Nonfiction Books

You might think you know what this guy has to say, but rest assured that this book as full of surprises! It is also very interesting in a way that makes you read deep into the night.
The book doesn't only cover what fast food is doing to our health and families, but also at how it is changing industries across the world. It contains a shocking section on how minorities are being exploited, especially in the US meat industry.

It becomes more and more obvious how much research must have gone into the book, and it is refreshing, and maybe a little ironic, to see a product into which a lot of care and time was invested, especially in this fast-everything culture.

I recommend this book wholeheartedly, because it is interesting, well-researched, well-written, relevant and good value for money.

You'll never look at McDonalds the same way!

Schlosser attempts to explain the food industry: its origins, its workers, the supply of meat and potatoes and how these all have changed over the years. While I had already heard about the food side, I was surprised at how much time was spent covering the worker injuries and treatment both in the fast food franchises and in slaughterhouses. I did appreciate the whole picture approach and would recommend the book. However, there are at least 2 drawback that I can see.
Although there are many statistics, the book is very anecdotal. It is very negative towards politics and especially republicans, but then relies on legislation and increased government for solutions.

It's unnerving how a few mega billion dollar corporations can control the food supply in this country. I was shocked by the dehumanizing conditions in the slaughter houses and the negative impact they have on the environment.
I can tell that the author has never experienced the working end of a grill spatula by how clueless he is to the business end of the industry, the people who are in the trenches. What manager has read I'm OK you're OK a book written in the 70's, please. Managers "stroke" their employees because of the age old adage, ya' catch more flies with sugar than vinegar. He's nailed the franchisees right on the head as far as never trusting the people who work for you.
As far as the McLibel case goes, they had a good point with the marketing of fast food directed at kids, a whole generation has grown up who think the only side dish is fries. The people who brought the case against Mickey D's were way too whiney, I'm sure they wouldn't last a minute over a hot grill during lunch rush, what qualiifies to talk about the working conditions in fast food resturants.
A must read for the poor bastards, like myself, who are in the industry and people who really are concerned about what they eat.

This book is an expose into the seedy underworld of the American food system. It takes the reader throughout the massive infrastructure that is present in the United States and how the political clout that it wields is unnecessarily putting our health at risk. The message is an important one to cast and we as Americans should be absolutely apalled that things have gotten this bad. That being said I felt that his tone was to dreary and at times he focused to much attention on minute details that took away from his key message. I definately recommend that you pick it up. Don't be surprised if you have to walk away at times because of being overwhelmed by both the nature of the subject as well as his slow and meandering writing style.

... I am honestly flabberghasted this book has such a high rating. I had to read it for a school seminar class and I was only able to read the first half. Even that was a struggle. But I had to stop after that. I just couldn't take the drone any longer. A large portion of my classmates didn't read it and the ones that did skipped the first half and just read the second half which was apparently more interesting. But whatever; I don't even care. This book is not worth money or reading time.

I was disappointed with this purchase. The pages were whole and legible, but it seems like the book had a "run in" with some strong moisture. Many pages were warped and wrinkled (maybe a drink spilled on it), and Math is my daughter's favorite subject. I should have forked over the extra dough and bought the new copy, but since all the other used books have been fine I never gave it a thought. The worst part of this transaction was not the book itself; it was the Owner's reaction to my email to voice my complaints. He DID respond right away, but told me there was no way the quality was "poor" and I was wrong. I didn't care for his attitude. Just be forewarned.

These Kumon books are great, preschool geared fun. My son loves to do them and it's a treat so I only let him do one or two at a time. They have simple, fun ideas for them to color.

This is excellent for teaching fine motor skills to little ones. I am a teacher and I use it with my own three year old.

I recently discovered the Kumon books and I am super pleased with them.I will be reviewing all those I have so it will help other parents get a better idea of what's inside. The LET'S COLOR book is very nice and is part of the Kumon First Steps series for ages 2 and up. I must say that this book isn't for the very young only. My son is 8, and is a very normal child in every way, yet like some children, has not been very quick to develop fine motor skills for writing, holding a pencil, cutting, etc. He has enjoyed all his Kumon books very much, and they are not babyish. LET'S COLOR is a very nice book for children who would be overwhelmed by a whole uncolored page being placed in front of them to "finish". I like that most of each page in LET'S COLOR is colored already and is very colorful; only a white circle, square, triangle (nice for teaching shapes along the way) is left blank for the child to color in. My son is very pleased with just a small bit of coloring to finish the picture. He especially loves when his colored pencil ( I recommend Prismacolors over crayons) matches almost exactly with the color of the object and when finished, you can't easily see where he did the coloring. Later pages have you color 2 or 3 parts of the picture, such as blue, green, and yellow circles on the beach ball, or 3 different colored balloons, or the yolk of the egg. Then the last few pages are having the child color the 2 flowers, the mane of the lion, the icing and candles on a birthday cake, or different parts of a clown. Even these pages with more white areas to color, are not overwhelming to a child, as the full picture is only about 8 inches square. My son enjoyed the first "scribble" pages, where you drew hair on a boy, spaghetti on a plate, sprinkles on the ice cream, water squrting out of the garden hose onto the children, etc. He has enjoyed coloring in this book as we have our read aloud time in the evening. Kumon uses high quality heavy paper, and the coloring pages are printed on one side only. I highly recommend it to any parent of young children, and would make a nice little gift with a new box of colored pencils or crayons. These are attractive when finished to give to grandma and grandpa to hang on their refrigerator. I really think you and your child will have fun with this book.

My 40 month old son was born with birth defects on his hands. The few fingers he has are very short and his muscles are a little weak. This book offers him a challenging and fun way to work on his fine motor skills. This workbook is well made with thick paper and a lot of colors. You cut off about 2/3 of the page and give it to your child and encourage him to color in the dot with a matching color on some of the pages. This is encouraging to small children so they don't have to fill in an entire page themselves. The last page is a write on wipe off page! The only drawback is that $5.95 for a small workbook is rather pricey to me.

I purchased this workbook for my three year old, noting that the workbook is suggested for 2 year olds and up. My daughter has already developed the intial fine motor skills for tracing her name, painting, coloring, pasting, modeling clay, using spray bottles, drawing circles, lines, rectangles, stick figures, etc., I purchased this workbook with the hope that we would re-trace any steps in the fine motor skill process that we may have missed. The book opens having the child draw "spaghetti" on a colorful plate in the workbook, draw the "dots" on a red strawberry, draw "raindrops" on a rainy day scene in the workbook. Several pages instruct the child to color in a white circle in the middle of a colorful object (i.e., a lemon, egg plant, green pepper, etc., Then the child will color in white squares on colorful objects. We have had fun with the workbook. And I'm hoping this practice book contributes postively to her penmanship and coloring.

As the old saying goes, it's better to light a candle than curse the darkness. A little cursing is actually OK, but all Lynne Truss does is sit on the ground and cuss, and she never does light any candles. This book is just endless complaining; there is hardly any actual guidance on punctuation. Moreover, even the American edition takes no notice of American usage, except to mention its existence in passing. Truss's book deals exclusively with the British rules, which are rather different from ours, so the book is worthless for Americans. Finally, she had the extremely poor taste to state that the worst thing (for her, apparently) about September 11 was the misuse of the word "enormity" in the media. (Apart from the moral horror of such a statement, the media did in fact use the word correctly in that context, for once.)

Frankly, I'm puzzled over the hype about this book. I have always been annoyed with mistakes in spelling, grammar, and punctuation. But even I had trouble making it through this book. Sure, there were interesting and funny sections. And I even cleared up a few punctuation rules that weren't clear to me before. However, there were parts I found downright boring. It seems like the average person cares less about punctuation than I do, so how did this get on the best-seller list? I am glad I read it, though, because I did learn something. It's also good to know there are people out there who care about punctuation even more than I do!

As 532 other reviewers have (by in large) said, Lynne Truss's book is a funny and enjoyable rant about proper punctuation. It's also remarkably poorly punctuated for a grammar book. In some passages, Truss uses a forest of commas that get in the reader's way; in others, she omits commas that the reader needs to understand her meaning -- and there's little rhyme or reason for why she goes from one extreme to the other. In one section, after stating that her goal is to get "the greatest clarity from punctuation," Truss writes: "There is a rumour that in parts of the Civil Service workers have been pragmatically instructed..." when she means (for clarity): "There is a rumour that in parts of the Civil Service, workers have been pragmatically instructed...." There are many, many other examples that will (or should) leave punctuation sticklers shaking their collective heads. That said -- and I feel much better now for saying it -- Truss's good advice and entertaining writing far outweigh her occasional bad usage, making this a grammar book worth buying.

I did like reading about grammar. I love grammar. I love punctuation and I love the English language. As a teacher, I found it entertaining and informative in non-structured way. However, I do not like it when a writer states something like a joke or a particular way of punctuating a sentence and then goes on to explain the whole thing, as though you are a bit daft and would not understand without her interpretation.

The book is a great idea but I began to skim the book about a third of the way through. You might as well...

Since 531 people have already reviewed Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation and a gozillian people have reacted with comments when they voted, I am being assertive by thinking I can add something. By the way, the other reviews are entertaining.

When I bought my book, I was glad to get it. I had heard an interview with Lynne Truss on television, and I knew I had to have this book. When I started reading it, I found it amusing; but to be honest, I found that it dragged a little at times. Then I listened to the audio, which is thoroughly entertaining. Something is lost when it is not possible to hear this book read with a British accent.

At first, I bristled a little because it seemed she was poking at us in the United States. Since I am from Mississippi -- considered the most illiterate place in this country but also the home of John Grisham, William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, and Margaret Walker -- I was thinking that the British people -- because they have William Wordsworth, Geoffery Chaucer, and William Shakespeare (none of these guys punctuate the way Ms. Truss does) and because they spoke our English first -- think they are smarter than we are, that they speak better, and that we never can talk or write right. I was relieved to find that she criticizes her own people. She astonished me by admitting that people on her side of the pond use commas for apostrophes sometimes. I have never seen that error.

She seems to consider young children in England the best informed group about punctuation and other matters of grammar. The dilemma as to whether we should obey rules or whether the rules should obey our usage is not solved in this book.

No matter what I thought, I found it entertaining, and I like to contemplate the use of language. To make this subject fun is a major achievement.

Get your hands on the audio, but buy the book as a reference. I hope you find this review helpful.

These are great educational books where children have no idea that they are learning.

My 4 year old son fell in love with the earlier books in this series - Hurricane, Ocean Floor, Electricity, Human body, Water Works, Bees. They are rich in detail, and are very engaging for young exploring minds. This one (MSB Kicks Up a Storm) pales by comparison. Not nearly as much detail. Lacks the quality of illustrations and side-commentary that make the earlier ones so special. This is a run-of-the-mill kids book with nothing much to distinguish it. I have read elsewhere that this series took a downturn when it became a TV show. It certainly reads like a comic-book version of a TV show. Take my son's advice - stick with the earlier books in the Magic School Bus series.

It's high summer at school and hot, hot, hot. Carlos is working on a rain catcher, but there's no rain. Ralphie stares out the window and concludes that what they all need to cool down is a big thunderstorm. The only problem is that the kids don't know how weather is made. Is it water? Is it moving air or the heat from the sun that creates weather?

Well, of course, there's nothing to be done about it but to get out there, take chances, get messy and make mistakes!

The children learn all about weather but not before they are turned into water droplets, ride on falling ice crystals and get whooshed about in a thermal updraft. Shicka-Shicka Kaboom! Ralphie gets carried away as your children will be.

Four Stars. These books are very educational, but they are not the easiest read-alouds. (I read them to my 3 and 5 year-olds anyway.)

**See the `Search Inside' Excerpt page for an example of reading level. Certainly young children will not be able to read them.

This book is an absolute necessity for anyone who is around children or, even moreso, a child at heart. The nursery rhymes of Mother Goose are classic and enduring, and this collection, with its vivid illustrations, bring to life so many familiar and wonderfully non-familiar poems.

What is to say about a classic? We have the origional I bought when my son was born 40 years ago this is for my newest grandson short, sweet readable stuff to make a baby giggle

This is the same edition my kids grew up with (real old fashioned, vivid color pictures), and we love it. I like to give it as a gift for baby showers to encourage young parents to making reading (and especially classics like this one)a priority in raising their little ones.

I couldn't find one around here but was very pleased to get a copy through your web site. It came in a timely manner also. Thank you, my grandson is studying the poems in school and will be very pleased to receive this for his birthday in April.

Reading aloud to children is important for language development and for adult-child interaction. This book is a excellent in that it is interesting to children, non-boring for adults, and can be used for a short or long read. This was a favorite of our now grown children and I was thrilled to be able to find the same edition to buy for their children. There are only a few rhymes on each page, and the colored illustrations are eye-catching and pleasing. I highly recommend this book!!

My 8 year old son spends hours reading this book. He's always finding something new to share with me regarding something in the book.

The book was a hardback, clean and in good condition. I recieved it before the promised date.

George's Pond: Created in the Beloved Tradition of Charlotte's Web

West's Time Machine

Being a children's writer and educator, I often recommend reading to my son and my students. This book mesmerized my students for hours. They kept quoting unusual things held within its pages. There were many amazing things on every page that allow the reader to come back latter and experience it all again. Its loads of fun for all who dare to turn the next page. Perfect for any age.

My son just loved this book. He was so happy to get it. I find him sitting with it all the time. The pictures are very vivid and the descriptions are easy for a child to read.

I got it for my friend's 10 years old daughter for Christmas, and right away my 2.5 and 6 years old kids got into this book and were amaized by the pictures and fun facts. I would recommend this book for any age, I guess.

We love being able to listen to Susan Wise Bauer's Story of the World: Modern History, whenever we're in the car. Jim Weiss reads so well - he uses different accents to make the story come alive and is very easy to listen to. My whole family can't wait for the next instalment when the CD player goes on in the car.

We are a homeschooling family. I Love this whole series! I have all of them on CD which is great because we take them in the van with us. You can listen to them over and over and really remember it that way. They are Told kind of like a story so it holds your interest. I have 5 kiddos and I find they all enjoy and learn from these. I am learning alot too :)

This is a light, easy-to-read small book summarizing the important ideas for young creative writers.

The author gives published examples of most of his creative writing recommendations. The book is short but was well worth the price of the paperback version ($5 retail).

Although the target seems to be young writers, I found many interesting quotes and passages to digest and underline.

And although I think of this book as a little 'lightweight' I keep going back to browse through it.

John Dunbar
Sugar Land, TX

Have you ever read a book that you hated so much that you never wanted to set eyes on it again? Well I have and I want to tell you a little about it so that you don't have to go through the misery of reading it, like what I had to go through. The book I am talking about is called Live Writing, the book was written by a man named Ralph Fletcher. It is about how to write inspiringly. The author uses something called a "tool box" to explain how to create great writing. The whole book is filled with tips and short stories that a writer should add into their "tool box". Though Ralph Fletcher did have a purpose in writing this book (to help children write well), he didn't make his point well, while writing the book. This book had no point at all in it, and is a big waste of time to read.

Live Writing doesn't exactly have characters in it except in the short story in the end, or you could include the quotes in and it that appear throughout the endless pages of waste. The author himself is the narrator of the whole book, so he is a character in himself. Throughout the book Fletcher mentions characters in his poems and people who had given him his inspiration for example Carolyn Coman he talks about her and her books and how she is one of his favorite writers, but otherwise there weren't many characters. The fact of there not being many characters, makes the book worse already.

While I was reading the book Live Writing I couldn't concentrate one bit on what I was reading, because of all the dullness that the book was filled with. Also while reading the book, I came to realize something else I didn't like about the book and that was the style in which it was written in. There was no variety in the writing and there was absolutely no suspense of a sort. In the book Ralph Fletcher try's to make writing fun but he doesn't succeed in doing that. If he made his book more fun and adventures then it would be an al together better book. Live Writing was and is the worst book I have ever read and this is why I would recommend it to no one in the world. This is also why you should never waste your time like I did just to read this terrible book.

The book Live Writing is a basic "toolbox" for young writers. It shows different methods on how to enhance your writing, by giving you tips on grammar, topics,organization, starting out, etc. It also is an ideas index for writers in progress. For example the author talks about how he was trying to write poems, but his baby kid wouldn't stop crying and screaming, so instead of getting frustrated and giving up he decided to write poems about his baby crying. He also gives various ideas on how to make writing more interesting or to "juice it up and give it electricity".

There are no characters in this book, only short poems and stories about various people showing his "more interesting" writing methods. They also have surveys on young writers about writing stories. For example, the author asked a fifth grader what the hardest part of writing a story is, and he said the beginning, so there is a chapter about how to write a beginning. Also, at the end there is a short story displaying all of the author's strategies on writing.

Live Writing is probably one of the worst books I have ever read. The language and verbs he used to try to make his book more interesting made it even more obvious that he was trying too hard at catching our attention. What I don't understand is why his intended audience was young adults, the writing seems like it was intended for 3 year olds. Even then at some level it must be a bore to read. Reading it was the worst experience, I don't know which made me fall asleep faster, the topics on chapters or the cheesy lingo. You can tell the author wanted to help young adults write better, but it didn't help me or my classmates. In short, this book was the worst book I've ever had to read.

I read excerpts of this book to my at-risk secondary students and they really enjoyed hearing about how to make their writing more full of life. It really brought the writing process to their level and helped them internalize the importance of writing.

Ralph Fletcher has written a trio of fantastic books for young writers. "A Writer's Notebook" is about gathering material; "How Writers Work" is about the process of writing; and "Live Writing" is about craft, or how to write well. Most importantly, these three books are written directly to kids, in a warm and personal rather than "textbook" manner. I don't know of any other author who writes books on writing for kids, and this genre is so needed! Plus all of Fletcher's books are very engaging and well-written.

Fletcher selects what he feels are the most important aspects of craft for this book. My notes on some of them follow:
Characters
· Characters are the most important part of a story.
· The plot should grow out of the characters, and not the other way around.
· Characters must first be born in your mind.
· Build characters from people you know.
· Give physical descriptions of your characters.
· Characters should be complex, containing both good and bad.
· Write letters to and from your characters, asking them questions!
Voice
· Best way to develop it is through your writer's notebook.
· Think of writing as chatting on paper.
· Always have a particular audience in mind.
· Be honest!
· Writing is trying to get readers to see something as you do.
Conflict
· Types of.
· Don't wait long to develop it.
· Don't solve it too quickly.
· Don't end a story too abruptly or predictably.
Time
· Writing time isn't the same as real time.
· Slow down "hot spots."
· Skip over unimportant time quickly.
· Narrow the time frame to key points.
· Flashbacks are usually needed; they represent memories, what makes a character tick.

I have used this textbook when I was taking the first two courses of Latin in my undergraduate career in college. I can fairly say that this textbook has greatly regaled me with my Latin studies with how the book has been structured with five sections. The five sections are as follows: Forms (the way words are spelled), Syntax (how words are used in sentences), Vocabulary (a list of vocabulary), Practice (exercises to put what you learned to a good use), and last but not least, Reading (where you have the chance to translate a short passage/story). This structure enables the reader/student to easily build on what they have learned. The Reading section is where reader/student can understand much of the Latin language of how to read/interpret and how to write in Latin. Latin is a heavy inflected language with 5 declensions and 4 conjugations. There are a lot of endings to internalize in your memory but fortunately, the book makes it a lot easier to understand the inflections by giving a lot of examples and how it is displayed in tables along with fonts and whatnot. If you have purchased a workbook along with this book such as this one First Year Latin Workbook, you will get the most out of Latin by being able to have access to a wide variety of exercises. I have read the new popular kind of Latin textbooks such as Wheelock's Latin Wheelock's Latin (Wheelock's Latin), but I don't like their format/structure as it is not as appealing as the Jenney's First Year Latin textbook with the fact that I am a visual learner. So with the reasons stated above, that's why I think you should purchase the book if you want to be able to enjoy learning Latin and be serious about it as well.

I used Jenney's revision of Smith and Thompson in high school. This newer version has different readings, an introduction to Virgil. I think it is the most organized approach. It cuts to the chase as it were. If we wanted to speak Latin, I would use a different approach, but we want to read. This seems to be the quickest route. I don't understand why it is so expensive.

This was the first Latin book I ever used back in highschool, and I contribute a huge part of my love for Latin to this book. The presentation actually made learning the language FUN, and I actually used to find myself flipping ahead just to read more.

There is a growing problem in the schools of our country. It is a problem which greatly concerns me, and unfortunately, one that I do not see being rectified in the foreseeable future (especially without the re-popularization of Jenney's First Year Latin). Fifty years ago this problem did not exist and was in fact inconceivable, but today it is commonplace. The problem of which I speak is the learning of Latin grammar in today's schools through inferior Latin grammar books (no need to name names, but let's just say that we have a certain British school to blame).

In the old days, Latin was taught in the proper manner. It involved a careful leaning process involving three easy steps: 1) Learn and master the grammar; 2) Read stories in order to become familiar with translation; and 3) Plunge into the exciting, actual texts of authors such as the legendary Virgil or the lovesick Catullus. In this way of learning, by the time the student gets to step three, he or she will have little trouble adjusting to ancient texts.

In recent years, for whatever the reason, student enthusiasm for Latin has waned. Because of this lack of interest, some grammar book writers have devised a new way in which to teach Latin grammar: a learn-as-you-go process. In this style, students do not even learn the basics of grammar, but start off right away "learning" to translate. These translation-first-oriented classes are thought to be stimulating to the students, making them more likely to continue to take Latin.

Allow me now to tell you the state of the new generation of Latin students sine Jenney. I can say confidently that the future is not looking bright. Students have lost the ability and (because of certain books) the need to tell the difference between a declension or conjugation, let alone the 1st principle part of an easy verb such as "voco". This, however, is just the beginning of the widespread lack of knowledge. Despite only learning to translate, many of the students' vocabularies are below average at best. Without the basics, it is easy to understand why they have no idea whatsoever about such constructions as indirect statements or purpose clauses. I fear that the sequence of tenses may soon vanish from the minds of all classicists. As a result of not knowing grammar, many students stop trying to translate the Latin and instead memorize the English translation - an act as immoral as cheating.

Jenney does not try to deceive (and distract) you with pretty illustrations or funny names. Jenney goes straight at you with declensions and conjugations (the building blocks of the successful mastering of Latin). The sentences (not unintelligent stories) are challenging and prepare you for the most complex Latin prose from Caesar to Cicero. Jenney's First Year Latin book contains all the fundamental and necessary constructions including indirect questions, indirect commands, fear clauses, and those ever elusive gerunds and gerundive (a few minutes with Jenney can solve just about any problem).

As one who is passionate about the Latin language, I would strongly suggest to all Classic teachers or eager learners of Latin to revert back to the traditional grammar intensive method of teaching by purchasing Jenney's First Year Latin. Even if fewer students flock to Latin, allow those that do the chance to learn and enjoy the language in the way in which it was meant. Please, on behalf of the almost unknown and quickly disappearing 5th declension, do not allow this new age education to persist. In the name of the past contrary to fact conditional sentence, buy this book. Latin may be dead, but let us at least keep its memory alive by not defiling its legacy with inadequate attention to the fundamentals. Jenney is the light and let's help it burn. To quote Catullus 1 lines 9-10, "quod, o patrona virgo, / plus uno maneat perenne saeclo."

I have taught beginning Latin from several texts--Ecce Romani, the Oxford Latin Course, the 1990 edition of Jenney's Latin featured here, as well as the older (1979 and earlier) editions of Jenney's Latin. I can say with all confidence and experience that the newer edition (1990) fails in many areas of instruction. In an attempt to modernize itself, the Jenney series lost much of what made earlier editions great, namely its clarity and focused, appropriately challenging readings.

In this 1990 edition, the readings have been changed and often lengthened--no doubt in an attempt to guise itself as a quasi-reading method text. Unfortunately, the new readings rarely adequately enforce the grammar taught in the unit, and offer instead syntactical oddities that only baffle and frustrate even the most earnest students. The book does a good job of including photos of real antiquities, but does so often without context and in excessive detail. As thrilling as it must be for for the average high school freshman to learn the difference between statumen, rudus, and pavimentum (p. 251), it might interest him/her more to spend more time on the cultural/historical context of Roman roads (i.e., their *application*). Such details about the roads' layers would be unknown to many non-specialist Ph.Ds. We wish to emphasize LEARNING, but we want also to emphasize the thematic application of knowledge--not merely the acquisition of facts without context.

Indeed, students might LEARN Latin better if presented with a concise, yet still challenging, version of the Aeneas story (as in earlier editions), gaining confidence as they reinforce their abilities to READ Latin and are introduced to cultural topics.

Again, I have used earlier editions (1979 and previous) of the Jenney text and found them to be much more enjoyable for both teacher and student. They are no less challenging, but leave off much of the junk that many who praise the 1990 edition frequently decry in other textbooks. I would wholeheartedly recommend looking at these versions if you are considering changing texts. Consider also Ecce Romani and Oxford Latin, which are not without fault, but whose approach is consistent with their philosophy.