Nonfiction Books

This was the text book used in my honors physics class. Though it may not go into extremely advanced issues, it does touch on A LOT of material, including basic collisions, fluids, rotational motion, relativity (a bit), and even some quantum mechanics. This book is definitely useful to anyone who wants a better education in basic physics and a start into somewhat beginner's advanced physics.

This is an excellent Physics manual and defines what a good physics textbook should be about. Excellent graphics and well defined explanations. A great resource for teacher and student alike.

Quite Frankly, this new Holt Phyiscs book, does NOT cover all the content that is involved in the detailed study of Physics. Not only that, but it leaves out some of the most important principles that are in physics. For example, Chapter 5-2, we talk about Energy, it doesn't give the law of conservation of energy, which is one of the most important laws in physics. It also when talking about Newton's laws, doesn't use the ideas that Newton had. There are so many things missing, I could go on forever, I wish I could give this book a negative score, but I can't do so. I'm currently in Physics at my school, and I like to study Physics in my spare time. Serway is a very good author of the college books, that I have, but this one does not cut it for a full understanding of Physics.

Advice or information given in this book may not work for all students?
What may work is worth knowing!
About a 3.9 Star buy!

Great how to guide. I bought it for my daughter who will be a Freshman this Fall. Lots of the same things I've been saying (with greater impact coming from someone else other than Mom), plus a whole lot more. Knowledge is power and this guide offers hints from study habits, avoiding weight gain in the dorms, to dealing with roommates - even an appendix on common errors in English! I also appreciated that the proceeds from the sale of the book go to the Boulder Valley Humane Society. Bravo Mr. Kennedy!

This book helped me get over $11,000 of free financial aid. Obviously to say it paid for itself would be an understatement. The book not only shows you how to get good grades at the college level with less studying, but also shows you how to get free financial aid and scholarships, which I found the most beneficial.

The author shares his tricks for applying for and getting all kinds of scholarships, grants, and loans and also low-interest Federal Student Aid (FSA). The amount of free college money out there for you to get is amazing. For example, the book talks about one little-known scholarship for students who are left-handed called the Frederick and Mary F. Beckley Scholarship lol.

Long story short, this book is a great investment and will pay for itself hundreds if not thousands of times over. My total haul amounted to over $11,000. Not too shabby I'd say.

Everyone at OU is talking about this book!! I just got a $3700 scholarship with the help of this book and am so encouraged I'm now going to go for more!! The key is knowing where to go to get it and persistence. I'm here to tell you it PAYS OFF BIG TIME! Great advice about college success too. I cannot recommend this book highly enough!

Im a high school junior and got this book. I've applied a lot of the tips to my high school life, and my grades are doing a lot better!

I recommend this to anyone in any level of school, from high school and onward.

My son finished this book right before starting 2nd grade and found that he was right in line with what his class was learning. He felt confident and accomplished. These books are very easy to use and we mix and match them with other learning materials. There is a certificate of achievement at the end of the workbook for your child. My child just loves to collect the certificates and we reward him with a small toy or a day of fun etc... The positive reinforcement works like a charm. I'm glad to see that Kumon is creating more workbooks for older children. We will definitely continue with this series.

This book is based on the Kumon Method that introduces math concepts in an incremental, step-by-step approach, allowing children to grasp new skills little by little in drills with less challenge or frustration. As a result, children may gain confidence in their abilities and are motivated to learn more.

The practice helps your child develop an understanding of subtracting the numbers 1 through 5 from whole numbers up to 20. Children will be able to understand the concept of subtraction by repeatedly tracing and reciting numbers both forwards and backwards and then gradually shifting to subtracting the numbers 1 through 5. You can rarely find a book focusing on simple subtractions this way.

My child used this book and found it fun. Although it's labeled for 6-8 years old, I feel it's better for 5 years children or slow first graders. It's indeed very simple. I would like it better if it includes some real life use of simple subtractions, so children know how to apply the knowledge. In this aspect, Beestar free online word problems are wonderful. My child understands subtractions better when using both programs together. Overall, this is a solid book for very young children to start subtracting.

I totally love this workbook. It works incrementally, simply laid out and totally organized. I am confident that it will work really really well for my 5 year old. Some children might not like it, if they like things really bright and interesting or if they don't like doing the same thing over and over, however my daughter will really do well with it. I wish there were a few more pictures, otherwise it is fantastic!

This is a great little cookbook for little girls. All the ingredients are simple and accessable with results that are not only yummy but appealing to look at. The pleasing result is what will hook a child.

I have seen some critics complain that Beery's cookbook's for children are too simplistic and is taken up by too many pictures. Hello! It's a book for children. The picture is what will inspire them to make it. And they will have fun while they create these nifty little fantasy theme treats.

This book is a marvelous gift, My niece loved hers even though her only prior interest in food was eating it. Highly recomended as a starter cookbook. And frankly it is so cute I plan to get a copy to add to my general cookbook collection.

My 10-year-old daughter was so excited about this ccokbook. She immediately started to pick out things she wanted to make. My 3-year-old granddaughter saw the picture of the princess cake pictured on the front and she keeps talking about having that cake on her birthday, which isn't until September! I gave it four stars because from an adult point of few the recipes are very sugary.

I absolutely LOVED the Pink Princess Cookbook. My 3yr old daughter helped me pick out what recipies she wanted for her Princess Birthday Party. We wanted to make all of them! Even during the party different people and kids took turns reviewing the book of fun and picturesque ideas. I've already sold my friends on it and plan to use it again and again for years to come!
FUN! AIVB

This is a delightful book to inspire any woman who wants to spend creative time in the kitchen with a daughter, grand-daughter, brownie or other youngster. The foods are perfect for planning a Birthday Party, Tea Party or other special event.

I bought this for my daughter, age 7. She loved it! It is nice for her to have her very own recipes to create. Easy to follow and not a bunch of total junk food. Yes ther are treats but not using overprocessed ingredients like many other kids' recipes.

An innovative approach to encouraging young girls to participate in the kitchen and learn measurements and basic cooking.

Kassi

I got the discs yesterday and listened to the first one last night. I can't believe how much I've already learned. I've always learned better with visuals so I was skeptical about learning with CDs and no book to follow but it hasn't been a problem. I can't wait to start disc 2 tonight. I've been practicing today what I learned from disc 1 and am thrilled that I remember it all. This program is both easy and fun and I highly recommend it to anyone that wants to give Japanese a try but doesn't want to invest too much money just yet. I'll be buying the next set in the series for sure!

I bought this for my 11-year-old who is obsessed with learning Japanese - and for that matter, becoming Japanese! He practices every day. The new lessons repeat items from previous lessons which helps to remember. My older son received a different book for Christmas from a friend studying linguistics. My son has listened to them both and said this book is better for the beginning student. I intend to stick with the Pimsleur Programs based on this positive experience.

The only reason I am giving this item 3 stars is because it does not come with a booklet manual that one can follow along. I have started listening to the cd's; it is like doing it blindly. It might useful for the non visual learner. Bit for me I am more of a visual learner.

The Pimsleur Japanese Course is top notch. This course enables a person to learn a new language without having to memorize alot of information that is soon forgotten. Thirty minutes a day is all it takes. From the first CD I was able to pick up Japanese very quickly. I would highly recommend this product to anyone wanting to learn a foreign language.

I went to Japan for 2 weeks this summer and the Pimsleur audio CDs were a life saver. I only got through 8 of the lessons before going, but they gave me the confidence to use between 10 and 20 phrases with ease while traveling in Japan. Most Japanese understand and even speak very functional English. Starting with at least one sentence in Japanese will encourage them to try much harder to work with you in English. Speaking a little Japanese is a must because, in Japan, the Kanji makes a Westerner essentially illiterate.

I first read this book when I was in High School. It was refered to me by a girl that was in my class. At first I didn't want to read it because I thought everyone was going to die in the end like Romeo and Juliet but this book surpised me.

I liked how this book was a modern day twist and that its relatable to kids in High School. Its relatable in a way that you could actually believe that the so called gang the Devil Dogs would dislike Romiette and Julio being together because she is of African American descent and he was Mexican. Also, that the parents had misconceptions of each other because of thier racial backgrounds. In my High School we didn't necessarialy have gangs instead their were clicks and everyone stayed within their clicks and when they branched out to talk to someone that wasn't in their so called click they would get looked at differently or made fun of.

So in the end I winded up giving this book 5 stars because of the storyline and the interacial romance. I recommended this book to anyone who is looking for a heart felt page turner and to anyone who likes books about romance.

Purchased for reading in a high school intensive reading class. So far, three students have read the book and recommended it to other students.

They said it was a great story about teenagers and the struggles in life.

By:Anastasia Lucien

Take a moment and think back to your past relationships. Have they ever been with some one of a different background? If so, have you ever been criticized because of your mixed relationship? Well don't feel alone and hurt because Romiette and Julio share your pain. The novel, Romiette and Julio is written by Sharon Draper who takes the Shakespeare written play Romeo and Juliet and turns it into a more interesting piece of writing that anyone can enjoy.
Romiette and Julio is very much like Romeo and Juliet with similar names and a similar plot -two teens in deep love but no one appreciates it. And the diffrence is how Romiette and Julio exspress their love through a mixed relationship. Romiette and Julio first meet on an internet chat line, not realizing that they go to the same school and live in the same city. At first Romiette listens to her friend -Destiny's advice and doesn't really trust Julio. But they soon get to learn about each other in a private chat room, now I won't tell you what they've said because I want you to find out yourself. But any way Romiette and Julio make an arrangement to see each other at lunch time in school. But soon later on romiette and Julio face many troubles with a gang called the devil dogs because of their mixed relations ships, Romiette-African American and Julio-Hispanic/Mexican.
But later in the story Romiette and Julio make an arrangement to show the deadly gang that nothing can pull them apart. And when they try to pull that move they are put through hell. And Romiette has to face her biggest fear-water. And Julio has to face his most fear-losing Romiette. This whole love scene in these two teens life can connect to the whole world where it shows how terrible things can be for a mixed couple, and the hell that they are put through. The theme of this story is how true love can be found even when no one agrees with your decision.
I would recommend this to tweens, teens, and young adults who love to have the picture of the scene in their heads and who love drama in their books. This novel was the recipient of the first Coretta Scott King genesis award, and the sales rink is-12474.

The first time I read Romiette and Julio was when I was 13 in the 8th Grade. I think this is amazing. I truely loved it. Its one of my favorites. Sharon M Draper is an amazing author and I'd reccomend this book to anyone who is into romance.

Romiette is a high school student who has lived her entire life in Cincinnati. She is black and lives with her parents, who are both successful--her father as a news reporter on television and her mother as a store owner. Romiette has never had a real boyfriend, but then she meets Julio online one afternoon.

Julio has just moved to Cincinnati from Texas, and he hates it, especially the cold weather, which he never had back home in Texas. His parents wanted to leave to get away from the gangs that were running rampant in Julio's school. Unfortunately, the gangs in Cincinnati are just as bad, especially the Devildogs, a black gang at Romiette and Julio's school.

When Romi and Julio talk online enough to realize they are going to the same school, they decide to meet for lunch one day. The two of them really hit it off; there is a definite spark between them that makes them want to spend all of their free time together. The Devildog gang doesn't like it, though. They don't want one of the pretty black girls at their school associating with a Hispanic boy. They threaten Romi and Julio and try to make them stop seeing each other. Romi and Julio don't know what they can do, but then they come up with a plan to secretly videotape the threats and bring that tape to the news, to expose this gang. When they put the plot into action, though, things go terribly wrong and Romi and Julio's lives are in danger.

I liked seeing the two families who started off not liking each other come together in order to help their children. I also liked the characters of Ben and Destiny. Both were incredibly vivid and really good friends.

This book, however, was incredibly simplistic, almost to the point of being insulting. The characters kept mentioning "Romeo and Juliette," which was distracting. If the author was going to play on the Shakespeare story, she ought to have been a bit more subtle than she was. It also seemed to me that exposing a dangerous gang on television wouldn't be the best way to ensure safety.

"How to Write your Life Story," by Ralph Fletcher, presents an interesting and entertaining introduction to writing about the most important people in the world--yourself and your family. You can get additional ideas from larger books, but this little book, written for young people, covers the most important points about writing an autobiography.

It debunks a few common lies that people use to convince themselves they don't have a story worth telling--that you have to be a famous celebrity, have an amazing life, or be old and gray.

You already have everything you need to start writing: a character (yourself), a setting (places you have been), and a plot (the events that happened to you). Fletcher recommends making a list of memorable events and then writing about the ones that seem most interesting. These events will probably be the ones that are told and retold every time the family gets together.

He suggests gathering up the artifacts that have soaked up your personal memories and holding them in your hands until the memory rises to the top. Drawing maps of important places in your life, and a heart map of the things that really matter to you, will help you uncover the treasured and terrible tales you want to tell.

Whether you choose to write a group of vignettes, a chronology, or a multi-genre collection of short pieces, you can always switch to another form until it feels well-suited to the story you're trying to tell. The most important message in the book is that writing about your life will help you understand it better. So, read the book and start writing.

Excellent resource written for young students. I teach fifth graders and read to them regularly from Fletcher's other books... A Writer's Notebook in particular. How To Write Your Life Story brings the task of memoir to their fingertips -- makes it feel doable, important, and exciting. Fletcher cites two of my favorite authors of other resources: Katherine Bomer and Barry Lane, whom my students know well by the time we finish our inquiry into memoir. Many examples of writing from Fletcher, and other 4 - 7 grade students enrich this book and bring it home. Great for read aloud, introducing mini-lessons, or even as a class reading book if you can swing a whole set. Any teacher who investigates memoir or autobiography with young students should have this book in the classroom.

I bought four Kumon workbooks for my 5 year old's kindergarten. This will be our first year homeschooling. I totally love the Kumon method. The workbooks introduce the information in a highly incremental way. The layout of the pages is very simple and consistant. I just love this workbook and am confident that it will work really well for us.

This is a great work book to help your preschooler or young learner to start understanding the concepts of telling time. It focuses on learning the numbers, hours, and hand placement on the clock as well as learning about half-hours. It's a great workbook to take to an appt. (waiting room), or for a few minutes before dinner. My children have enjoyed many of the KUMON books.

My Grandson loved this book and I can see why. It is written by an educator (O'reilly was a History school teacher) who knows how to explain complex material to children in a simple to understand style. O'reilly also has a Harvard degree and has a quick mind and wit that helps add to the enjoyment. This book, in the hands of a less talented person could be very boring, but it's not...it's great for the children for whom he wrote it!

My 10 year old son absolutely loves politics because he hears my husband and I talk about it all the time. Since we are both on the same side we wanted to present our son with a fair and balanced introduction to the world of politics and power. This book does that. Mr. O'Reilly may ruffle feathers on his show but make no mistake, he loves his job. I could not have asked for a better explanation of rights and responsibilities of all Americans. My son feels like an active participant in the world of politics and now can substantiate his views.

It is amazing to me how so many people who hate and despise O'Reilly and anyone else like him have the time to write such long and careless reviews. I read the book and so has my 13 year old son and 16 year old niece. Although it may be a little simple at times for them, my niece especially enjoyed the book and said to me that it was one of the more eye opening pieces that she has ever read. To bring up phony accusations of O'Reilly, like the Harlem incident, which was totally taken out of context and a "Media Matters" concoction, where respectable men like Juan Williams are called "Happy Negroes" by other news orgs. is nothing short of despicable! The book is an excellent read, although a little simple for an intelligent adult at times, or maybe it is, but don't write a bad review on a book because you don't like O'Reilly. That in itself is childish!!

Most who castigate Bill O'Reilly are those who have preconceived notions of who he is by watching YouTube clips! Put those aside for a second are realize that he loves the USA and wants to protect kids. One of the ways to protect kids is to empower them with the knowledge of what the process was to get where we are and what kids can do to help this country move forward. This book successfully completes this mission more like a civics course than a political science course. My 12 year-old daughter tore through it in 2 days and loved it. "Not too easy, but not too hard," she said. It left her wanting to learn more, and that is the sign of a good teacher!

O'Reilly's Kids are Americans, Too is, according to O'Reilly, the sequel to The O'Reilly Factor for Kids, and this sequel is worse than the first on account of a few inadequacies. Readable pages are ludicrously pathetic at about 130; this ranks Kids are Americans, Too lower in a literary task than junior novels. I can't believe O'Reilly claimed this book would be too difficult for some kids, as the double spacing is egregious, the indents on a page are so wide that much space is wasted, and some pages are divided into blurb-style conversations with O'Reilly, further lightening the book's literary weight.

This book's intent is noble, but mistrust remains about O'Reilly's success in satisfying his aim. The vast majority deals with court cases in the US as O'Reilly's thesis is kids have rights, too. It's a matter of balancing them against everyone else's rights--like parents, peers, teachers, etc.--and using court/legal precedents to determine if fighting for one's rights really does more good than bad sometimes. It'll startle O'Reilly defamers that his theme throughout most of the book is for kids to actually AVOID conflict by relying on negotiations and compromise, seeing as how his critics constantly accuse him of "bullying." Oh, never mind, most O'Reilly detractors don't even bother giving him a chance by fairly evaluating his opinions!!!!

O'Reilly spends much of the book counseling kids NOT to use the court system to settle disputes and fight for their rights, and this is, cogently, good advice because court costs enormous money, takes unproductively long, and clearly may end in unexpected decisions based on the subjective nature of judges. O'Reilly gives many an example of kids who had disputes with entities like schools and used alternative means to solve their disputes, ranging from meeting with the school to even going to the media. In this view, O'Reilly's giving kids sound, pragmatic advice which involves weighing whether something is worth the trouble in the first place.

O'Reilly's main focus of getting kids to understand their rights is regarding their schools because as he argues, they dominate children's lives as they spend the most time there during the day. He presents many cases of student-school disputes that anyone who watched The Factor over the years should be familiar with. Notorious cases he very breezily covers include the "Bong Hits for Jesus" case in Alaska; a case about a teenager being denied his intention of posing in his yearbook with musket; a case where a Muslim American haughtily rejected going to his school's graduation ceremony because it was held at a church; and a case where a teenager made public his high-school teacher's ideological comments after clandestinely taping them.

With each of the aforementioned cases, O'Reilly goes into breezy detail about each, highlighting the dispute among kids and their schools and then pithily giving analysis and how the dispute could've been solved easier. O'Reilly is also laudably perceptive in cautioning his young readers that there's unfortunately no black-and-white certainty with which one's rights can be enforced by the courts. This is due to the subjectivity of the legal process and the differing (and sometimes ideological) opinions of judges.

The blameworthiness of this book relates to O'Reilly, misguidedly, talking down to his own audience!!!! Throughout, he errantly uses phrases involving the term "kid" when addressing his audience; he flagrantly assumed he could "connect" with his readers and make himself sound "cool." Instead, he's derisive and hackneyed with that misused form of address.

Another criticism is O'Reilly's sometimes disoriented about who his audience really is. When he cites all the court cases involving primarily high-school kids, he insinuates that his audience is teenagers, yet the writing is so abominably primer-style and elementary, leading one to believe his audience is preteens or something!!!! Further devaluing O'Reilly is that he fails to push his teenage readership enough. With the schoolwork teens are expected to do--especially in private schools; I cannot expect that public schools with their teacher's union monopolies ever generate appropriate schoolwork from kids--O'Reilly should've authored a book up to par with a high-school reading level. I get the sneaking suspicion that he sort of winged it when writing this elementary book, not really caring about his young audience.

Finally, I need to confront earlier villains whom I discovered writing their illicit reviews ahead of me. As O'Reilly continually repeats the mantra that villainy needs to be confronted and exposed in American life, so, too, will I confront and expose reviewers Fellini and Gunfighter. These two are villains for libeling O'Reilly with charges that he's innocent of. For instance, Fellini libeled that O'Reilly teaches kids the "ACLU is Satan"; despite that the ACLU is indeed noxious to the US, O'Reilly never writes that in this book. Similarly, Gunfighter's a villain for libeling O'Reilly for writing this book to stir things up, yet for Pete's sake, this book is just a primer about constitutional rights and the Bill of Rights!!!!