plants in habitat when possible, instead of just using cultivated plants. And although the distribution maps may be a bit dated, they are helpful to understand the general areas where the plants might be found. Also, included with each section is some basic cultivation advice that I've found very helpful.

This isn't a book for a novice grower of carnivorous plants, but rather for someone who's been growing them for a while and wants more information on their native habitats and environments, as well as more technical information on each plant. An excellent book.

This expanded second edition of Carnivorous Plants Of The U.S. And Canada is a 'must' for any reference library which specializes in botany or nature: it provides photos and comments on the natural history of a variety of carnivorous plants, from common species to rarities. It's organization and language lends to easy use by lay gardeners as well as researchers, while photos and vivid descriptions of plant biology make Carnivorous Plants Of The U.S. And Canada an excellent library reference.

The Stone Diaries is my favorite book, and I've read a lot of books.It's difficult to put this book into words or to clearly convey the emotion it evokes. It is the story of Daisy, a quite ordinary woman, and the author, who I'm sorry to say recently passed away, shows us how it is exactly that ordinariness that makes every human being so precious. She shows us that people have common threads that unite us. She also shows us that we ordinary folk still have qualities and experiences unique to us. As for Carol Shield's writing: Extraordinary.

This book came out at just the right time! My book group is reading Pulitzer Prize winning novels, and we're scheduled to read The Stone Diaries next week. Imagine my delight when I found Werlock's Reader's Guide in one of our local bookstores....and discovered that she has actually asked Carol Shields some of the questions that our group would like to ask her! This book is filled with great background information, useful interpretation, and thought-provoking questions. If all the books in the series are this good, I'll buy them all!

As a long-time fan of everything by Carol Shields, I was glad to see the United States starting to pay more attention to this Canadian writer, especially for The Stone Diaries, in my opinion her best book. The background information that Abby Werlock provides is incredibly helpful (for instance, Shields is not responsible for the title!). Ms. Werlock's interview with Shields is a plus, especially because she wisely avoids the q and a format and instead spreads Shields's comments throughout the book. I love The Stone Diaries, but now, after reading Werlock's book, I understand it even better!

Even though my Chicago-based book club had already read Carol Shields's The Stone Diaries, we all went out and bought Abby Werlock's guide to our favorite novel. What a help this book has been to us! When we first discussed the novel, we had all sorts of questions, especially about whether Daisy or someone else was speaking at any given time. Well, Werlock's explanation solves it all! And even though she provides many answers to common questions, she asks questions herself, providing even more issues to delve into in this very complex and satisfying book. I recommend it to all devotees of Carol Shields.

The best book ,clear vivid pictures,precisely written.Each page is interesting,easy to read.It's a great book,every Celine fan should have,or even if this was not Celine,how this book compiled was IMPRESSIVE!!

Book is printed professionally, just like the pictures. You will find over 100 pictures of Céline Dion, sometimes with stars like Carole King, David Foster and Peabo Bryson. Captions are succinct without needless verbose descriptions. I particularly like the last few pictures which were taking more recently as Céline truely looked much better in. Not to say she's ugly when she was young, but in fact she has grown to look more sophisticated and elegant. One of the most celebrated of our modern artists... Perhaps one look at her you'll know what her vocals are made of :o) Buy the book! It's worth more than US$7.99.

Thsi book is terrific. It has great pictures of Celine, and any fan of hers would buy it!!

OK if u r a Celine fan as big as me get this book it is so good! It told some interesting facts and the pictures i had never seen any so cool. Don't take my word for it just buy it it is well worth the money and the wait to recieve it. this is the best book i have EVER read!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This authoritative and often engaging biography of a figure today who is relatively little known, French explorer Samuel de Champlain, would translate into a wonderful Hollywood film, with the protagonist shooting rapids in a birchbark canoe, hunting with the Algonquin, Huron and Montagnais Indians and accompanying them on war parties against the Iroquois tribes and then returning to France to conduct a different kind of warfare in the courts of Henri IV and Louis XIII in hopes of expanding his beloved New France on the banks of the St. Lawrence River.
Of course, the author has another goal in mind. Eminent historian David Hackett Fischer's goal (or one of them) is to salvage Champlain's reputation. The seaman and explorer, he insists, was not among those who wantonly wreaked havoc on native religions, cultures, economic and political organizations as did the Spanish through Central and South America and later arrivals everywhere from the St. Lawrence down to the coast of Florida. Rather, Fischer insists and largely demonstrates, Champlain was a different breed, a man for whom shared humanity and mutual respect mattered more than the differences between the Europeans and the Indians.
Fischer proves his point to a great degree, but in doing so he distorts the narrative in ways that undermine the book's utility as a biography. Early on, he is prone to sweeping statements about Champlain and his environment for which there appears to be little evidence (or at least, nothing that is cited.) Just one example "He was not a man who would have been content to remain in the rear echelon." That may be true, given his later adventures, but early on in the narrative, we are being asked to take the biographer's word for this and other such sweeping statements on Champlain's character.
Over and over and over, Fischer tells us how fascinated Champlain was by the lives of the many different tribes he encountered. In many of those cases, the evidence speaks for itself, and the repeated editorialization becomes tedious in the same way that an old man recounting the same war story at every family gathering over decades becomes a bore over time.
At times, Fischer's obvious affection for and defense of Champlain does seem to cross the line from biography to hagiography. A key issue is Champlain's response to the tortures to which his Huron and Algonquin allies subjected their Iroquois captives. He deplored it, but almost never intervened. Here Fischer seems to want to have and eat his cake, simultaneously. Should Champlain have intervened more forcibly? By contemporary Western standards, certainly. But from the native perspective, it would have been (and may still be viewed as) an unwarranted intrusion by a Westerner into their time-honored traditions. How to dispose of this tricky issue? Fischer makes a vague gesture in the direction of mentioning Indian spiritual practices and the role torture may have played in this (without giving the reader enough of a context to understand this fully or judge). This emerges on a broader scale when Fischer deals with Champlain's judgment of the Indians as having "ni foi, ni loi, ni roi" -- neither faith, law or kin -- and doesn't question in any meaningful way that conclusion, on which Champlain based most of his broader ideals and policy. I suspect that those who have studied the belief systems of the Iroquois and other tribes would differ with this analysis and argue that simply because the faith, systems of law or governance could not be understood by Champlain does not mean they didn't exist.
Those flaws aside, this book is an admirable accomplishment and will be of great interest to anyone interested in the earliest systematic voyages of exploration by Europeans in North America, those which led directly to the earliest settlements from Quebec southward to Florida. Yes, Champlain's discoveries largely revolved around geographical territory that is now Canada, but his voyages took him to New Spain and he explored the coasts of Maine and Massachussets in the earliest days. His detailed observations of the lands he encountered were some of the most systematic and analytical to reach Europe, and weren't filtered through the prism of religion or economic opportunity.
Highly recommended for anyone who isn't worried by the author's unabashed partiality for his subject. Anyone interested in learning about the later clashes between the settlers that Champlain and his heirs introduced to New France -- later known as 'pure laine' (literally pure wool) Quebeckers -- should turn to the lively polemic by Mordecai Richler that tackles the legacy of the Quebec myths and reality in the 20th century and onward. Oh Canada! Oh Quebec!: Requiem for a Divided Country

David Hackett Fischer's new full-length biography of Samuel de Champlain is pure nectar to the serious reader of history. Full of life, vivid, entertaining, fascinating and full of insight, this is biography at its best. Painted on the vast canvas of sixteenth and seventeenth century Europe and North America, we see a fully developed portrait of a fascinating and complex individual who played such a key role in the unfolding of North American culture and civilization.

This biography is worthy to stand beside the best of our generation: John Adams, The Path to Power (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 1), The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Visions of Glory, 1874-1932. Oddly, it also calls to mind the fictional work of Quicksilver (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 1), The Confusion (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 2) and The System of the World (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 3) by Neal Stephenson with its fascinating scope and historical detail.

Among the plethora of insights gleaned from Fischer is his description of the French quality of "prevoyance," which has no exact corrollary in English. Prevoyance is not so much the ability to foresee the future as the ability to prepare for the unexpected in a world of danger, complexity and uncertainty. Champlain is the prime example of the quality of "prevoyance," Fischer shows. We follow this prevoyant man from boyhood in the harbor towns of the Gulf of Saintonge in the Bay of Biscay, with its teeming, crowded ports full of people of all nations, where he is exposed to many different economies, cultures and languages. We accompany him later in his years of soldiering and participation in the bloody religious wars of the sixteenth century, then on the quasi-military exploring expeditions to the New World with Frobisher, where Champlain is deeply offended by the atrocities committed upon the native peoples (chronicled, by the way, in a series of remarkable paintings produced by Champlain and included in full color in this beautifully produced volume). Later, we follow Champlain in his adventures in Paris court of Henri IV, where Champlain held the title of "royal geographer" as he worked in the basement of the Louvre. And finally, we return over the Atlantic with Champlain where he takes up his lifework of building New France and founding the great French capitols of the New World.

This book amply testifies of the arrival of Fischer in the topmost rung of working biographers not only of our day but perhaps of the last century. He not only has the archivist's mastery of the vast corpus of source documents, but the rare talent to create a man out of the sources. Reading this book is as transporting and joyful an enterprise as reading a great novel. Worthy of five stars, and more!

David Hackett Fischer, previous winner for his writings on American History, continues his winning ways with this book about the early French explorer of early post-Colombian America. This book is a window into a little examined or understood period in the discovery of America. I highly recommend this book.

I appreciate his narrative style, without an agenda or ax to grind. This history is not for the ideological nor the squeamish. It's one of those books that you don't want to end. It made me wish I could have seen North America as Champlain did--wild, fertile, a truly New World. Highly recommended. Also recommended by the author: Washington's Crossing.

This year - 2008 - marks the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec or New France, as it was called then. There is an exhibition in Quebec commemorating the founding called Champlain's Dream, appropriately named after this book, an excellent biography of the founding father. David Hackett Fischer is an historian who, though not exactly popular, is widely read outside academia. His most famous work is Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America (America: a Cultural History), a very interesting study of the American appropriation of certain Britsh subcultures during the 17th century (Puritan, Scots-Irish, etc.) In the present work he tells the story of Samuel de Champlain and his attempts to create an enlightened New France. Champlain was a polymath: a soldier, a sailor, cartographer, ethnographer, naturalist, artist, writer, and political leader. It could be said that he was a Renaissance Man who was well on his to becoming a man of the Enlightenment.

Champlain was born in the "cosmopolitan town" of Brouage on the west coast of France. He was born into a wealthy Protestant merchant family and lived at peace with Catholics, even during the religious wars. He had learned tolerance growing up in this milieu. French king Henri IV, with whom the family had ties, was also a Prostestant and favored religious tolerance. It was not until the invasion of France by Spanish Catholic extremists that both Champlain and Henri IV were forced to convert to Catholicism. Their new faith was not dogmatic but rather a Christian humanism that was receptive to new ideas and the pursuit of knowledge in order to better serve God.

The second most influential event in Champlain's early life was the opportunity to accompany a Spanish fleet to New Spain. There he witnessed firsthand the cruelty with which the Spanish treated the Indian population. He was determined that New France would treat its subjects with more dignity and respect.

It was in 1608 - 400 hundred years ago - that he was recruited by Henri IV - due to his considerable polymathic talents - to explore the waterways of the St. Lawrence and establish the colony of New France. He quickly established ties with the local tribes: the Montagnais, the Algonquin, and the Huron. This, however, incurred the wrath of the enemies of those tribes: the Iroquois League. There were numerous battles between the French and the Indians in which Champlain participated. Fischer's account of Champlain's arquebus (primitive shotgun) is very good. It was a muzzle-loaded hand-cannon that scared the daylights out of the Iroquois. Champlain was more interested in scaring them off than conquering them.

Although Champlain was tolerant and humane for a person of his place and time, he was still a colonialist who demanded that the Indians become Christians and that they submit to the French political system. Champlain's dream of bringing Enlightenment values to the New World failed because Enlightenment never completely took hold in France, nor had he himself completely accepted them.

I was looking for something I could use as an SLP. I didn't realize that buying this as a package with the other Clear Speech book was redundant, since they are different volumes for the same book.

If you have some problem of English pronounciation,
You should use it.
Because it is really useful for them, and
it is really helpful.
So, you should use it if you have some problems.

Now, I've seen some pretty innovative approaches to illustrating pronunciation. But this takes the prize so far.

From the author's letter to teachers:

"For years, teachers have been asking me to write a version of my intermediate level book, Clear Speech, that would be usable for beginners. They said that it would make more sense to help students with pronunciation early, rather than wait until they have developed habits that are hard to overcome. Also, teachers often found that their beginning students became discouraged when people didn't understand what they were saying, and of course, a discouraged student is harder to teach. Teachers who were trying to help their beginning students with pronunciation expressed frustration with the limited results they were getting from traditional methods of drilling minimal pair (e.g., ship/sheep) or asking students to "sound out" the letters in print. [ e.g. "Do you want to go to the store? / Doo yoo wahnt too goh too thuh stor?" ] They were asking for a more effective approach.

All of this made sense to me. But the problems was that I just couldn't think of an approach that would work. For one thing, beginners simply don't have enough vocabulary to understand explanations. And with so much else to learn, there isn't much class time for pronunciation. One thing was clear to me: A really useful book had to be radically different from any other in the field, including my own intermediate level book."

The author has succeeded beyond everyone's expectations.

Conventional wisdom in the ESL/EFL world holds that pronunciation should not be taught at the beginning level. It's just too technical, requiring complicated descriptions and explanations for which beginning students don't have the vocabulary.

But if there were a way to make the material accessible? Even beginners need to communicate clearly -- intelligible speech fosters successful academic, work, and social interactions, and that's got to be encouraging for the student! Judy Gilbert's well-planned approach makes clear pronunciation truly accessible to beginners. The book -- rightly so -- limits the pronunciation points to those that are most urgently needed for intelligibility. The principle areas covered are: (1) the alphabet: using letters to spell out loud for clarification, (2) decoding spelling/reading words: using simple spelling rules to predict the pronunciation of a word, (3) syllable number: developing awareness of the number of syllables in words and phrases, being sure not to add unnecessary syllables or to omit necessary ones, (4) syllable stress: lengthening stressed vowels and reducing unstressed ones, (5) word connections: linking words together (this improves both listening comprehension and the smoothness of the student's speech), (6) the music of English: the pitch contours and rhythm of the language, and (7) articulation: t/d, s/z, l/r/n, and th.

There are some very cool things in this book for pronunciation teachers and learners. For example, there are tongue shape drawings looking from the back of the tongue to the front and out the mouth. Can't picture it? You'll have to see it to believe it! Along with the traditional front and side views, this new perspective really helps you visualize what's going on inside your mouth to produce a specific sound. I only wish there were drawings for all the American English vowels and consonants!! (But then it wouldn't be a beginning textbook, would it?)

I also like the vowel pronunciation rules. Example: the letters 'ai' are pronounced like the first letter [a] in the combination. Think: straight, complaint. Then, in the appendix, a percentage is given for how often the rule works, in this case, 95% of the time. This will give the student the confidence to guess how a new word is pronounced, take 'restraint', for example, but not stress out when the rule doesn't work, as in 'plaid'.

There are many helpful graphics in the book. Two of my favorites are the extra-wide bolded letters for stressed vowels (I think you can visualize that) and the diminishing letters for continuant sounds (Thatsssokay. The storezzznearrrMain [the second and third s's, z's, and r's have decreasing font sizes]).

I've been looking for a book like this for a long time. Mostly, I do corporate accent and pronunciation training and executive speech coaching with foreign-born clients who have a high intermediate to advanced command of English. But occasionally, I am asked to train employees who have a lower level of English. This is definitely the book I'll choose for them! Trainees can apply the basic concepts they learn to company-specific vocabulary and technical terms.

I only wish all learners of North American English could start out with this book...

Carol Shields' strength lies in her ability to craft precise descriptions of moments... Her most interesting stories come from the first 2 vollumes, while the last collection felt more experimental and to me, somewhat less enjoyable. But her prose is always a pleasure to savour...

Carol Shields died of Breast Cancer three years ago, a sad loss of a gifted, wonderful Canadian writer. Collected Stories features several of the most wonderful stories I have read. Her quirky humor comes to life in this wonderful collection. Though the stories may come across as incredibly mundane because it deals with every day, ordinary people, said stories give a wonderful portrayal of characters you can definitely relate to. My favorite stories are "Invitations," "Taking the Train," "Pardon," "Segue," "Fuel for the Fire," and "Our Men and Women." This is a large collection of previously released stories and her last effort before she passed away called "Segue." This is a beautiful collection you won't want to miss. I read The Stone Diaries when it first came out eleven years ago and my impression now is the same one I had when I read the aforementioned novel: Carol Shields was a master storyteller.

This is a wonderful collection. Each reflective,gentle story pulls you forward with poetic, awe-inspiring detail. A joy at every level.

From a too-early departed Canadian treasure. Shields could turn a phrase, or take her reader from a wink of an eye to a catch in the throat, like no one else. She was a trickster of a storyteller - start you off slow, comfortable and easy - then wham! Off you'd go into a character, or life, that delights and surprises.

The first two lines of "Pardon":
On Friday afternoon Milly stopped at Ernie's Cards 'n' Things to buy a mea culpa card for her father-in-law, whom she had apparently insulted.
"Sorry," Ernie's wife said in her testy way."We're all out."

I love the off-handed humor and grace of the phrase "apparently insulted". This last collection is a departing gift, and should be read accordingly. Each page turned slowly, each paragraph unwrapped and savored, each word read as though it was the last - "part of the bliss they would one day gladly surrender."