Junior Books

Bonnie Mickelson, the editor, was promoting this little book at I. Magnin's in San Francisco in 1980 and I am so grateful that I happened to be in the store that day. I purchased copies for my mother and myself having a soft spot for Junior League cookbooks. This one is very good. While slight with only 110 recipes, they are well chosen and have been tested. It has been over 25 years since I bought this book and I still turn to it--especially for entertaining for large crowds. The Beef Bourguignon for 24 is easy and very good. Easier than Julia Child's and just as good. Serving it with Hungarian Noodles, as suggested, always gets raves and requests for the recipe. The Barley and Pine Nut Pilaf is easy and wonderful with beef and lamb. The Frozen Mocha Mousse made with ladyfingers, which turns it into a charlotte, is very, very good and serves a large crowd and is impressive to look at. There was a follow-up volume that I suspect is a collection of recipes that just didn't seem good enough to make it the first time around. I use that book too, but not as often. The drawings by Linda Newberry are very charming.

I received my copy of Private Collection today and I've just ordered another copy of this delightful cookbook as a Christmas gift for a dear friend. The recipes are elegant - the Avocado Crab Mornay sang on our tongues tonight. It isn't just the food that sings in this cookbook, the paper begs to be touched, and the illustrations are exquisite.

"Make a plan. Count the feet. Clear the land on this street..." It's time to raise the roof and build that dream house. From the planning, pouring concrete, sawing and hammering wood, laying pipes and wiring, to drywalling, hanging windows and doors, painting, carpeting and tiling, Anastasia Suen details all the things that need to be done before a house is ready to be lived in. Her rhyming text, written in short, simple sentences is perfect for the youngest "construction workers" always ready to build with pretend tools and hard hats. But it's Elwood Smith's bold, bright, and clever cartoon-like illustrations that really make this picture book a stand out. Each two page spread is rich in vivid color, engaging humor, and wonderful eye-catching details. "Plant the garden. Water the grass. The house is ready. We're done at last!" Raise The Roof is definitely a preschool crowd pleaser.

I loved the look of "Raise the Roof!": It has the energy of 1930's Disney animation, and a scruffy energy that made me think of a very sanitized R. Crumb. The pictures and the "cast" have an original, rhythmic feel to them, it's as if the pictures rhyme as well as the words!

We start with eventually turns out as a trick. A couple very busily draw blueprints, while their dog holds a portfolio titled "doghouse plans," and a book, "How to Build a Doghouse" lies on the floor next to his food bowl. Wacky geometrically-shaped details decorate each picture: Sharp-edged bushes, circular flowers that look like wood, and every where dots andtiny circles that add texture and the aforementioned scruffy dynamism to the backgrounds. The people and their dog have that rounded, puffy look that makes them look energetic and slightly unpredictable, as if they're going to burst out in song at any minute. Illustrator Elwood H. Smith varies the perspective, from scene-setting longshots to close-ups (likea series of pipes) that are almost abstract.

Anastasia Suen's verse is tightly constructed and similarly energetic. She describes the house-building with enough detail to make it realistic, but leaves out unessential descriptions that would dilute her focused story-telling. She introduces various subcontractors (e.g., an electrician, the cement guy) to increase interest, and, most importantly, makes the dog a co-equal in the house building. (even though, he's sometimes a little mixed-up!) Still, there's an interesting incongruity that young audiences might begin to detect: We saw that this was planned as a doghouse, and the pooch even dreams of one, but the interior and exterior dimenstions look awfully dog-gone big! "Put in sinks" (there's a great detail of the dog straining at a wrench) and "set the tile" (here the dog gets his paw stuck to one), "roll out carpet mile by mile." What kind of a doghouse is this, anyway?

Suen and Smith answer this on the last few pages, and anyone who has a dog will smile in recognition. WARNING, SPOILER AHEAD: They've built both a full size house AND a doghouse, but it's clear where the spirited dog will live: He sleeps in the big house with his people, and there's a "FOR RENT" sign on the little doghouse next to it! This is a fun, good-natured, and cleverly humorous book that excels in both story and illustration.

Mathematics instruction in today's classrooms is often looked upon as a chore, rather than something to be enjoyed. This book gives numerous examples of how to integrate mathematics in a fun way in your classroom, while at the same time following the curriculum standards established for your classroom. We need to change student's attitudes towards math, so that they see it as a necessary component of life, as well as something that more than just irrelevant computations. The suggestions in this book can be implemented easily into any classroom, as well as in the home. Definitely purchase this book, and help start to improve the negative attitudes that exist today about mathematics.

I have taken a few courses with David Whitin and he has shown me that the ideas in this book really work! If you teach elementary school, you MUST get this book. It is a must-have for every teacher!

I'm homeschooling a first grader and we started this book last year and he LOVES it. My son has some challenges in reading/writing but for some reason just breezes through these lessons happily.

The book mixes stories with quick comprehension, writing, and vocabulary questions that keeps each lesson feeling quick and interesting.

We recently lost our first copy of this book on a recent road trip, and I had to replace it fast - all the other reading curriculum books in my box left my son confused, frustrated and cold.

I'm homeschooling and I could go on the road with the Spectrum books. After trying several different curriculums, I stumbled across these books in the bookstore. They were an answer to prayer. There is an answer key in the back, so I haven't had to haul around a huge teachers edition. These books, all of them (we homeschool a 1st grader and 3rd grader and we use Spectrum Spelling, Writing, Reading, Language Arts, Vocabulary, Phonics, and Math) are exactly what we needed. My first grader LOVES the reading books. We ordered both, the regular Spectrum, and the one written by Mercer Meyer with the Little Critter characters. Childrens books (especially the ones written at her level) are SO expensive, and these reading books come with so many stories, and they have exercises for reading comprehension. I REALLY can't say enough. One thing I'd like to see them do? Add science and social studies/ history and geography to their mix... art and music while we are at it!!

This book is very user friendly with reproduceable worksheets and easy to follow directions. It is categorized and has information for parent instruction that is easily understood. Best tool I have purchased in recent years to teach handwriting skills.

great reference book. Has many good activities for teachers to include in their handwriting lessons.

Rip Van Winkle is a story of an regular man that came in contact with some irregular people that would change his life forever. It all started out one day when Rip decided to go hunting with his dog. Up to this point in his search for freedom, he had lived a sleepy and uneventfull life with two kids and a wife. He was always trying to get out of work and find a way out of doing everything. One day he gets fed up with his life and finds himself out in the woods hunting;There he gets asked by a strange man to carry a keg to a nine pin party. Also during this party he ends up getting drunk and finds himself dosing off to sleep. When he finally wakes up he has a long white beard and twenty years older! He had fallen asleep for twenty years and found that he was now old, grey and still alive. At this point in the story he goes back to the village where he had lived for so long and finds that his wife and friends had all passed away and had left him. He also finds that his daughter got married and was raising a family. She sees him one day and recognizes him to be the man that was once her father. At this point in Rip's life, all he wants to do is settle down and he is satisified to become the village story teller to all who would hear his tales. This is a tale of suspense and just plain old good reading for all ages. It was written many years ago and could speak to all people of all ages and races. I would recomend this book to anyone from my Grandfather to the Queen of England.

Washington Irving's (1783-1859) claim to fame is as a pioneer of American fiction, and he is widely recognized as the "father of American literature." The book that especially propelled him to fame was "The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent." which contained his two most famous fantasy stories - "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" - both of which are contained in this collection.

But it is not merely his ground-breaking efforts that garnered him literary recognition, because Irving's stories are at the same time characterized by charming and colourful prose befitting a skilled writer. The stories in this collection (the "Puffin Classics" series) are an excellent sampling of his craft. It's not always easy reading - in fact many of these stories would be too dense even for older children. His vocabulary is extensive, and sentences structure verbose and lengthy - a style rather unlike that employed by contemporary writers. But despite this, Irving demonstrates a wonderful command of the English language, and has the ability to create a vivid picture of his setting, characters and events. Particularly delightful is the attention he devotes to describing his characters. And yet his stories are far from mere character portraits - they are exciting and enchanting tales that make the reader eager to find out the outcome.

"Rip Van Winkle" has gained the status of a classic, and is familiar to most children, but likely few have read Irving's original. It breathes an authenticity and air not found in the contemporary abridged versions of the story. Irving presents his tale as the alleged discovered manuscript (complete with postscript) of the late Diedrich Knickerbocker. The delightful story of Rip Van Winkle - who fell asleep in the Catskill mountains after drinking a mysterious brew acquired from some strange little men, and then awoke 20 years later - will continue to please readers old and new. In the course of the story, Irving makes a profound social comment about the changes happening in his America. "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is renowned for its chilling tale of the Headless Horseman, and is a Halloween favorite. Actually, however, it is much more than that. It is not so much a spooky tale of a legendary village ghost as it is a colourful tale about two rival suitors. Ichabod Crane is a simple school teacher who is in love with Katrina Van Tassel, and equally in love with the estates of her father, a wealthy Dutch farmer. His counter-part is the powerful local hero Bram Bones, whose affections for Katrina mirror those of Ichabod Crane, and who is determined to put an end to the affections of underdog Crane by a mysterious and elaborate trickery. As is evident also in his other stories, it is particularly fascinating how Irving exploits the supernatural superstitions of the popular mind to create a sense of mystery and fear, but himself gives a naturalist explanation that rises above such popular notions by explaining the supernatural with natural events.

Though lesser known, the other three stories in the "Puffin Classics" collection are equally enjoyable. "The Spectre Bridegroom" is one of the most fascinating tales in the collection. A young man is mistaken for a bridegroom and received into the castle of a wealthy baron as the husband of the baron's daughter. But before the marriage can be consummated, the bridegroom dashes off, and the baron's family hears shortly afterwards that he's been killed. But then who appears again except the bridegroom - or is it his ghost? - to steal his bride and vanish once more! In the end, it is a satisfying tale more of brilliant scheming than of ghosts - although the fearful superstitions of the general public about the supernatural play an important role in the effective execution of these schemes. "The Pride of the Village" is the tragic tale of a young lady whose heart pines in love for an army officer who has deserted her, only to die at his feet when he returns. "Mountjoy" is a wonderful study of an apparently incurable romantic, described by Irving as a "Castle-Builder". When Mr. Mountjoy discovers a delicate footprint on a sandy shore, his passion for metaphysics, creativity and romance leads him to dream up an imaginary beautiful young maiden, and he promptly fall passionately in love with the nymph of his dreams. The air castle he builds and its accompanying romanticism is crushed numerous times, even drowned, but each time is renewed and revived, just when it seems that "the cobweb romance I had been spinning" would be demolished completely. In the end Mr. Mountjoy meets the girl of his dreams, only to discover that his air castles need to be reshaped once more, and in the end, destroyed completely.

Readers used to the easy diet of modern fiction will find the pioneering work of Washington Irving rather tough to chew on. But those who delight in tasting words, biting on imaginative characters and settings, with a few sips of suspense and supernatural in the process, will discover that Washington Irving's stories are just the literary serving they are renowned to be: a classic. Irving won't please all children of the modern era. But children of literature who have acquired a fine literary taste will find that despite the heightened language of his time, Irving is still digestible and enjoyable.

I bought this audioook for our girls (aged 7 and 9) to listen to on long journeys. We enjoy listening to it also and it certainly does make the journeys more bareable. Our [...]particularly loves this audiobook, in her words "it's awesome, even though it's a bit sad at the end when he dies."
I feel it's better than simply watching a DVD all the time. At least they are using their imaginations to visualize the images and they are often inspired to sit and draw what they have imagined. I heartily recommend this audiobook.

I am an adult and I loved it.
Much better than listening to talk radio while driving.

This is a fantastic book - either for your own use, or as a gift! Very easy to follow - interesting and exciting receipes that don't need super special ingredients!

Fantastic! 2 thumbs up!

This book is definately a must in the kitchen! It has everything from basic recipes to those handed down from generation to generation! Absolutely fantastic and be sure to try the Peanut Butter Cups! So Simple!

I think this book is a great resource and provides vital information for people who are working with children or simply have children.

This is a great textbook covering important areas of safety, nutrition and health. I highly recommend it. Another book that is a must for every educator and parent is Bully-Proofing Children: A Practical, Hands-On Guide to Stop Bullying. Written in an easy-read format, the practical tips and strategies on teaching children to get along and be safe are invaluable for anyone who works with kids. Filled with units, lessons, scripts and original stories focus on school safety which is so important given the current climate of schools today.

How else can I describe this wonderful cookbook! My husband is a military man, and we've entertained everywhere from California, to Germany, to Japan. Whenever I need a recipe that I know will please my guests, I know that I can rely on "Savannah Style". I especially recommend the sections on beverages and Hors D'oevres. It is easy to see why Savannians are renouned for their hospitality and the food which accompanies it. (The mint Juleps are especially refreshing for spring or summer entertaining.)

This is the best Savannah has to offer! It won the Southern Living Hall of Fame Award. The cover is beautiful and the historical vignettes that start each chapter are fascinating. There is a mixture of colonial and modern dishes. I even found recipes from some famous Savannah restaurants. Make sure you try the "Marinated Shrimp Monterey" and the "Peach Cobbler." Nothing beats the praline recipe.