The Read-Aloud Handbook: Sixth Edition Review

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(More customer reviews)The best thing you can give your child is the love of reading. Being a good reader will not only help your child in school, but your child will have a lifetime's worth of learning nad pleasure ahead of him!
My own children are in their late teens and early 20's and I was fortunate enough to hear Jim Trelease speak at a public library many years ago, probably soon after the first edition of The Read Aloud Handbook came out. We started reading to our oldest child when she was 4 months old and as the others came along, they were read to from birth since we were reading to the older one(s).
This book is incredibly inspiring - Jim gives so many great suggestions on what books to read to your kids, and how to interest kids who may be reluctant to enter into reading themselves.
Just the list of books alone would be worth the price of this book! I know that we wouldn't have known about some of the books we read to our kids without Jim's book.
Jim Trelease also covers the issue of TELEVISION in his book. He gives very convincing reasons for turning OFF the TV and reading instead. I had already made the decision for our family that we weren't going to allow the children to watch endless hours of TV (even though all they watched was Sesame Street and Mister Rogers!), but Jim's book confirmed my decision.
My kids all enjoy reading - and my husband and I have always been readers. For me, the book was just confirming what I already knew - and it gave me so many good titles to find at the library! I remember reading "Stone Fox" to our girls and what a great experience that book was.
Public libraries are a wonderful resource, but they don't take the place of having a child OWN some books of his own. Tell family members to buy your children books for Christmas and birthday gifts. When you can, buy hardcover as they will last a lot longer. Look up some of the books Trelease recommends here on Amazon - you can read reviews and make some good choices.
Children today are TOO BUSY - most kids have more activities than anyone could possibly handle and still have time to stop and just be! 10-15 years ago, kids would play a sport, or play an instrument, take dance lessons, or be in Scouts. They might do two of these things. But I know kids who do them ALL, plus more things I haven't mentioned. And one of the things that gets cut out with all the busy-ness is READING. Meals together as a family fall by the wayside and kids and parents are so exhausted from running around with all the activities that they don't read books and the parents are too tired to read to them.
If you have young children, please consider fighting this pressure to sign your child up for every available activity. Take time to enjoy your family - the kids grow up much too fast!
And give your kids the gift of reading - buy a copy of this marvelous book, consult it often, and you'll enjoy a richness of family life that your kids will remember forever!

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Harry Potter Literature Guide: Goblet of Fire Review

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(More customer reviews)I have actually read, well used, this book and others in this series. Since I am not a school teacher, my perspective is as a parent of a bright 7 year old who absolutely adores the Harry Potter books.
This series of guides is meant to serve as a resource for classroom teachers. The Harry Potter books are the basis for activties in a wide range of subject areas. Even though these are deisgned as teacher resource guides, they are wonderful for family use as well.
I bought this book on a whim during a midday stop on a long car trip. It looked like a way to keep my daughter occupied for hours, and I was right. The book is full of insightful questions about Goblet of Fire, its themes and the larger issues outside the book.
We treated it almost as a trivia game, for example we whiled away the better part of 200 miles by discusssing all the different kinds of wizard snacks we could remember from the various books, what kinds of souveneirs we might sell at the Quidditch World Cup, and more substantial questions about their behavior and attitudes of the characters. My 7 year old surprised me with the depth of her understanding of the behaviour and motivation of Malfoy. My wife and I had almost as much fun as the 7 year old.
There is much meat here. So much so, that one of these guides often goes with us on long car trips. We have bought extra copies to give as presents. I highly recommend this series to parents who want to wring even more educational value out of the Harry Potter books.
Even though I am not a teacher, I can see how these would be useful in the classroom. The suggested activities seem appropriate for a wide range of ages and subject areas. All in all, I highly recommend them. Just keep in mind, these guides are not meant for reading -- to get real value from them you will want to use them as the basis for your own games and discussions with your kids.
These guides will work best if used during or relatively shortly after reading the book. Kids who remember detail well will get the most out of the activities. For kids who don't retain detail well, it would probably be better to use these guides while reading the Harry Potter books.
I highly recommend this series of guide books to parents. Teachers shoild find real value here too.

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Repotting Harry Potter: A Professor's Book-by-Book Guide for the Serious Re-Reader Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is an interesting exploration of the Potter series. I loved Prof. Thomas' introduction, and his comparison of Rowling's writing to Lewis' and Tolkien's was one of my favorite parts.
I must urge anyone who gets this book to be finished with the series, and you may be thinking "doesn't the title imply that?" Well, yes, it does. Unfortunately, the inroduction implies that first-time readers could use the book, and I believe it would be too spoiler heavy to do so.
Thomas' focus doesn't seem to be on the larger themes of the Potter series (though at the end, I'm sure they will have come through); this is in comparison to, say, John Granger's work or Travis Prinzi's. His focus is more like Connie Neal's: where she focuses on Christian imagery in the series, he ABSOLUTELY focuses on punning, foreshadowing and other literary elements. He points out Rowling's amazing ability as a wordsmith.
The book is a little tedious, because again, you're going book... by... book... and that can be exhausting (as the Potter series itself is), but it's worth the wait. Like the Potter series, each chapter builds on the previous, and the book gets better as you go along.
I urge you to read this book if you want more Potter analysis and if you've completed reading the stories. It's a delight.

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A professor of literature for over thirty years, Dr. James W. Thomas takes us on a tour through the Potter books in order to enjoy them in different ways upon subsequent readings. Re-readers will be pleasantly surprised at what they may have missed in the books and at what secrets Rowling has hidden for us to uncover as we revisit these stories. The professor's informal and often lighthearted discussions focus on puns, humor, foreshadowing, literary allusions, narrative techniques, and other aspects of the Potter books that are hard-to-see on the hurried first or fifth reading. Dr. Thomas's brilliant but light touch proves that a "serious" reading of literature can be fun. -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. [recommedation]-.- "What do you read after HARRY POTTER? Finally, there's a satisfying answer - you read REPOTTING HARRY POTTER for a whole new depth of appreciation and enjoyment. This book allows anyone intimidated by literature classes to sneak a seat in a class with one of those professors every student loves. You'll come away with a new depth of knowledge of Rowling's epic but also with a list of related literature you will want to read; great insights for aspiring writers too." ~ Connie Neal, author of THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO HARRY POTTER

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Harry Potter y las reliquias de la muerte (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Spanish Edition) Review

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(More customer reviews)El final de la saga Harry Potter, de verdad muy bueno el libro, lo lei en menos de una semana. Entre los puntos positivos el mas destacable: Al fin se devela el misterio Severus Snape (sorprendente!!!!!!!!!), asimismo tiene poco desperdicio, es decir, poco material de relleno como ocurria en ediciones anteriore. La despedida de los Dursley es bien llevada, sin mucho detalle insignificante, muy al grano. Otro punto curioso del libro es que nombra a casi todos los personajes de los anteores, si la memoria no me falla tan solo Gildroy Lockhart, Mirtle La LLorona y Madame Maxime son los no nombrados. Si bien es cierto a muchos de ellos era para tan solo decir: alli estaba Cho sentada.
Tiene sus puntos negativos, entre ellos: demasiadas muertes,algunas innecesarias y sin sentido a la trama. Existe una laguna con Dolores Umbridge, ya que en el sexto libro estaba en San Mugo y en este libro aparece con un alto cargo en el ministerio de magia!!!!!!!! como se recupero???, no menciona nada al respecto. Tambien recuerda al señor de los anillos en uno de sus pasajes cuando habla de que el cargar un Horrocrux en el cuello le producia una sensacion de pesades, desanimo y mal genio a quien lo portara (Ron, Harry y Hermione), lo cual por lo menos a mi me parecio chocante.
Como comentario final, el lirbo tiene un epilogo (no se titula asi), pero deja un buen sabor de boca y sobre todo el penultimo parrafo no deja de sorprenderte.


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