Nonfiction Books

I am a student at Ridgewood High School in West Lafayette, OH. These books has unique words in then, but we never use them because we never heard of them before. It's just a waste of time. Most people copy off another students, only few STUDENTS learn from them.

We use this book in assisting students to improve their vocabulary skills. This book is part of a series which is an excellent aide in for teachers and a tremendous resource for students. It uses different ways of learning the vocabulary. Each unit helps a student to pronounce the word properly and shows the proper usage of the word as verb, noun or adjective. The unit helps the student to recognize the word within the sentence structure, as well as, using it in relation to synonyms, antonyms and homonyms. There is a review of the parts of a word (prefixes, suffixes and roots). There is a review of Denotation and Connotation in the literal and figurative usage. One of the most helpful aspects is the analogy section of the unit which prepares the student for standardize testing. The book is an excellent tool for both educators and students.

This book is great, but I think it is really boring and sometimes can really make you fall asleep.

I am a student and have been using Vocabulary Workshop for two years. I find it very boring doing the same thing over and over again. Most of the words I don't remember and have to look back at definitions for the tests and the review sections.

A friend (an MA in English) showed me those books recently, who homeschooled her son with them. Her son gotten nearly full scores on his entry exams in the vocabulary section!
The books are great to build up new vocabulary words and enable you to actually use them.

I have used this book for one semester in Advanced composition and conversation, though I have been using some of its exercises and suggestions for years before I decided it was going to be a required book. I find the articles very well chosen, most of them elicit a lot of discussion and the cultural topics are both varied and interesting, with enough detail to make the students ask questions and remember things. The discussion activities are also very creative. I also like its emphasis on vocabulary that causes problems to English speakers. However, if you are looking for a grammar book this is definitely not it. It does have a companion workbook that includes a grammar review and exercises.

Some books serve to improve grammar, others to improve reading comprehension, and yet others to teach spanish culture. This book, however tries to tackle so many different topics that it is not able to do any one of them very well. each chapter is divided into parts. many of the vocabulary words are things that a student at that level already ought to know. there is little taught about grammar in this book, however the workbook touches on some subjects, but only the easy ones. i would not recommend this book for a spanish class.

I'm very satisfied with my order because in my opinion Borderlands/La Frontera is one of the best books about chicano identity.

This book is a tormented stream of consciousness from a lady who was obviously fighting major demons. It is exactly the type of book that you would expect an amateur academic to "wow" and "gush" over, as it nicely fits into the dogmatic radicalism of Chicano Studies. The discerning reader, on the other hand, sees page after page of outdated cliches, sob-stories, and anger-filled tantrums. Anzaldua would like you to believe her suffering and self-searching is all the fault of the "white" culture encroaching upon the enlightened cosmic race of the mestiza. She'd like you to think that her mestiza/chicana/lesbian/female identity is the sole cause of her misfortune and hardship. What becomes overwhelmingly evident upon reading her unabashed torrent of decadent self-pity is the learned and self-enforced quality of her "opression". Anzaldua helplessly wallows in her romantic fatalism dreaming of the great mestiza revolution that will fix all of the world's problems by turning the middle class value system upside down.

If you like romantic literature, and enjoy the hopeless and sorrowful ramblings of society's self-marginalized, I might suggest "The Sorrows of the Young Werther" by Goethe or some poems by Lord Byron - at least then you get some literary value.

While most reviewers seem to be bent on lauding Gloria Anzaldúa's "insightful and progressive" writings, I can't help but take a different viewpoint. The vast majority of her essays, while cloaked in a sense of righteous equality, are quite simply racist drivel. She speaks of acceptance and tolerance for foreign cultures in America, and harps on the evils of correcting students when they use improper English, yet instills her writing with a blatant and offensive racism.

I make specific reference to the article "How to Tame A Wild Tongue". In her conclusion, she praises the perseverance and endurance of the mestizo race/culture, making reference to walking by "the crumbling ashes" of American civilization. An eagerness is felt to see the day that "white laws and commerce will rot in the desert". One would be hard pressed to come up with a more hypocritical conclusion. Here is an author preaching tolerance and acceptance of different languages and cultures throughout her entire article. She whines about the troubles she had fitting in with English speaking people. She goes in depth to explain the numerous bastardizations of Spanish that are spoken in various Hispanic cultures and tries to convince us of how each is a viable language, even so-called "Spanglish", just a blend of English and Spanish that you might hear in a high school Spanish I class ("el chairo = chair,la ceilingo = ceiling, etc.) . And after all that talk of acceptance, she ends by completely blasting American culture and expressing her wish to see it crumble to dust, while at the same time presenting the mestizo as the dominant race which will endure this fall. Talk about racist. I understand pride of your country and people, but this goes far beyond simple nationalism, especially in light of the overall message of the article. Tolerance is right out the window here.

Don't be fooled by Anzaldúa's overly wordy diction and pseudo-intellectualism. She is a flat out racist that for some reason is tolerated (forget that, praised to the roof!) in many academic circles. Her educational philosophy is naive, irresponsible, and fundamentally flawed. Hopefully her writings will soon fall out of the limelight.

I find it interesting that such a supposedly important and relevant contemporary work has only been reviewed by 11 people at the time of this writing. That alone tells you all you need to know since this is a book that is classed under both Latino and Women's Studies, and is part of many university literary programs.

The book is pretentious claptrap of the worst kind. If this book were judged on its merits rather than by popular, politically correct notions, it wouldn't come close to making the cut.

Alas, academia has embraced the book as a great work, and so it is required reading for an English M.A. program at a major university that I was accepted into. An English M.A.! Once I saw that this book was part of the program, I didn't even bother registering.

I don't mind rants against social, cultural and economic injustices. I've read many. But Ms. Anzaldua is no James Baldwin, that's for sure.

Not much can be said to some of the postings I see here--to those that suggest the third tier prose, those that call this work "racist," those that implore statements like "I hated it." These are the same people that vote for their own oppression, these are the very people that fancy their success on some sense of entitlement. Relax, you do not have to agree, but hear me out.



Classic. Classic.



With the colorful enagement of gender, consciousness, and subconscious indeterminacy, the creation of a new utopia (racial, linguistic, gender, cultural, etc) is suggested by the prose of self actualization. This book is about all of us--it is about the exchanges we have with domination, be it familial or societal. It's loose diction is its very strength, it does not confide to the subordination of patriachal, hegemonic forces of tradition. The reflexive allegorical stories and unpacking of our human complexity give it a breathing body and a compelling face.



Anzaldua suffered greatly for not writing like "the male pimps," those that claim a fanatical space in some high art and legitimacy canon. It was her filter of difference, it was her cries for something else, that connects with everyone at a spiritual level. I do not know how this can be connected to some mundane powerpoint presentation at a university; this piece involves the full of enagement of mind, body, and soul. To contextualize it--one needs to read consistently. In order to feel out her domain, one must be willing go beyond what "our mom said" or "what our 6th grade teacher" told us about this and that. This about the struggle for agency; this about search for Thoreau's Walden amidst sociohistorical forces that still "do not see."



Welcome it. This classic work of literature, philosophy, education...remains one of the most unrecognized treatises on being and becoming.

Our children used Saxon from 54 to 87, then moved on to advanced math, calculus and physics and they have excelled with this method. Although my background doesn't include an emphasis in math, my husband's education and professional life is steeped in mathematics. He's enthusiastic about Saxon because it creates a strong foundation in the subject.

Admittedly, solving 30+ problems a lesson can be a challenge, however, this process increases one's speed and accuracy over time and as my daughter said, it helped her "to make peace with math." Math is like learning how to play a musical instrument; it takes practice and self-discipline, but it's well worth the effort. Understanding math, like being proficient at reading and writing, is one of those practical skills that make life so much easier.

Using this incremental method of learning made homeschooling through high school a breeze and our college-age children sailed through their college math courses as well. In hindsight, it would be easy to choose it again

In my experience teaching in the high school classroom, I discovered that most students can quickly learn a new skill, but if they're using a curriculum that doesn't require them to use that skill for more than a few days, they can just as quickly forget it. Saxon math books do what few others do -- through the continual review implemented in the problem sets, students are able to retain skills for the long term. Isn't that the whole point of studying Algebra 1, assuming that students plan to move on to Algebra 2 and beyond? Problems get more difficult over time, because with mastery of a skill, the student is ready to take it to the next level. Higher level math and science courses require a student to think through complex problems, not to simply "plug and chug" through a formula, and Saxon is sufficiently rigorous to prepare a student to analyze and reason his/her way to a solution. I should add that I have two children who have completed this course and have blown the doors off standardized tests. (Their mother made certain they completed their assignments, however, and I suspect that contributed to their success.)

Ahhhhhh!

Attack of the large, hardcover, algebraical, mathematical and downright wicked text book! If you happen to see this book in person, I suggest you turn and run as positively fast as you can... AWAY! If you don't, it will open up and suck you into it's very pages, bombarding you with polynomials and rectagular coordinate systems, not to mention the villianous cronies known as fractions, and their wicked counterparts, the simple geometric solids!

I have warned you! Beware!

I have homeschooled my five children using this series. They consistently get high math grades on the standardized California Achievement Tests. My three eldest have each scored in the upper 600's on the SAT tests for math. Even my right-brained, artist, writer daughter who HATES math scored 670 on her SAT. Review, review, review is key! It maybe boring, but it is very effective. As I said, the proof is in the pudding.

My mother is a Ph.D. in mathematics and taught Jr. and Sr. High math for several years before moving up to teach college math. She has been pretty vocal that the only math text that will result in imparting a poor understanding of mathematical concepts--a false sense of mastery while using it, but poor retention after--is Saxon. She says that every time she has a home schooled student who is really struggling at the college level and they say "But I did so well in math before!" and they are traumatized at the level of tutoring help they need to make it in college, they all have in common the fact that they learned math using Saxon texts in high school.

After she impressed this on me, I was really leery about choosing jr. & sr. high school curriculum a couple years ago and asked her to go to me with convention to help me pick something out. She said, "You are good at math and a good teacher. Just pick something you like that is NOT SAXON!" I'm not exaggerating. It's the spiral learning method that they use. It doesn't give enough thorough practice of all the variations of a particular concept before moving on and too heavily relies on review throughout. That seems to impedes long-term retention. She thinks the fact that it is so dull and methodical is also ridiculous in this day and age of fabulous graphics and the trend to make math more interesting and multi-modal for the average student who doesn't love math.

I find it interesting that on their website, of the 6 research studies of their curriculum, only one includes high school; the other five utilized k-8 or 6-8 curriculum. Maybe all that dry rote learning makes a student test better. But the sad part is when it comes to taking that learning and building on it, they don't really understand the concepts behind it and can't apply future learning to what they simply practiced over and over but don't really know. Kind of like cramming for a test by going over everything you've learned right beforehand and blocking everything else out until you take the test and then POOF! everything you repeated over and over in your head beforehand just seems "gone" once you go back to normal habits of thinking/doing and you stop all that repetition.

2008 writer's market is a thick book, and has the listings for publishers, and some literary agents. For a FULL listing of agents one must purchase the literary agents guide. This is a heck of deal compared to paying $300 for a Literary marketplace. And keep in mind MOST places that do carry refrence titles, such as a liebrary, do not have the most up to date version of that. Always make sure to check the agents or publisher web-site for the latest info on submissions. It is a handy tool that is full of info about how to compose a query letter, basics on publishing poetry, freelance newspaper writing 101, non-fiction book proposals, the best part of the book is how easy they have made it to find a publisher that prints a certain genre, just look in the index, also some have tips on submitting a work to the publisher. This book is for more writers that do not need an agent, or if you want to sumit a work to a publishing house unagented, most publishers refuse unagented submissions, unless they are a newspaper, magazine, etc. If you have a book that you wish to be published, ficton or not get the literary agents guide first.

As an author...this is a necessary reference book for me. It takes a great deal of research for such a presentation. I sincerely thank Author/Editor, Robert Lee Brewer, and Assistant Editor, Chuck Sambuchino, for their very timely efforts into the publication of the Writer's Market, for the benefit of all writers. Peggy Inez, Author, [[ISBN 978-159858-400-4, The Gully.

I didn't even know there was such a book with so much information about publishers. This book will save me time finding the right publisher.

I have been looking to buy Writer's Market for awhile. I was surprised with all of the inforamtion that is stored within it's pages. From Freelance writing to Greeting Card companies. Not to mention that there are other Market Books out there. If you are going to submitt poetry to be published, there is a seperate Market book just for poetry. I find this book very usful, and it will help me in the right dierection of where to send my manuscript.2008 Writer's Market2008 Novel & Short Story Writer's Market (Novel and Short Story Writer's Market)

The 2008 Writer's Market Deluxe Edition cuts through the guessing at to which publisher I need to look at and which are not right for my work.

This addition also has the online access to it's resources. Easier to search. Great addition.

While this is a great piece if you want to step inside a virtue theorist's mind, as an actual philosophical text it is rather poor.
While it is obviously religiously biased, it is Lewis' own circular paradoxes that lead to a flawed system of logic that can not support itself.

I was struck with amazement as I read this most beneficial and interesting book! There are so many books to choose from these days for inquiry or answers to the brokenness in our modern day populace, but this one proved to be top-notch in this writer's opinion. The writer's skill conveys keen insights into the mind to understand mankind's condition, including interpersonal relationships from the intellect. Dead hypothesis that would try to excoriate the common sense displayed here in this wonderful little treatise would no doubt fall by the wayside. Can we see the signs of the times from the author's wisdom? Where is the world headed anyway? Read this little book for some answers. I've got a much better perspective on life now due to the dulcet manner of the author; the way he draws on the treasures intrinsic in all of us to begin with. Doubtless you will not find anything insipid within the two covers. A very powerful book indeed! Lewis displays a virtuoso's flair for observing absolutes unequivocally. I will keep one of the copies of two I purchased for my book shelf and the other one for a gift. The Den of IniquityC.S. Lewis: The Signature Classics Audio Collection: The Problem of Pain, The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, Mere Christianity

This is a marvelous book for showing the rank and file American college freshman just how he or she may have been unwittingly propagandized in the lower grades. The reigning studenty "philosophy" these days is indistinguishable from classical sophistry's arguments that "everything is relative" and -since everyone has a right to his opinion - that all opinions are necessarily of equal value. I suspect this "philosophy" began its march toward triumph in the first grade when a color blind student, Johnny, misidentified a color, the other students, being naturally cruel, laughed, and the "caring" teacher correctly instructed them not to, but for a cockeyed reason, that "Johnny has a right to his opinion!"

Taking off from such a spot, sophistic relativism invariably before long comes to be embraced by the young with complete uncritical dogmatism, the opposite idea that some judgments are more apposite than others being wholly ignored by "caring" teachers, if not dismissed as patently invidious "judgmentalism." Like Socrates before him, C.S. Lewis here does battle with such lapses in critical thinking, assuming, as did his Greek predecessor, the objective existence of the Good, the True, and the Beautiful, and offering instances of the recurrent Natural Law drawn from many cultures. Defending the position that values are indeed objective, Lewis aims is to call much needed attention to this bracing alternative to the regnant view that all values are necessarily subjective, and therefore, in fact, trivial. Through his usual combination of shrewd wit, clear thinking and epigrammatic style, Lewis succeeds admirably.

This book is a series of three talks where Lewis illustrates the breakdown of education , from a system which embraces natural law, truth, and virtue, to one which embraces much of nothing and feeds back nothing. It is perhaps a bit dated now as teaching methods have moved on (though not necessarily in positive directions), but yet it still has much to say as we contemplate the inadequacy of our present systems and what we need to reclaim to restore them.

In this brief book, C.S. Lewis discusses the failing of relativism and affirms the existence of objective moral values. This system of objective values, which Lewis calls the Tao, must be granted if there are to be any values whatsoever. In a long appendix at the end of the book, Lewis shows that all (or almost all) cultures, both past and present, have affirmed some basic moral principles that are part of the Tao. Against the relativist claim that all socieities have their own moral codes, Lewis demonstrates that all humans are guided by an underlying system of objective values which they may or may not recognize.

In the third and final chapter, Lewis foresees a day when men have complete control over the destinies of the next generation. Should men achieve an take advantage of such power, it would not mean that man had finally dominated nature. Rather, it would mean the abolition of man. Unguided by the Tao, man's decisions about what future generations should be like would by guided only by natural impulses. Thus, by destroying the Tao and attempting to dominate nature, man can only succeed in destroying himself.

Like always, Lewis writes with great clarity and intelligence. "The Abolition of Man" is an enjoyable read and certainly worth checking out.

The modern "pyschological" biography attempts what is probably an impossibility: to penetrate and elucidate the core "personality" or "character" of an historic figure. The danger that the resulting portrait may be a novel masquerading as a biography, a creation of the author rather than a rendition of the subject, is great. Still more so when the author has clear psychological quirks of his own, and a contemporary political axe to grind. When he also has formidable literary skills, the danger of creating a cogent, compelling lie is acute. This is certainly so in the works of Joseph J. Ellis. He has admitted telling lies about his alleged role in the Vietnam War, demonstrating that his own character and personality are not wedded to the truth. Stranger still, in light of the content of his self-aggrandizing fabrications, he is an avowed political liberal. Something very odd was going on in his own psyche. More recently, he has written that the political vision of Barack Obama accords with that of the Founding Fathers (or, as Ellis calls them, the "so-called founding fathers"). There are thus multiple reasons to be skeptical of Ellis' several attempts to psychoanalyze the Founders. In this volume the patient on the couch is Washington. It is altogether too convenient that Ellis' Washington is a man whose primary impulse is to seek control in all things, but above all in the attempt to control his own reputation (or, as we might say, his "image"), both for contemporaries and for posterity. That's the psychology; as to the politics, Ellis' Washington is the Founding Liberal, prescient in his perception of the need for a strong national government that would curb the rights that Jeffersonians, and today's conservatives, regard as reserved to the states and the people. According to Ellis, the psychology and the politics are linked: Washington's belief in a strong national government was an external projection of his inner control. As is typical with this sort of work, any behavior or pronouncement that departs from the general "insight" is just the exception that proves the rule. Ellis even manages to turn Washington's Farewell Address, with its admonition against foreign involvement, into a harbinger of Kissingerian internationalism. Although this book is well written, indeed a joy to read, and is superficially convincing, I am deeply suspicious.

Some have wanted to reserve 5 stars to a "War and Peace" type book. To me 5 stars means the book did what it set out to do and did it well. "His Excellency" indeed did. It is an excellent short biography of the father of our country. When I picked this book up, I realized all I knew about Washington was what I had been taught in grade school.

Ellis is an excellent biographer who delves into many aspects of Washington's life. The narrative moved well and was entertaining. Some may be put off by Ellis' style of going into analysis of issues. I found that this added to my understanding.

Washington indeed was a great man who's influence reaches us to this day. Now I know why!

While it's totally hip to de-mythify things our parents (silly things) thought were good, Ellis's de-mythification of Washington is not satisfying. His basic thesis is that Washington was a nincompoop who happened to be in the right place at the right time his whole life. That's unlikely, and it doesn't explain why Washington was a legend in his own time as well as our own, unlike most "mythical" legends, whose myths grow in time.

Five stars for doing what everyone else does.
Two stars for insight.

It is sad. The author has made big bucks on a book that essentially is aimed at bringing George Washington down to the level of today's politicians. There certainly is an audience for this kind of interpretation of our Founding Father and it can only be accomplished by someone who has a perspective and wants to use his skills to slant the reader's view toward his own negativity. I much preferred to read David McCullough's history, "1776," which dwells primarily on Washington as a person and a leader, but without the hidden agenda (whatever it is) of the author of "His Excellency," which is really an attempt to rewrite history and bring Washington down to the level of a Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon in a colonial setting. Shame on you, Mr. Ellis, although you are entitled to your opinion -- which is what this book is all about.

I was extremely disappointed in this book. This book was purchased as a gift for me, and I looked forward to reading it. From the beginning, I was disappointed by the tone of the book, which casts a negative tone on the father of our country.

As I researched some of Ellis' sources, I found that in several parts of his book, he stated items as facts that were completely false.

Ellis, following a popular trend of today, insinuates that George Washington was in love with his friend's wife, Sally Fairfax, and that he felt passionately in love with her throughout his life.

Ellis admits that all we do know is based primarily on three letters Washington wrote to Sally (Fairfax). The last letter he cites was one Washington wrote near the end of his life. Mr. Ellis states that "in this letter, he confessed to an elderly Sally that she had been the passion of his youth, that he had never been able to forget her, 'nor been able to eradicate from my mind those happy moments, the happiest in my life, which have enjoyed in your company."

I decided to research his references, and look up the text of Washington's letter on the Library of Congress website. They have actual images of all of the original letters of George Washington. What I found relieved me greatly and set my mind at ease. It also made me feel disgusted than an author who claims to accurately represent the life of such a noble man could be so purposely deceptive.

The actual letter was written by Washington in his later years, with his wife. He talked about how he was remembering the times of harmony and friendship that he and his wife spent with Sally and her husband at their home. He describes these times as some of the happiest of his life. At the end of his part of the letter he says "Mrs. Washington is about to give you an account of the changes which have happened in the neighbourhood and in our own family."

Mr. Ellis said that in this letter he confessed that she had been the passion of his youth. That is simply a blatant falsehood.

Ellis also states that there is no evidence to show whether the relationship between Washington and Fairfax ever crossed the sexual threshold or not. Why does he even feel the need to include such a ridiculous statement? It is akin to saying that although someone spends some time at the local bank, we don't have evidence to show whether they were a bank robber or not.

Attempting to insinuate that the framers of our Constitution such as Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin were immoral men, is happening more and more often in our country.

In an excellent book "The Rewriting of America's History", there is an example of how deceitful this influence can be. The book explained how in an earlier edition of a school history textbook it stated that George Washington had a hot temper that he kept masterfully controlled. In a later edition of the same textbook, it simply said: "George Washington had a hot temper." I think that is a powerful example of how a subtle adjustment can completely change our thinking of his character.

I have found that this is happening more and more frequently in our world today as I have studied the founding father's lives including Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and others.

I could continue on with how careful research contradicts the opinions of Mr. Ellis, but I will simply recommend a much better book. "The Real George Washington", published by The National Center for Constitutional Studies.

This is the best is the best animal book for children that I have ever found. The photographs are excellent. Each animal is pictured individually so there is no confusion as to which animal is which. I highly recommend this book.

This is one of our favorite books. Our 15 month old daughter loves to look at all the animals on each page. We also have the trucks, trains, and rescue books. All of the Priddy books are very well put together and entertaining.

In this one, there's a page for baby animals (always popular), one for farm animals (great for talking about going to Grandpa's house), one for zoo animals, and many others. The wonderful thing about these books is that there are bright colors and clear photographs of the objects/animals with labels for parents in case we don't know that a baby goose is a gosling.

I love this book! I purchased it for my friend who was looking for a book of animals that had actual pictures, not art. It's perfect. The realization of the book is awesome.

I got this book for my 15 month old grandchild and it is her favorite book. Every page has several animal photos and she wants to "read" it again and again and make all the noises!

I really only got this book as an 'extra' purchase, to qualify for free shipping. However it has become an unexpected hit with my 16 month old who can now identify most of the animals from the pictures, and she will ask for this book over and over and over again.
The book includes some rather obscure animals, which probably wouldn't be on my 'introductory list' of animals for a young child. My list would probably run "lion, tiger, bear, cat, dog" (which are also included)... rather than the "gosling, chinchilla, parakeet, egret and kookaburra" which you'll also find in this book. My husband and I have both learned a few new animals as well!
All in all and great buy that keeps my daughter entertained for hours.

I am very pleased with all the products I purchased through Amazon.com. Amazon has consistently been reliable, efficient, and reasonably priced. I recommend Amazon.com for all your shopping needs.

I highly recommend this history series for kids of a wide age range. 5-13ish. The kids just don't get this kind of exposure to the world and its history in traditional Public Schools anymore. You will really want to get the book to go with this if really get into it. (to create a time line and see maps and so on...)
We Love this!

I have the Story of the World book and workbook, and I thought having it on CD might be nice for the car. I have very much enjoyed the smooth voice of Jim Weiss in several other story cds I have by him. So it made sense to try this one.
Sadly, Jim sounds rushed in this cd. I think that kids will just space out much of what he says, because there are so many facts packed in at such a fast pace. I wish he would have taken his time, and ambled through history at a leisurely pace rather than the slightly tense and frenzied reading that he has done here. I felt compelled to take rushed notes, and stop and replay - not appropriate for this age!

Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer is incredible. It is an entertaining, informative, spectacular way, to a journey through history.
My daughters ages 8 and 6 love to listen at home or in the car. I am drawn in to listening as well. Thanks!

After reading all the reviews about SOTW I was hesitant to buy it. We are a very conservative, Christian, homeschooling family and some of the reviews made me wonder if this would be the best choice for our family. I decided to get the book form of Mystery of History and the audiobook of SOTW to use as a supplement. I haven't opened our Mystery of History yet (though I will soon...) but we finished the whole set of CD's for volume one of SOTW and will start volume 2 tomorrow. We listen to it in the car as we travel. My 7 and 8-year olds beg to hear more history every time we get in the car. My 4 and 5-year olds get a lot out of it as well.

I think listening to someone else read the book makes it more fun for all of us. It helps bring the stories to life. We have all learned so much about ancient history and I'm so grateful. Sure, we've learned a lot of ancient myths and about many of the Greek gods and all, but that is all a part of the history of the various civilizations, and we don't have any trouble explaining to our children what is true and what is make-believe or just plain false.

I would highly recommend this set to any family that wants to increase their knowledge of ancient history.

My four year old boy and I read this for homeschooling. I do not think he is really understanding the devotions. They say it is for 4 year olds but I think it will be a few years before he will be able to comprehend the contents.

We love this book. I bought it for us to read our 6 year old son for family devotion time. While he enjoys it, and we truly benefit from it, I wish we had discovered it when he was 4 yrs. old because it provides a very good basic foundation for learning verses. The Awana verses he is learning now are more advanced, but he still enjoys the stories that go along with the verses in this book. If you have a 4 year old, it is not too soon to start which we strongly recommend.

I wanted to comment on the quality of this book - the layout, illustrations, format and paper stock are top quality, and this is a book you will want to use for several years. Top drawer. See also Susan and Richie Hunt "Big Truths for Little Kids" which can take up where this book leaves off. I'm glad we found them.

This is a great book! My 4-year-old is memorizing a scripture each day, and with reviewing them nightly, he is retaining them very well. The devotionals are helpful for the children to understand God's will through scripture. They are very optimistic in regards to how others will react when we pursue God's will, but that's okay with me. My son has even rebuked his younger brother with one of the verses! I love that he can see the purpose in context.

I am so glad a friend recommended this book! My 3 1/2 year old daughter loves the stories and is learning the Bible verses too. This is actually the only children's book I have seen that talks about the Holy Spirit and His role in recalling Scripture to mind, prompting us to make right choices, etc. This was a great purchase and I definately feel it is playing a key role in my discipleship of my daughter by making her conscious (as much as she can be at this age) of issues of the heart. The one caveat might be to start with this book early; an older child might find the siblings in most of the stories a little too good to be true. They are portrayed as very sensitive to the Holy Spirit, and almost always immediately sorry when they do something wrong. Overall, I highly recomment it.

Wow this has been great for my 6 and 4 year olds. This is much different from the usual Bible stories for kids that teach events, but this teaches character. The stories and themes build on one another and the book includes recommendations on how to review previous verses. My kids have learned many verses without trying too hard. They engage in the stories and actually pray for Missy and Bill, the kids that illustrate the principles. If you want to empower your children to be like Jesus then this is the book for you.