Mid-America Books

This map is ok if you need the lamination; however, it doesn't have as much detail as a regular Rand McNally map, so be forewarned. It's alright if you're not going anywhere tricky or improvising a lot on the fly.

This book may serve as a good introduction about the Yakama heritage. It is only one man's interpretation of the information gathered from one Yakama family. What you need to remember is that you can't write about an entire culture in only a few pages. The book takes a look at important aspects of the Yakama heritage but you need to consider that there are thousands of Yakama families and this book only describes the lives of one family. The information in this book is accurate and very informative, but it does not tell the whole story.

This is an excellent guide to the best NY restaurants and to some of the more interesting neighborhood restaurants. I wish there were a bit more information about the size and setting, smoking areas and so on. But by far the greatest drawback of this book is its execrable binding. After only limited use, my copy began to disintegrate, not exactly what one desires in a reference book that one hopes to carry around. This is inexcusable. Back to the Michelin Guides for me! I have a 39 Michelin France Guide that is still hanging together. Planned obsolescence!!!

Rand McNally wastes half of the book's pages on unimportant information about tourist attractions, lodging, etc, instead of using them for more detailed maps of each state's different areas. The detail of the maps leaves something to be desired, with many main country roads not being numbered at all. We used this map once or twice at most before we ended up buying a larger one. It seems no one in the US has been able to do what Michelin does for France and if you at least want all the roads numbered then you have to get the extra large versions.

A decent reference given as a photocopied handout to new entertainers at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. (At least it was during the mid-90's - don't know if they still use it.) If it's the same as mine, however, "Unknown Binding" means "staples" - might want to be aware of that before purchasing.

I agree with the reviewer who said the book had no real point. It's just plain old bad. Don't buy it, spend the money on your kids' college fund instead.

My kids love Sticky Stanley and his friends at Camp Wacki Kooki. The second graders at our school chose this as their favorite book of the year for their door decorating contest. They laugh at the campers- each one reminds them of someone they know. Each time Sticky Stanley gets messier, they laugh and sympathize at the same time. They love to read along with the Camp Wacki Kooki tape. This one doesn't stay on the bookshelf.

...because the story was pointless, painfully long, and boring. I don't know where my wife picked this book up, but I wish she would return it. The pictures are nice but the book just goes on and on and on...without ever coming to a conclusion.

I don't mean to ruin it for anyone, but the entire premise of this never-ending book seems to be that people should clean themselves. I don't know what the other two positive reviewers were thinking. Perhaps they are chums with the THREE (you're kidding, right?) people it took to write this.

Hey guys, next time at least try to work a knock-knock joke into the mix...

This book is a total hit for my 4 1/2 year old. We have enjoyed it for about a year now and he keeps requesting "Sticky Stanley". The characters are all of his friends! From the goody goody to the tempter, the tough-gal to the brain, here is a more true to life alternative to Arthur; and a more FUN way to teach kids about consequenses, teamwork, and perseverance than any school, church or daycare could. I am sure my children will continue to enjoy this for years!

This may be the worst children's book ever published. First of all, each sentence reads like it came from the mouth of a two year old. Secondly, the characters are boring. Especially Brian Z, the "camp director." He adds nothing to the already weak story. He only takes up space. That brings me to my third point: the story is too long and pointless. BOTTOM LINE: THIS BOOK READS LIKE IT WAS PUBLISHED OUT OF SOMEONE'S BASEMENT. SKIP IT.

On this book's behalf, I must say that I somewhat enjoyed Allison's poems. The ideas certainly had a degree of merit. However, the pretention in this book astounded me. Something about Allison's poetry seemed to not ring true. It looks to be an amateurish attempt by an obviously young writer to seem intellectually involved and astute. The gusto was apparent, but it was sadly misdirected. Starr's work was the saving grace of the book: enthralling and original.

On this book's behalf, I must say that I somewhat enjoyed Allison's poems. The ideas certainly had a degree of merit. However, the pretention in this book astounded me. Something about Allison's poetry seemed to not ring true. It looks to be an amateurish attempt by an obviously young writer to seem intellectually involved and astute. The gusto was apparent, but it was sadly misdirected. Starr's work was the saving grace of the book: enthralling and original.

Both Carrie and Stacey take the time in this first chapbook to show us their world, be it discussion of an alcoholic mother or learning about BOYS as an adolescent. These young writers write with verve and panache. A guaranteed good read for those who want to see what the next generation of writers will be doing as they progress.

Contrary to its title, this book devotes only a dozen of its 221 pages to "the market approach to education." The rest of the book tells the story of the tiny pilot voucher program operating in Milwaukee, Wisconsin: how the legislation was written and passed, what evaluations conducted by Witte and others have found; and ruminations over the future of this and other voucher programs.

Witte's evaluation of the Milwaukee choice program is good to have in the library of serious school reform advocates, but it has been superceded by Paul Peterson and his colleagues at Harvard. Serious students of choice will find the rest of this book frustrating for several reasons.

Witte's writing style is imprecise and often marked by the use wrong words, so it is difficult to know just what he means. The worst offenses of this kind occur when he tries to discuss markets, since he seems unfamiliar with the basic vocabulary of economics. For example: "Thus while the pure market model provides an extreme case of stratification, universal vouchers will clearly increase current stratification and subsidy upward [sic] in the income stream [sic]." (207)

Witte's table of features that distinguish private from public schools bears a closer resemblance to something that might appear in a seventh grade civics textbook than something produced by a writer familiar with public choice literature. Even elementary insights from microeconomics are missing: He cannot believe anyone would "open a school in the ghetto" under a voucher system, apparently unaware that profit margins could easily be as high or higher in privately run inner-city schools than in affluent suburbs.

Witte's objections to "the market approach to education" come down to his assertion, often repeated but never substantiated by data or even good rhetoric, that vouchers would lead to "more stratified schools," by which he variously means more segregated, less equally funded, or less accessible to students from middle- and lower-income families. Given the "savage inequalities" of current government school systems, it is a weak and conflicted claim to make.

Witte's book can be divided into two main areas for critique. The first is the credible presentation of fact-based information. The second and less legitimate section is Witte's advocacy of the voucher program.

In its straight-forward, relatively unbiased assessment of the voucher program in Milwaukee, The Market Approach to Education serves as a useful resource to educational study. Witte presents conclusions about the program based on empirical research conducted in the first years of the its existence. Although there are tables and graphs, the information contained within the writing is completely understandable and intersting. In other words, the book is not a trail of numbers even though it presents a substantial amount of factual information.

A main source of inconsistency lies in Witte's personal conclusions and serves to discredit his argument. Witte claims to support the limited voucher program on the basis that it has the potential to aid students from disadvantaged areas. However, the evidence Witte presented seemed to suggest that private schools were no more shielded from the problems of education than the public schools, and that private schools yielded no better results than did public schools. Thus, why would he argue in favor of these targeted vouchers if they do not seem to realize their intent? Additionally, Witte states and reiterates that governmentally instituted programs which are initially targeted at a specific group of people, once deemed successful, are expanded to be implemented universally. Witte argues that this universal implementation would destroy the goals of the targeted vouchers: to work toward a more equitable system of education. The universal voucher system, Witte argues, would result in a stratification of education along socio-economic lines, just as all other commodities are economically stratified. Seeing this as contrary to the goal of educational vouchers, why would Witte support the targeted plan? His argument is somewhat schizophrenic. He, in fact, recognizes this, but does not offer any means to qualify his stance. For this reason, Witte's book loses some merit.

Where its value lies is the information contained within on the effects of the voucher system and the presentation of the potential outcomes of the program.

Outside of being rather dry and boring from a presentation perspective, the information provided is at best okay. I read the other reviews and bought the book anyway since I figured it was the NYT staff. Well the other reviews were right.

I bought this book thinking that it would give me in-depth New Yorkers' view of New York City--like the neat neighborhood to shop, mom & pop's restaurants to eat, or some off-the-wall places to stay. Instead, it's just a typical generic guidebook that tells you same old thing, such as Louis Vuitton is the place to buy leather wallet. Well duh, I knew that! I could go to a local mall in my area and find a Louis Vuitton store. I wanna know the little hidden place that the experienced NY Times staff would know since, you guess it, they live in NYC.

I bought this guide because it included Mexico on the cover. I am doing a road trip through Central America in May. Regretably there is only one page covering all of Mexico. Way to vague to be any use for me.

This atlas has a lot of extraneous pages of info in it which in my opinion should have been left out to make room for the counties. You will never be sure of what county you are in with this atlas. There are no county outlines or county names anywhere in the atlas. It is a shame because it is a nice size for carrying around.