Index-method

This book deserves more than five stars!

I wish that I had had this book available to me when I first became a parent. I certainly intend to give it as a gift to my children when they become parents.

The advice that parents used to receive from teachers was that it doesn't matter much what your child reads, just that she or he reads. This outstanding book takes appropriate issue with that way of thinking and proposes an alternative approach that will enrich your child (or grandchild's) reading skills, knowledge of good stories, and ability to write. I was impressed by the argument that you don't let your child eat just anything that he or she wants. Why would you let her or his mind be polluted with inappropriate thoughts?

From my own experience as a parent, I have one child who reads enormously but has read few good books. As a result, his grounding in basic ideas and literature is tenuous despite having a great deal of education. Clearly, I let him down in not steering him toward more useful books. If you are like me, you will want to avoid that error with your children and grandchildren. The Magic Bookshelf can help you a lot.

What we have learned about children's mental development has grown vastly in just the last few years. We now know that reading to babies is an important part of emotional and intellectual development. The Magic Bookshelf has many wonderful suggests for how to do this so you don't feel like you are "reading to the wall."

As soon as your child is old enought to have opinions, the authors have many excellent suggestions for how to find excellent books of the sort that will attract your child, and how to connect those books to other media. There's even good information about weaning your child away from (or avoiding) television.

The book also encourages you to be a good example by reading a lot, reading with your child, discussing books with your child, and doing writing together. You will get a lot of excellent advice about how to create a home environment that stimulates good reading.

I was impressed by the argument in the book that you encourage your child to see her or himself as a good reader, regardless of where your child's reading level is. So, don't take those age-specific labels seriously. Get books in your child's hands that he or she is ready for (whether less or more advanced than is typical for your child's age).

The key idea in the book is to have a Magic Bookshelf. This will be a set of books that your child will keep as a core of her or his own library, and reread throughout life. It can also be the core for his or her child's library later on.

The book also expanded my knowledge of the latest research concerning how children learn, and provided a wonderful bibliography to that research.

Naturally, there are helpful lists of books in the book to consider. These will be invaluable to those who are not very well grounded in children's books.

After you finish reading this excellent book, I suggest that you discuss what you learned with each of your children who is of an appropriate age. Presumably, you are reading about this book now after having been a parent for a while. You don't want to leave any stone unturned to help your children, regardless of their age today. Then ask your children if they would like to do a little directed reading of these children's books together. If they would, you can also help fill in gaps in their background now, regardless of their age. The reason I suggest this is that I often run into people who find themselves at a disadvantage because they do not know commonly-read stories. This gap can easily be filled by your action now.

Enjoy your reading as you set a good example and create better bonding and intellect for your children and grandchildren!

It took me years to find just the right book that hooked me into reading for the rest of my life (The Hobbit). Giving my daughter a headstart so she can find just the right books--and opening a whole new world for her--is nothing short of miraculous. I can't think of anything I rather give her. This book helped me send this gift to my daughter and, I believe, it will change her life. Thank you.

This little book is a must for parents, grandparents and teachers who need some guidance in the world of children's literature.

The book gives sound suggestions without the "soapbox approach". I liked the authors' ideal that a magic bookshelf "can exist on the mind" as well as being physical

This book is great for the professional flutist. It gives a comprehensive list of works and also grades them. It is grat for the teacher looking for a piece for a student, and for the college flute major.

Well organized, exemplary guide to Holocaust literature for youth of all ages. Useful for educators, parents, librarians and students. A solid, "must have", user friendly reference tool for school and public libraries.

When I came upon the book, Index Card Games for ESL, I was a little skeptical at first. It sounded like alot of work, or trouble. However, after reading through this book, and using it in my class, I found it to be extremely helpful in teaching english concepts very quickly, it was fun, and it was very easy. I took paper and cut it up into squares,( because I didn't have index cards) and quickly wrote out one of the games . My students loved the interaction that it gave with each other. It helped them to practice their english skills with each other, it also helped them with their english applications. The first game we played was matching synonyms. It was fun for us all! It was such a change from what we had been using. I had to look up the book to see if there was another edition of the book! And there is! I can't wait to see it as well.

This sall book presents an accumulation/distribution type indicator that is suppose to do the work of similar indicators that is foundl in many software programs. , However, this book provides examples of a simple in a simple way that can be handled manually. This could be useful for someone who trades a single market only (as I do with T-Bponds) ad don't need any complex expensive mechanisml to do the same job.

Leave it to Gindick! He really is the foremost harmonica intructor. This book is approachable, and is loaded with valuable information for the novice and expert alike.

For novices, it explains the harmonica, how to hold it, how to play cross-harp. And let me tell you, it works. I bought the book along with his video, and I'm playing the blues the next day!

The book will continue to be a valuable reference for me. It contains riffs, scales, using mics, amps, etc...

This is great. Thank you Jon Gindick!

I found this book extremely helpful! I am a college student that has been doing some teaching for the past few semesters. I have used numerous books that would help plan lessons to be taught. This book was the most helpful and interesting. It offers may fun and interesting comprehension activities that are easily taught to many different ages of students. The strategies in this book can be used when teaching a book or story that the students may be reading. "What A Novel Idea" is an excellent resource that I would recommend to any teacher that is looking for new and fun activities to help monitor their students' comprehension of a text.

The purpose of this book is to assist teachers, librarians, and parents to select the correct (picture)book for their ideal situation. This resource book would help anyone locate any book which fits their unique need quickly thus saving precious time. By arranging the publication into five parts the books are extremely easy to locate. A valuable resouce which may be used by teachers, librarians, or parents. Adorable illustions are used with each new letter of the alphabet. It is the only comprehensive guide of its kind on picture books. The book contains 18,000 titles catalogued under more that 1,000 subjects.

Teachers, Children's Libarians, this is a must have book for your reference!
Whether you only know the author, title, illustrator, or subject this book will assist. There is even a bibliographic guide to detail the subject headings of a book. Easy to use, and the greatest tool for planning theme related book activites for children.
Well worth the investment as it is a never ending resource.

The articles/essays are well written and very informative. The little tidbits about each work, i.e., Oral History Collections are invaluable and I used these often to write my reports.

Kudos to Burt Wolf for creating an indispensable collection of kitchen cookware, gadget, tool, electrical appliance and everything but the kitchen sink reviews for both the new and experienced cook. There are tons of books dedicated to recipes and cooking, but this book gives you wonderful information on what cooking equipment to buy. I feel so much more informed and confident in my purchases since I've used this book. It has reviews and information on kitchen essentials all the way to esoteric gadgets you never knew existed. It's a great way to inventory and stock your kitchen. I also love the fact that it includes pictures and descriptions of currently available items with reviews written from an unbiased viewpoint. Also included are insights from many well known and talented chefs.

This should have been called, "The Kitchen Equipment Bible." It's that good! Highly recommended.

I still have my original Cook's Catalogue, bought when I was in college. I wasn't new to cooking then, but I sure hadn't seen devices like he showed in that book! I fell in love with it then, over the next 20+ years purchased some of the equipment in there, and wondered if there would ever be a followup.

Well, here it is, and it is as inclusive as the original! Unlike a prior reviewer, I enjoy reading about the arcane and unique pieces made for cooking. I don't want a book of this scope written like Consumer Reports. In the first place, even Consumer Reports' product evaluations are usually subjective. Plus, their prices aren't accurate. Yes, I rather wish Mr. Wolf had at least given some range of prices for items in the book. However, I don't consider it a real drawback, as prices do vary enormously even on the web.

I found the recipes and other inserts pleasing and practical. The color photos were also welcomed for this edition. There is literally no way to cover all kitchen products on today's market, but Mr. Wolf goes further than anyone else I've seen in trying.

I tend to be a kitchen gadget and utensil freak anyway so this book is right up my alley. Otherwise, and particularly for the novice in cooking, I have doubts about its utility.

This book was a great help in expanding some of our kitchen equipment. If you visit a bookstore or library, you may find thousands of books on cooking and not one on cooking equipment. This book fills that niche very nicely.

There were some items that we had acquired that we knew were really good -- the authors had done their research and it was encouraging that they found the same and for similar reasons. That gave me some reference as to their experience.

The book is up-to-date. They have equipment that is top-notch and widely available. The photos are excellent.

The book is also a great resource for items you may not have considered or known about. I know that we now have several more items on our list of equipment to buy. This makes it especially good as a gift to newlyweds or people starting out on their own and want to cook.