The Collins First Aid book is tiny enough that you can actually have it around for an emergency. I put one in the car, one in the backpack that I carry around with my toddler, and one at home by the phone. Its diminutive size means that a woman can easily keep it in a purse, or a man in a larger organizer.

Pay particular attention to "Releve", the story contributed by Patricia Wallace and her daughter. This story introduces us to Sydney Bryant, the private eye that Pat Wallace has featured in a terrific series for adults. The titles in the series include "Deadly Devotion" and "Blood Lies".

Other outstanding stories include those by Wendy Hornsby, Scott Turow, Stuart Kaminsky, and Sharyn McCrumb (and their collaborators). This is a book that parents can read and enjoy with their children. It might inspire them to collaborate on some mystery stories of their own!

I look forward to reading the companion volume, "Great Writers and Kids Write Spooky Stories". I

"When you think of a mystery, what comes to mind? A dark secret? An unsolved crime? A curious detective hunting for clues?"

The only mystery, the only secret, the only crime is how this anthology could be so easily overlooked. "Great Writers and Kids Write Mystery Stories" (1996) is a collection of stories written by some of today's greatest mystery authors in collaboration with their children and grandchildren. Jonathan Kellerman, Sharyn McCrumb, and Scott Turow are three of the thirteen award-winning writers that create wonderous whodunits with their offspring, ages 6 to adult.

While written at about the junior high/ middle school level, this complilation is enjoyable to all. The stories are five to several pages. Some are written with the child as the amateur detective, some are written as a type of psychological thriller.

The introduction serves as a "mini-lesson" on mystery writing. And, each story features a short personal introduction by the adult and child writing team on what it was like to collaborate on their included story. Other contributors include Barbara D'Amato, Ed Gorman, Stuart Kaminsky, Elizabeth Engstrom, and many others.

This book has the unique ability to be educational as well as entertaining. Those that enjoy this book may also enjoy the first volume as well: "Great Writers and Kids Write Spooky Stories" (1995).

Also many photos of recommended and available products, to help you in most situations of need. I found this book to be a valuable reference book of knowledge and a great aid to me, before and once my puppy arrived.

Great reading

My next complaint is that the meanings are sometimes inaccurate. For example: the second connotation of the word "appreciation" is "gratefulness" and the onlyFrench word they supply is "reconnaissance." The sense "like, admire" is not addressed at all. There are many examples like this and I am not really sure to what it can be attributed but I can't imagine it would be a good resource for college students if it doesn't work for a writer.

This is my experience and I would love to hear an American provide some tips because I bought 2 versions of this brand!

The Robert French dictionary is not allowed in Catholic schools, and there is a good reason for this: all the words that make the French language are in there, including the slang words that are so capital in this language (you usually meet at least one slang word per sentence in spoken French) and, of course, the dirty ones, so that you know them and can avoid using them ;)

Collins did the same job in Britain and, of course, these two people had to meet one day and decide to give their own two centimes and pennies on how to improve the Entente Cordiale, linguistically, of course.

If you had to buy only one French dictionary, make it monolingual or bilingual, I would recommend the Robert, or the Robert & Collins dictionary.