Junior Books

Compiled and organized by sports buff Peter J. Fournier, The Handbook Of Mascots And Nicknames is a straightforward reference listing nicknames and mascots of senior colleges, universities, junior colleges, and community colleges of the United States and Canada. The entries are arranged in alphabetical order for quick lookup in this fascinating reference which will prove invaluable for dedicated college and university sports fans everywhere!

I have just looked through a unique book written by Peter J. Fournier. "The Handbook of Mascots & Nicknames" is very comprehensive and thorough in the research that went into it. Shown are the mascots and/or nicknames of over 1,500 U.S. senior colleges and universities, 740 U.S. junior and community colleges, and over 115 Canadian institutions. Dick Vitale, the noted ESPN announcer and personality, liked this book so much he endorsed it: "If you love sports like I do, you will enjoy Pete's Handbook of Mascots & Nicknames. It is awesome, baby!" I think that any sports fan or trivia buff, old or young, male or female should have this book in their library. The book is a wonderful birthday present or a great stocking stuffer for the holidays. I can't wait for the update that will include all of the Puerto Rican colleges and universities.

This is a must have for any elementary teacher! Easy to follow experiments, including required materials. What I find most beneficial is the scientific explanation of what 'occurred' in the experiment - this is crucial if you're not sure how to explain the scientific concept to students.

This book is a must-have for any elementary teacher. In fact, the entire series of "hands-on science activities" books is outstanding. Each book addresses specific areas of the science curriculum in an organized fashion. The experiments are guaranteed to get kids interested in science.

This is a great airplane or restaurant toy. There is a little plastic slide-out tray that holds the magnets: when you close it it really stays closed, and there is even a little notch at the end so you can't pull the tray out all the way and lose it. (You're on your own with the magnets though!)

The book is like a sticker activity book, but with magnets instead of stickers. My daughter can never do the activities in sticker activity books: she just wants to stick them any-which-where. But with this book, we spread out all the magnets first and work together to find the proper place for them to go in the story.

My kids 3 and 5 think this is the BEST Book!! Magenets stick well to!!! Great Value to!!

This book came at the right time as my daughter and I had been battling it out over homework this school year. The great thing about this book is its broad approach. Whether your child struggles with the material or with your participation in her work (such as in my case), the book is chock full of helpful tips and tricks to make homework time rewarding, not rebellious.




Divided into five chapters, 'Homework Talk! by Cheli Cerra and Ruth Jacoby advises parents on how to empower their kids to do their homework consistently. The book offers homework contracts to gain a child's commitment; checklists for both student and parent to reference; charts to juggle seemingly overwhelming schedules; and useful 'homework' for the reader to check his own progress. Admittedly, the homework section might be challenging for some readers to actually complete. But it serves as a great reminder for us parents about how our kids must feel when they're assigned homework, too!




What I liked best about this book was its conversational tone. It offered literal 'snapshots' into real-life issues and questions parents have raised to the authors who are both school administrators. I appreciated the book's thoroughness and have earmarked several pages to photocopy to keep on hand in the event my kids(and I) need a little more guidance in the future.

Reviewed by Danielle Feliciano for Reader Views (7/06)

In their book "Homework Talk!" authors Cheli Cerra and Ruth Jacoby have given parents a priceless guide to help them conquer any issues that make homework difficult for their children. Cerra and Jacoby have identified more than 50 of the most typical problems surrounding the issue of homework and have given tips and advice for the parents to use to tackle these issues. The issues addressed in this book range from the basics of parental and student responsibility to homework, to the more complex issues of communicating with teachers and dealing with frustration and organizational issues.

"Homework Talk!" is filled with checklists, sample homework calendars, tips and self-evaluation surveys that make this book very easy to use. It is well-organized and easy for the parent to find the section or sections that are most appropriate to his or her situation. This book also confronts a common, yet often ignored, problem of the parents' ability to communicate with the teachers. Often, parent-teacher communication is relatively easy. However, for those times when it is not so easy, parents need to have somewhere to turn for help. This book offers parents tips and guidance on how to approach a teacher, how to communicate effectively, and how to get the situation resolved.

In this book, the authors have given parents a great gift of a load of useful information in one easy to use book. All parents of school-age children would benefit from having this book in their home. Additionally, teachers would benefit from reading it to have a clearer view of the problems that their students and parents face each night when homework time comes around.

"How Many? How Much?" is another wonderful "Get Set for Kindergarten!" book featuring the characters from Rosemary Wells's wonderful "Timothy" and "Yoko" books. This book explores everything from identifying the days of the week to memorizing phone numbers.

Each set of pages includes a different activity and cute illustrations to complement it. Oftentimes the text asks the reader to find or count something within an illustration. With each activity comes "The Next Step," which provides an additional idea for an activity one can do independent of the book. Best of all, this book has a story to go along with it as well. At the end, the kids all celebrate "Five Day." This book is wonderful preparation for concepts of counting, comparisons, memorizing important details and more.

This book, as well as all the others in this series of "Get Set for Kindergarten" are some of the most intelligently written books for preschoolers. "How Many, How Much" goes far beyond the average numbers and counting books, which do not tend to hold my preschooler's interest as well. This book (and the other five in the series) recieves my highest praise.

Fantastic book. I and others have read several of these stories to the cub scout pack on camping trips. Lot's of fun.

I'm glad I was able to find this one for my son for Christmas, as others in the series are out of print now.

Wagner has written three profiles of schools in the process of change. What I found helpful about this book is that he recognizes that this process will take time and will encounter set backs but it is still very much worth doing.

He presents three goals that need to be at the front of any kind of school reform--legislators? are you listening? First, there need to be clear goals identified by the staff; setting clear goals will help measure the progress and clarify just what it is to be called educated in our culture. Second, he states that the staff needs to have core values of compassion and integrous commitment to educational aims. That sounds like election-year mumbo-jumbo, yet, read for what it is worth, it really needs to be addressed. Third, he stresses the collaboration required amonst staff at all levels; each needs the other if it is going to be done well.

Implicit in all of these three steps of school reform, Wagner writes, is this, "Some of the better corporations have been practicing for a decade what many public schol are just beginning ot understand: the people who are closest to the problem should be the ones to make decisions and have the responsibility for solving it. Elected officials cannot be expected to run school systems with any degree of competence. They know too little about educational issues in most cases, are too far removed from the problems, and are too subject to pressures from various constituent groups" p. 228. That sure shoots down State Testing and Vouchers.

For the most part, I found his fourth and final chapter the most beneficial, but take the time to encounter the entire book. He is a clear writer and sets forth a balanced perspective.

Looks closely at how reforms play out in different kinds of schools. It is nice to see a book that backs its agenda with open-eyed, practical review of obstacles to true change. Underlying this is Wagner's evident scholarship and experience as a school reform leader. As a student, I think we, our teachers, and everyone else who cares about education reform need to pay this kind of close attention to what actually happens in real schools when reform is attempted.

Man, this book is the best. It is full of timeless advice to get through Junior High alive. I wanted to get a new copy, but it's out of print. I want to start a petition to get this back in print. I read it now and I'm still cracking up. I seriously need a new copy of it though. Mines been with me since fifth grade and its falling into pieces.

Anyway, awesome, funny, gut crackingly hilarious book. Buy it for your kid on Ebay or something. They will love you forever, and the world will be a better place, all because of you.

I first got this book from a book order form in 6th grade. It's hilarious. It really did help me out in Junior High/Middle School. I'm in high school now, nearly a graduate. It's for anyone who needs a laugh or more when they're bored or right down depressed. It got me out of trouble with teachers in middle school because I cracked them up with this book. And yes, some stuff in here actually work.

I have just read I am Wings and I thought that it was a great book. It is full of love stories about getting together and going through the heartbreak of breaking up but still getting through the heartbreak. I think that it was a good book because it taught you about love and how it feels to be in love from when you were a kid to when you were full grown and all the memories that you and your loved ones had.

I read this book with my Language Arts class and have an absolutely fabulous teacher. Every day in class we have a quote of the day and then do a "quick write". After we do this we read one of Ralph Fletcher's I Am Wings: Stories of Love and evaluate based on the way the words are layed out on the pages and talking about it out loud; figure out what the poem means. It is a very realistic book and challenges young and old alike to think about what the author is trying to say and talks in depth about the typical middle school dating relationship. As my class got into the book I found myself looking forward to the poems and the saga of Lea and his girlfriend. Great book for anyone. ~Amanda~

We got this book for my son who just turned 3. He was so into ambulances, and this book was PERFECT for him! Well worth it for the price and quality.

My child loves this book. He has a variety of Tonka books from construction trucks to emergency vehicles. He has enjoyed having this one in his collection.