Nonfiction Books

Visual explanation of how Egyptians living nearly 4500 years ago were able to construct such large and magnificent structures. Shows the construction from conception by the Pharaoh's architect, to clearing and leveling the site, transporting the stones, tediously dragging them up and placing them to create the 124 layers of the pyramid, and finally chipping them down the form the distinctive triangular sides of the pyramid. Of course Macaulay goes further to show construction of the underground tombs, and nearby temples.

This book is not quite as interestsing as Mr. Macaulay's City book, but the subject matter was not as interesting either. Drawing men hauling stones up ramps doesn't compare to the richness of the Roman architecture and bustling city life.

What a consummate waste of money this book is! It reads like it was written by a 14 year old to be read by 8 year olds. David Macaulay should be ashamed to have written it; and Amazon should be ashamed to be marketing it to literate adults! I resent that Amazon and Mr. Macaulay actually accept money for this worthless publication.

Following in the tradition of other terrific books about complex construction projects using simple technology - such as Castle and Cathedral - Macaulay introduces children to the pyramids of ancient Egypt. And once again he hits a homerun, with a storyline that's just informative enough to create context but simple enough for young children to follow. Oh, did I mention the outstanding illustrations? This is a terrific book for kids and children alike. I bought it for my four-year-old son but I ended up learning quite a bit myself.

Though this was written nearly thirty years ago, this is still one of the best introductions to the building of the pyramids out there, as he distills the basics down to the bare minimum without sacrificing much detail. The drawings, too, are superb, though the one page showing the various bald-headed workers made me think of Blue Man Group.

I do have some minor reservations, however, which are not necessarily Macaulay's fault (I am not going to go into alternative theories about how the pyramids were built, or speculation about the "real" purpose of the pyramids). One, to have built a pyramid of 2 million blocks in 30 years (working 5 months of the year) would have required that over 400 blocks be cut, finished, transported, and set into place EVERY DAY. Two, he doesn't state how the ramps were built so they could withstand the weight of so many tons of blocks day in and day out. And third, how was this enormous operation made to run so smoothly despite accidents and other problems that had to have occurred?

Despite my reservations, this is still a wonderful book to teach people, especially children, how such a massive undertaking was accomplished.

With exquisitely detailed black-line drawings, this book shows how the pyramids in Egypt may have been constructed. A two-page introduction gives some background of life in Egypt, including an overview of Egyptian spiritual beliefs and practices, especially those related to death and dying. The introduction makes clear that this book is based on an imaginary pharaoh and an imaginary pyramid and that there are differences of opinion about the construction process the Egyptians used.

After the brief introduction, the illustrations dominate, comprising as much as 80% of the pages. Almost like time-lapse photography, readers can see the pyramid grow in vast landscapes, giving children a good sense of the scale of the pyramids, where people are just specks dotting the sides of the massive structure. In addition to these landscapes, Macaulay includes background on the people who designed and built their pyramids and their techniques with illustrations of the different workers and their tools, as well as architectural floor plans and cutaway diagrams.

The text is difficult and presents challenges with its vocabulary and syntax as well as its concepts. A one-page glossary of Egyptian and architectural terms provides some assistance. However, the account of how the priest uses the stars to locate true north is a difficult concept to comprehend; the textual and pictorial explanations may not be sufficient for any but advanced readers.

Though the text and many of the concepts are demanding, young readers will be carried along by the drawings that truly offer a step-by-step guide to how the pyramids were built. The distant and perhaps "quaint"-seeming aspects of Egyptian beliefs and practices are nicely contrasted with their highly advanced, ingenious construction techniques. Children familiar with some aspects of ancient Egypt will perhaps be able to see the "bigger picture" and gain insight and appreciation into the culture of the ancient Egyptians. Younger children will enjoy following the process and watching the pyramid grow from page to page, while older children interested in the "how's" behind history will appreciate this novel approach to learning about ancient Egypt.

Every book helps some but it is hard to listen long enough to grasp it all. My daughter listened a few times but soon plugged her ears. What can I say.
L. McNew

I am a second grade teacher, and I'm introducing multiplication. I have been searching for a math cassette or CD to help make learning multiplication fun. At this stage I am more interested in the kids learning to count by 2s, 3s,...12s, and making the connection that way. I am looking for music that includes skip counting. Does this cassette include this, and not just times tables? I previously purchased a CD that sang random times tables, and it lacked quality. I don't want to get burned again.

I bought this CD for my 9 year old nephew and I have to be honest that he hated it. BUT it still worked, I told him to learn them and we'd quit listening to the CD and he learned at lightening speed just to get away from it. The tunes can be a little folksy but I thought it was a good way to learn and it does stick in your head.

The music part of this packet is excellent. I've read criticisms about the music, but let's be realistic: it's multiplication tables. It needs to be musically simple and catchy. It's not technically "folksy," but is very similar to the style of music on most CDs for small children. The lyrics in the accompanying book are helpful, but not so much the worksheets. There is one page per number, which assumes that a child is going to master the multiplication tables on the first go-round. I've been printing out supplemental pages each day and doing each number daily for a week. It's catching on where the dry drills weren't.

Great! My kids are finally learning the multiplications facts!!!!!!!!!
Some times I find myself singing them too!

The patterns are so pretty. add color and imagination, my child produced patterns worth hanging in a frame

Great book about the many interesting women married to the famous Monarch. Ms Fraser is a great writer breathing life into each one of the Queen's, showing their vulnerability as well as strength. I will be reading more by this author.

As I described it to my friend, Fraser's work reads like a novel with footnotes. There's definitely research, and she has an excellent grasp on what she is saying, but as a biography of the wives, there isn't much of the usual dense analysis to grapple with. Fraser's strength as an author is in the narrative. Her narrative is lively and well informed - her background in writing novels definitely comes through. She is also successful at ensuring that she has given you all the background information to attempt to explain the context - it was, after all, more than just a husband's wandering eye. This work of popular history is definitely accessible and entertaining, and even though you might already know how it ends, the narrative still keeps you coming back to it, waiting for the next high emotion scene where heads will quite literally roll.
For those of you who enjoy history, this will be a delightful, easy read.

If you are considering going to see The Other Boleyn Girl [Theatrical Release] or you're a fan of the Showtime series The Tudors - The Complete First Season, or even if you aren't, I would definitely recommend picking up Fraser's book. At the very least the book will allow you to be watch such recent Hollywood hits and say, "Hey! They totally got the timeline and context wrong on this whole situation." It will also probably make you wonder why Hollywood has bothered to change the story at all - when the real one is dramatic and entertaining enough on its own.

The book is well written and it brings you back inside the story.

This was the first Antonia Fraser book I read and from the "Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived" I was hooked. I read it after hearing her speak at Peterborough Cathedral about Catherine of Aragon. The book looks at Henry VIII's from his wives' perspective. What drove them to marry this man especially after he beheaded Anne Boleyn. Also, it is great introduction to Tudor England.

For those who say history is boring. Better than reading a novel, with real characters sometimes going beyond the imaginary. An amazing study of the six wives, and the power crazed king they called husband. Used every means imaginable to justify ridding himself of one wife, to marry another. Even to the point of falsely accusing one of commiting incest with her own brother (Anne Boleyn), and having her beheaded. A powerful study of the British monarchy, and one of its most shameful periods.

A great book that talks about other animals that lay eggs other than chickens. I read this book to my preschool children and they loved it very much. The pictures are bright and very colourful. It's a must buy!

This was my favorite book growing up, because of it's catchy rhyming story, accompanied by colorful, ecclectic illustrations... and now, it is my sons favorite book - so much so, that I'm now looking into buying Ruth Heller's other science books. My 4 year old loves them, and the colorful picutres hold my 2 year olds attention (a feat in itself) so well, I'm amazed!

I'm so glad I've kept this book around long enough to pass it on to my son, who already has a great understanding of any animal, who is an "Oviparous"

I think it's really great that Ruth Heller introduces a complex subject in a children's book without talking down to the children. It's great that she uses "big" words like "oviparous"--kids, after all, can remember lengthy dinosaur names; there's no reason why they can't handle other long scientific words.
But I do have slight qualms. For instance, the part about amphibians says that amphibians don't have claws--what about African clawed frogs?
The illustrations are engaging, and the use of rhyme in prose makes the text flow nicely. The subject is interesting, too. I just wonder a bit about the accuracy of the "facts" presented here.

I enjoy the realistic non-anthropomorphic pictures Ruth Heller, author/illustrator, placed on each page. They are colorful, accurate and fun to look at. Some pages have just one animal and other pages are filled with lively looking insects and their eggs. I also enjoyed how she showed the size, coloring, shape and form difference between all types of eggs. I learned a lot from this book and think that kids over 3 will enjoy having this read to them. The only downfall I see in this story is that sometimes the words and sentences are in rhyming form and sometimes they aren't. I would've preferred one OR the other, not both. It doesn't flow as well with the two methods of writ, but other than that it was a good book.

Egg lovers, egg heads will especially enjoy this book by Ruth Heller a beautiful story. Oviperous you are, if you slithered or crawled or burst from your shell. Lots of children certainly love the expressions eggs generate. Crack open that shell and enjoy this play on the question, "Which came first the chicken or the egg?" Egg-xactly.

I had the pleasure of meeting Ruth Heller and husband in two completely different times in my life, in a bookstore in Carmel and on another rainy day in a bookstore in Ventura,CA. Both times I had her books, didn't know she was there, coincidental encounters, so I could and did get autographs. My girls loved her Designs for Coloring: Birds (Designs for Coloring), hint, hint parents. She was so tiny...and obviously a lovely person to get to say to, "I'm a teacher that always wanted to thank you for...."

Right now my first graders are reading about chicks, ducks and other egg tales. So showing the Reading Rainbow that contains this book being featured and read aloud is perfect. Heller's book is read by Georgia Engles with her interesting lilt it makes the poetic text very nice for them. It's still a bit hard to read for a few but I do have a set left over from days I taught not from canned scripts but from content connected literature. A few pieces of this text I'll quote hoping to get the sound which is so gentle and lovely, " Chickens lay the eggs you buy......Chickens aren't the only ones. Every bird wild or tame does the same. The ostrich lays the largest egg, the hummingbird the smallest. .."
As you read her lovely drawings bring you the text illustrated very factually and wonderful rendered. I always see those psychedelic 60 rock posters. I don't know why, it just happens in my head. I always enjoy teaching with Heller books. You go on to be introduced to reptiles, amphibians, fish, insects..."mermaid's purses", seahorses...moon snails, lots of ways to appreciate the egg layers.

If you enjoy video showing the Reading Rainbow: Farm Life with this is a great idea because you'll go to the farm to see a chick break out of the egg, watch loggerhead turtles be laid and hatched and see some great facts about egg layers. I can't imagine Ruth Heller's book out of the context of this tape because it expands the constructs so beautifully.

And if you love this "Animals Born Alive and Well (Picture Books) " is another great one from the author.

I gave this product (and several others) to a young friend that recently had surgery. Being immobile is hard on young ones, so items such as the Mad Libs for Juniors are really important. They are entertaining and help to stimulate their young minds. I highly recommend these fun activity books!

MadLibs are very popular with my kids and they are the perfect thing to keep in the car for long trips or to have handy when you know you're going to have a wait. I also like to use these to reinforce what I've been teaching them.

My five year old daughter loves this book! Prosmitsky's colorful illustrations make it so much more fun learning the parts of speech. My daughter adores the illustrator's goofy pillow-like cats!

These books are so good at helping kids learn the parts of speech. They give so many clear examples of sentences, with the specific part of speech in a different color so everyone will notice it. I used these in a classroom during english class and they all loved it. A+ to this book!

I teach first grade and my kids love the fun rhymes and silly illustrations in this book. It is like a mix of Dr. Seuss and grammar instruction. I highly recommend this book and the others--especially "Hairy, Scary and Ordinary--What is an Adjective?" and "A Mink, A Fink and a Skating Rink--What is a Noun?" If you have kids who are learning to write or teach writing to young kids, get these books!

I AM IN GRADE 4 AND I LEARNED ABOUT THE MIDDLE AGES
IT WAS A GREAT GREAT UNIT BETTER THAN MATH AND ENGLISH
I GOT AN A PLUS ON MY TEST I JUST LOVE HISTORY.I DK BOOKS

DK eyewitness books are some of the greatest non-fiction books around. The distinctive white background and high-quality photography gives this book an edge over any other nonfiction picture book. And -- these pictures are real! They're beautiful museum-quality photos of all things related to medival times, accompanied by informative captions and text.

Learn about medieval life, from peasants to rich folks, their clothes, food, music, etc. The strength in this book lies in the photos, however, and this book isn't an exhaustive history of medieval times. Rather, it serves as a hook to interest people, and induce them to dig further, while giving them a bit more knowledge.

If you know someone (young or old) who is fascinated by medieval times, then you must introduce them to this book!

Knights, castles and medieval ways are vividly brought to life in this excellent book. Eyewitness books give you all the information you need in short text and captioned pictures...and they keep children's attention!

Knights, Castles, Medieval Life: Boring. I love Eyewitness books and I like a lot of the Water Eyewitness books, but Eyewitness books like Knights, Castles and Medieval Life just don't appeal to me. Eyewitness Medieval Life gets 1 star because in about 1 or 2 places in the book it is kind of intresting but other then that this book is very plain and boring.

This is probably the best book I have read on classroom management--EVER! Not only is it well-written, it is timeless, useable, accessible and friendly. The author readily includes her own classroom successes and failures, which helps me to identify with her journey. She also give practical, ready to implement steps and routines. Is classroom managment difficult? YES! Is is do-able--YES YES YES if you follow the guidelines given here by Ms. Charney. Combine this with a Responsive Classroom workshop, or at least books from the RC library, and you are on your way to loving your job again!

I am very happy with the price as well as the fast shipping. My University campus book store wanted twice the amount of money for this book; worst of all, it was used. Amazon had it for half the money; best of all, it was brand new. :) I am a happy camper...

A terrific book that should be in every teachers' and parents' library. Clear directions, plenty of space for notes. Good bibliography.

For my professional goal I joined a study group in which we all purchased this book. The manner of speaking and presenting rules and consequences teach children that they can choose how to act. It reinforces responsibility, kindness and cooperative learning. I am now teaching sixth grade three years later. The strategies produce active learning and a desire to make the right decision. Combine this book with "The First Six Weeks" and you will be all set for the school year!

This book is fantastic. It offers plenty of wonderful tips and situations for constructing a healthy behavior management plan within your classroom. A definite must have.