Junior Books

The book is really a great reference for education majors that want to find out how to run book clubs in their class. I have marked many passages to use as a reference when I have my own class.

I recently went to a teacher conference here in Idaho that had Jeffrey D. Wilhelm as a guest speaker. He was phenomenal and provided great insight into teaching reading to children. I won this book as a door prize and continuously use it as a reference. This book really gives teachers some ideas into how to make reading more engaging and meaningful.

When I read this book last year, several months into working with an 8th grade remedial reading class consisting of all boys but two, I felt great relief to see that I was not the only teacher having such difficulties. Wilhelm used his difficult years of teaching remedial reading to kids who insisted on hating school and hating reading, and turned this experience into a practical approach to getting reluctant readers involved in a good story. His premise is generally that many struggling readers have difficulties because they are unable or unwilling to visualize what they read. He oulines practical ideas for helping readers visualize, generally by using process drama and tableaus in class. The book concentrates on a few different strategies, but he goes into some details on them, and just reading about these few strategies is enough to get you thinking about other ways to help your students. I'll never forget my macho boy students interpretating Charlotte from Avi's The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, sashaying around the front of the room. Once they got over their embarrassment, they enjoyed the drama and said such activities helped them remember and understand what they've read, as well as helping them connect with the characters.

Now I'm in graduate school, but I used to teach 8th graders in a low SES school. If I think his ideas are usable, which I do, they would probably work in almost any middle-school classroom from a management point of view, which is the problem with many similar teaching suggestions. If you're familiar with "learning styles" you will understand what he learned from his research, but he explains how to help students who need visualization (art) and kinesthetic (drama) to become better readers. I also recommend "Strategic Readers" and am planning to read his more recent books.

At a time when countries like USA, Australia and Great Britain have registered their concern over literacy standards in schools by subjecting students to an ever increasing battery of standardised tests, it is refreshing to read a book by an experienced educator which emphasises a human and humane approach to putting the joy back into teaching reading. Jeffrey D Wilhelm's response to teaching students with reading difficulties is to make books "live" by using drama and art activities to enable readers to see and feel the text as well as to read it. He maintains that reluctant readers feel submissive to texts, seeing them as codes to be cracked rather than as containing meaningful stories and experiences. These students become so preoccupied with word identification and pronunciation that they never experience sentences and meanings. It is not until the teacher intervenes to reinforce reading with visualisation and actualisation activities that some students begin to "see" stories in their imaginations for the first time. Wilhelm's resistant students move from rejecting reading altogether as being irrelevant and boring to actively interrogating texts to check the validity of their artistic and dramatic performances - they learn to enjoy reading. It's worth wondering whether any basic skills test or comprehension activity could claim to have had that effect on even the most enthusiastic of readers. As an educator of beginning high school English teachers in Australia, I found this book to be both inspiring and topical, given the debate about literacy standards, particularly in relation to boys. One of the most frequently asked questions from student teachers returning from their practice teaching experiences is, "How do you get kids to read anything these days?" This book provides some helpful suggestions - firstly, get to know the students, without labelling them as failures, secondly don't be afraid to use texts they enjoy outside school, especially comics, and then present literature in conjunction with other forms of art so that students can see their experiences represented. Wilhelm is insistent that once students can "see" the worlds written about in literature, then they can enter the story world and from there encounter texts at gradually deepening levels of insight and enjoyment. It sounds like it might be worth a try.

I am a middle school teacher who found this book full of useful ideas which I have incorporated into my poetry unit. I also have Ms. Heard's book, For the Good of the Earth and Sun,and I found this one (Heart)to contain more practical lessons on poetry mechanics. She describes the how-to's of poetic language, form, rhythm and rhyme, etc, which were easily adapted to fit my students' needs. I did have to do a lot of reading and typing (no ready-to-copy pages) but it was worth the effort. I esp loved the heart mapping and the six-room description process.

Georgia Heard's book Awakening the Heart: Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School suggests ways for teachers to help students have positive, successful experiences with appreciating poetry and creating their own poems. Heard gives poetry workshops for teachers and has worked in many classrooms with students at different grade levels in schools across the country. Her book, Awakening the Heart, reflects how far our understanding of the teaching of poetry has come: students will not come to see themselves as poets if poetry instruction is relegated to a "poetry unit" after state tests have been administered.

Heard's book reaches out to teachers who haven't taught poetry in a workshop format before in that it offers the same descriptions of poetry and poetic terms that she uses when she speaks to students, reteaching us the essentials of poetry as we prepare to teach others. She gives examples of directions useful in explaining the centers to students, and includes student work produced in classrooms Heard has worked in. The reader gains the confidence that taking time to gain inspiration from Heard's minilessons, coupled with dedication to a positive classroom environment that integrates poetry into daily life, will really help students to become poets who read poetry with understanding and craft it thoughtfully.

Ms. Heard has put together exercises and knowledge to create a stunning list of usable classroom exercises. She uplifts even the most discouraged teacher heart and gives you the renewed vigor to attack ignorance while inspiring others to find the light within.

This is a wonderful book for both the new and the experienced teacher hoping to bring depth and breadth to their classroom poetry programs. I used it as a first-year teacher of writing, but ended up buying a second copy after sharing-out my original with a colleague with substantially more experience.

For starters, the book is well-written and concise. For busy teachers (is that a tautology?) this means you will really read and really use it. It has all the elements that keep such readers engaged: practical classroom ideas, samples of student work, segmentation of topics into smaller components and, wide-ranging perspective.

Most importantly, however, the book has PASSION! Heard launches you with an introduction entitled "Poetry, Like Bread, Is for Everyone". She maintains this level of enthusiasm through to the last page, where she quotes Matthew Fox to the effect that "The Celtic peoples... insisted that only poets could be teachers... knowledge that is not passed through the heart is dangerous."

I agree - passion HAS TO BE the core of a poetry program in elementary or middle school. Amidst the wash of demand for reading and writing more expository material that standardized testing has brought to the writing class, passion and poetry have often slipped to the background. The poetry 'program' can become a quick trot through narrow 'tricksie' forms like name-poems and shape-poems. Kids need more. You do too.

Heard offers a wonderful suite of approaches to poetry 'centers' in a chapter on "Making a Poetry Environment." These include listening, illustration, performance and music centers as well as poetry windows, amazing language center and a handful more. The centers-based approach can be hard to manage unless properly prepared, but it is a wonderful way to build fluidity into a process that otherwise suffers from rigidity of task or schedule. This book will offer strong support for such an approach.

In the chapter discussing "Writing Poetry", Heard takes the metaphor of the door as entryway, suggesting, among others, the "observation door", the "concern about the world door" and the "wonder door." She then moves to the details of crafting of poetry with a "toolbox" metaphor and a nice collection of tools. In this as in the earlier instances, her pedagogical metaphors will serve your students but also serve to structure your planning and presentation of concepts. Heard concludes with a chapter about the observational element of the poet's craft - what she terms "sharpening outer and inner visions", and a number of useful appendices.

I'm certain this book will light-up your enthusiasm for a poetry-based classroom.

I used this book as a basis for starting a poetry study in my classroom of 4th graders. The information and ideas that Ms. Heard gives are fantastic. It helps you create an poetry friendly environment, not just a few lessons. My students responded whole-heartedly to the suggested activities. The heart map activity was one of their favorites. She gives advice on how to help children write from their hearts and access true emotion (as opposed to writing about surface feelings,"I like my Nintendo"). This is the best poetry book for classroom instruction that I've found. Also, it is an easy and quick read.
I saw her speak on this book at Regis University in June 2003, she is an engaging speaker and it made me love the book even more.

I feel like I could start any review for a Diane Stanley biography like this: ________ is the perfect introduction for any child interested in learning about ___________! That said...

Bard of Avon is an excellent introduction to the biography of William Shakespeare. It gives you basic facts without getting too involved in theory. My favorite new fact is a list of words Shakespeare invented by writing them into his plays. In addition to "eyeball," which I already knew, he also made up: majestic, countless, hint, hurry, reliance, leapfrog, gust, excellent, and gloomy. Awesome! Diane Stanley hits it out of the park every time, truly. I'm a huge fan.

Stanley does a masterful job of bringing Shakespeare to life in this short biography. Full of wit, the workings of the theater and a few of the details behind some of Shakespeare's more popular works, older children will greatly enjoy this book. A must-have for homeschoolers beginning a study of the Bard of Avon!

Our family has recently discovered the wonderful Peter Vennema/Diane Stanley biographies. They are vivid, engaging, and thorough, yet short enough for younger readers to sit through (my daughters are 4 and 6). Bard of Avon and Good Queen Bess are our favorites so far, and they go very well together since neither Shakespeare nor Queen Elizabeth would have been the same without the other. Unlike other histories or biographies for children, this book makes a destinction between what we know about Shakespeare's life and times and what are only guesses. It is nice for children to see that the study of history is not just memorizing facts and dates, but piecing together clues in the context of what is known about a time period. As a former high school English teacher, I wish that I had had this book when I was teaching Shakespeare plays because it would have been a wonderful introduction.

This author was new to us and we will be looking for her from now on. The pictures are sooo wonderful they transport you. The information is well done and clear, yet not watered done. This is someone that REALLY understands writing books for children that adults can enjoy using as teachers or parents. I recently bought alot of books on Shakespeare, for use in the school room this year and we have found 4 authors that made the grade on this subject! This is a keeper!

Stanley is a masterful writer/illustrator when it comes to creating longer picturebook biographies (with heavier text). Her bios on da Vinci, Cleopatra and Shakespeare are fabulous. It amazes me that she has not won a Caldecott Honor yet! I can't wait to see her bio about Michelangelo!

Who knew that Akron, Ohio used to be the toy marble capital of the world? Or that sauerkraut balls are the official food? Did you know that Akron is the original home of the rock group Devo, singer Chrissie Hynde, the National Inventors Hall of Fame, nationally recognized artist Don Drumm, and much more. I'll bet Junior League of Akron member and Olympic skater Carol Heiss Jenkins knows. So will you if you invest in this most excellent cookbook. Delicious recipes abound in this hard-bound cookbook artfully named Beginnings not only for the Akron snippets, but for the appetizers it features. It would make a perfect gift for anyone. And you can feel good about buying it since profits benefit the countless good works of the Junior League of Akron. I love it!

What a great book for the home. I seem to turn to it more often than not, especially when bringing a dish to the home of a friend. It has recipes for every occasion and then some. There are fun tidbits that provide great insight to the town where the recipes were prepared. This book is a must for any kitchen!!!

What a fantastic and creative idea - tying the many Akron community as well as Junior League beginnings into a appetizer/hor d'oeuvre cookbook! The recipes highlighed in the chapter(s): Casual Beginnings are perfect for relaxed entertaining, Classic Openings are tried-and-true, and, Elegant Beginnings are exceptional for more refined gatherings. Congratulations to the Junior League of Akron!

As an avid collector of cookbooks, it's great to have one book solely devoted to appetizers. Rather than sorting through numerous books for recipes, Beginnings makes it easy to find ones just right for the event. The recipes range from easy to just a bit more special, but none are beyond the reach of the average cook. Strongly flavored by the midwest, this is a great book for anyone's collection!

At last! From elegant to casual, over 200 recipes for stunning appetizers that will impress your guests with taste and flair. There's a wide selection and the book is easy to use. It has a contemporary design and the recipes are scrumptious.

If you entertain for drinks and a bite to eat more often than you host formal, sit-down dinners, this book is for you. Every recipe is impressive, from the gourmet to the familiar. And if you just like to read cookbooks, this one is fascinating - there are sidebars featuring interesting tidbits about Akron, Ohio, and its sometimes wacky history.

Proceeds from the sale of these books support the community projects of The Junior League of Akron. It's a great gift and an indispensable addition to the kitchen of any modern hostess.

Bright and bold illastrations firmly keep the childs attention, whilst Mem Foxs rhyming has them quickly reading along with you. A big favourite for many children.

I enjoy reading this book to my 2.5 year old son. It is repetative and enjoyable as he chimes in with the "Boo to a goose" line. They say this is how young kids start to learn how to read! I think it is just fun to have a book that helps your child interact with the reader. The illustrations are also unique and fun...a collage type art. I recommend this book for any parent that enjoys interactive reading time with their child 2+.

Although the ages given for this book are 4-8, I find that this is a wonderful book for younger children. This has quickly become my 2 year old daughter's favorite book as she can say the word "boo" and can listen and know when to say it within the story line. This makes it fun for her as she is not only listening as I read but also adding to it herself. Not since "Goodnight Moon" has a book made such a hit in our household!

This book is #1 with my 26 month old. It's rhyming sing song way and its consistent "boo to a goose" have her reading along with me and laughing the entire way.

"Boo to a goose" is a refreshingly silly book that's fun to read to kids. The structure is very repetitive, so they know exactly when to say that they "wouldn't say boo to a goose," and all of the other, braver things that they would do instead are funny to slightly older kids too.

The explanation of why the storyteller is scared of geese comes suddenly at the end, and wraps it up nicely (and in a silly way).

Charming, funny and well-written, a very good book for teens and adults alike.

Linda Howanietz
Journalist

Driven by the social upheaval of the last forty years including the women's, civil, and gay rights movements, the American family has been largely redefined. As a result children living in non-traditional families have been encouraged to feel much more part of the mainstream. At the same time the existence of family dysfunction at all levels of society is no longer concealed, and modern literature for young teens frequently reflects the somber realism of family issues beyond a child's control, such as parental strife, unemployment and alcoholism.

In contrast, Clive and Brie's intact family - breadwinner father, stay-at-home mother and two children - might at first glance seem like a throwback to a Leave-it-to-Beaver era. However, it becomes quickly apparent that Ms. Bernard doesn't hesitate to dig deep and look at challenging issues. Preteens and parents alike will readily relate to both the age-old emotions and thoroughly contemporary situations that she describes. She subtly guides her readers through the thought processes of not only Clive and Brie but also their parents, as they wrestle with complex situations and ethical decision making. Growing up can be painful but we watch these two young people becoming increasingly empowered. They are able to learn valuable coping skills in a family where open lines of communication between parents and adolescent children flourish alongside a respect for personal space. What's more, the consistent warmth and support their parents offer them is reflected both in their own attachment to their parents and their underlying sibling affection and loyalty.

Overall this is a delightful, family-affirming, uplifting tale, well seasoned with humor.

It's hard to find books for teens that are really thoughtful and humorous, too, but this one does both. My kids raved about the Harry Potter books, and this reminds me of them -- written for kids, but very enjoyable for me, too!

This is a great little book that everyone with kids can probably relate to (or everyone with a brother or sister!) Written for younger adolescents, it is really entertaining for adults, too.

This is a great story with appeal to adults and children alike. If you've ever had an overwhelming family, or an annoying sibling - you'll relate to the characters in a flash!

My husband brought this back for me after he went on a business trip on the coast- I thought it was kind of random at the time, but then I started making some of the recipes in it. It is worth the price for this book for the corn crab bisque recipe alone. We eat it about every other week in winter. One of the things I love about it is that the recipes are slightly different than your average run of the mill southern cookbook, but not super hard either. Definitely recommend!!!

I reach for this cookbook again and again, as do my friends. I recently hosted a "new recipe" girls night. All of "the girls" were to bring a dish using a recipe they have never tried before, but wanted to. Out of 6 new recipes, four were from this cookbook and they were absolutely devine. I should mention that I made no mention of the cookbook when planning the dinner.

I have prepared many of the recipes, and have loved them all. While some are simple and great for my small family, others are more impressive and just right for entertaining. Truly, this is one of my favorite cookbooks.

In addition to the recipes, the sidebars offer wonderful tips.

This book has all the earmarks of a beautiful "coffee-table" book - it is interesting whether you are a Southerner or not. It is also quite easy to use. As an avid recipe reader, I can always find something here that I have not tried before. It has a "fish guide" in the back that let's you know what types of fish you can substitute in recipes - very helpful! It also gives a new twist on some traditionally great recipes in a style that invites the reader to open up his/her home to guests with ease.

I have tried many recipes in this book and haven't prepared one yet that wasn't delicious. The Tomato Tart, stuffed filet of beef, honey cashew greenbeens...the list goes on! YUMMMMM

I must own over 20 cookbooks and I always come back to this one. Every recipe from this book comes out great! I've given this book to 7 of my friends for Christmas only to find out that they already had one! My favorites include "Tomatoe Tart", "Grilled Asparagus", "Mustard Pork Tenderloin", "Champagne Shrimp", "Walnut Salad", etc... could go on and on. This is a must! Not only has great recipes but the paper and pictures are of the highest quality.

Lots of great ideas for a student/new teacher. Ideas to get ready for that classroom!

I absolutely love this book! I have been teaching for 18 years and have never quite mastered the art of classroom organization. I found out about this book on the author's website when looking for classroom organization tips. This author is clear and exact. I only hope that she teaches middle school at some point and adds a chapter or two that would target organization problems more specific to secondary education teachers. Otherwise, I carry this book around and read it all of the time.

This is one of the, if not the, best books I have ever read on classroom management. All of the ideas are very user friendly and easy to implement. A couple of weeks ago I went to visit a fellow teacher at her lake house for the weekend. Of course I took my book to show her. Well, about an hour after I left I realized I left it there. As soon as I got home I ordered another one because I wasn't going to be able to get my book back until after school started, and I wanted to finish reading it now. My friend was very excited to find out she has a great new book!

I have personally used many of the ideas that Angela Powell describes in her book. Last year I taught a very challenging 4th grade class. I tried everything with no success and finally came across the Token System. It was easy to use and very effective. I am planning on using it again this year when school starts, instead of waiting until problems arise later in the year. In addition, Angela has managed to cover any and all questions a new teacher might have - from setting up their classroom to handling students who want to go to the water fountain all day long. But let me assure you - this book is definitely not just for new teachers. There are lots of great ideas for all teachers - newbies and seasoned veterans alike.

I feel very confident that you will not be disappointed if you order this book. It would be the best investment you could make in your classroom this year.

P.S. Angela also has an awesome website. Visit www.thecornerstoneforteachers.com.

I was an avid fan of her website. For years I've used her ideas and enjoyed the fabulous pictures and easy explanations that accompany room set-up to management and organizational ideas. This book is the best resource you can have. The book is a foundation for any teacher of any subject. Powell doesn't say there is one way to do something. She'll give you some ideas she'd tried years ago, and tell you what's working for her now. We all know that often our classroom students dictate how our systems need to be set up. This book will be as valuable in 25 years as it is now. The documentation chapter is especially important in today's world. Thanks Thanks Thanks to Mrs. Powell.

I have used Ms. Powell's website for years, as a newer teacher, to get ideas and information for making my classroom run as smoothly as possible. The book reads much like her website: she is speaking to you as if you were sitting in the same room having a conversation about management. The tone is friendly and conducive to passing along information about managing a classroom to make the most out of every second you have with your students. The ONLY thing I don't like is that there are no "reproducibles" included in the book -- you have to visit the site to get those. The upside of that, however, is that the downloads are word documents that you can customize which makes it easy to adapt the resources to your specific needs. I will definitely be recommending this book to my colleagues who are just entering the field.

This charming and beautifully illustrated picture book tells a funny story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears--in reverse. In gorgeous illustrations of the early American frontier, a baby cub wanders into a human cabin, where he finds food, chairs, and beds.

The fact that there are no words makes this actually superior--the drawings are already excellent at telling the story.

Great, gorgeous idea.

This retelling of the Goldilocks story is a big hit with my three-year-old. Without words, the illustrations show a little bear's adventures in a little girl's cabin. While she and her parents are out the bear investigates the porridge, the chairs and the beds. The family returns and the drawings of the little girl's indignant reaction to her spilled porridge and broken chair are priceless. The little bear is discovered in the little girl's bed and is chased away, returning to his waiting mother bear. My son loves to narrate the story for me. The illustrations tell the story perfectly and the humor of the role reversal certainly was not lost on him.

The illustrations are wonderful. Please know that there are no words in this book. That makes you the storyteller or your child. It's a great way to stoke their imagination when you let them be the "author".

This book turns the story of Goldilocks around. A small bear invades Goldilocks house. It is a wordless picture book that can be used to inspire young students in creative writing, or encourage pre-schoolers imagination. The illustrations are delightful.

A curious bear cub leaves his mother to investigate a cabin deep in the forest. He investigates bowls, chairs and beds before falling asleep -- just in time for the family to return from a walk. Beautiful and humorous illustrations are the star of this textless retelling. Our two-and-a-half-year old loves this book -- asking for it several times a day -- participating in the 'reading', laughing, feeling indignant for the little girl and her broken things. This is a charming storybook.

It is a beautiful hardbound book with excellent recipes! It has a great tailgating and brunch section as well as recipes from Knoxville celebreties and restaurants. Makes a GREAT gift!

I ordered this as a gift and almost kept it for myself. It is a very nice hardbound book, almost of the 'coffee table book' variety. I tried a couple of the recipes before I put the gift wrap on it...the Holiday Cake was wonderful. And the cornbread salad stirred up lots of conversation and requests for the recipe.

Beautifully illustrated with soft, pastel photography, Dining In The Smoky Mountain Mist offers a culinary wealth of recipes. The sections comprising this highly recommended cookbook compilation are: Tints of Spring (appetizers, breads, brunch); Shades of Summer (salads, side dishes); Harvest Hues (Entrees, Soups, Tailgating); Tones of Winter (beverages, desserts); Napkins, Knives & Knoxville (restaurants, celebrities). From Sour Cream Rolls; Cold Salmon Mousse with Cucumber Sauce; Boursin-Stuffed Chicken Breasts; and Sherried Crab Bisque; to Cajun Seafood Carbonara; Baked Brie with Elephant Garlic; Buttermilk Pie; Black Bean Soup; and Sesame Lace Cookie Bowls, Dining In The Smoky Mountain Mist is a truly elegant and highly recommended addition to any kitchen cookbook collection.

As a member of the Junior League of Knoxville, and one of the many who labored to make this book a reality, I am very proud of the product. There are sumptuous recipes, beautiful 5-color photographs, and commentary. My two personal favorite recipes are the black bean dip, and stuffed pork tenderloin. And the most wonderful part of this book is that all the profits go to help make the community a better place.

I bought this book when looking through various Junior League cookbooks. The recipes are all great. My favorites are the chicken pot pie and the crab dip. It also has a recipe that is perfect to prepare with kids called Cracker Candy. This book is a must have in your collection.