This wonderful book of elementary school life poems was a recommended summer reading for my 5th grader. I thank the one who recommended it. She loves it. I recommend it for all ages...I love it too and I'm a few decades past the 5th grade. Get this one for your child and he/she will thank you with their pleasure of the book and their reading to you.

This book, so acurately subtitled "Poems About School," is a hit with students and teachers alike. Ms Dakos takes everyday elementary school situations and problems, and -- through her poetry-- manages to pinpoint the goings on in every classroom in America using humor and sensitivity. The student with the messiest desk, the boy who cries at the drop of a hat, the new kid who hates math, the child who comes to class with more alibis than homework assignments, the children who just can't follow the rules, are all members of the class in Ms Dakos' first book, "If You're Not Here, Please Raise Your Hand-- Poems About School." This is truly a "class" anthology!

Just in time for Valentine's Day comes the timeless gift of Ovid's handbook on love. The ways of man and maid have not changed in the intervening two millennia, and Guy Lee makes that clear with this light, witty, and appropriately naughty version of these love poems. And his loyalty to the original Latin is beyond reproach. As the translator of Ovid's Heroides (Dutton, 1972), I can attest to the difficulty of the task, but Lee carries it off without apparent effort. The illustrations add a vivacious charm and remind the reader that these poems are classics in both the popular and the traditional sense of the term. If you haven't time to brush up your Latin, or you never had any, this book is the answer!

If your concern is to pass the PMP exam, as quickly and easily as possible, this is an excellent book. I've spent over a decade as a PM and had just come off a 4.5yr contract. I also spent two years teaching principals of Project Management in the professional certification program at Columbia using the PMBOK as the basis of my curriculum. I was comfortable with my understanding of the basic methodology and the knowledge areas.

My goal was to pass the PMP with the least amount of hassle. I didn't want to learn more about project management, additional theories or examples of excellent new approaches to the different knowledge areas, at least not as part of this process. I didn't want to spend the next six months attending a study group. I wanted to know the mindset of the PMI test developers. I wanted to know their prejudices and attitudes and how these very subjective positions were expressed through the answers they expected and the questions they designed. And since these attitudes and positions tend to change with time, I needed to know what was current right now.

For instance, I tend to solicit team feedback concerning major policy decisions. For the most part PMI doesn't consider that the team should be consulted outside of the estimation exercises. Just knowing this fact allowed me to correctly answer a number of questions on the exam. The issue here is not what approach is best or to debate the question. The issue is what is PMI's position and how does it show up in the test. This is the type of information "The PMP Exam: How to Pass on Your First Try" provided along with the foundation concepts of the PMI methodology.

The book provides the material in an efficient, easy to understand presentation. In addition the book's graphics and memorization aids are both attractive and effective. More importantly they are organized by knowledge area. I read the book in the context of the class Andy teaches. I took a sample PMP test at the beginning of the class and scored in the 50 percentile. When I took the official exam a short time after the class, I scored 81%. The class is great but the book contains the class material and stands on its own.

I DID PASS the PMP Exam on my FIRST attempt, and the success is all attributable to what I learned from studying Andy Crowe's book. The presentation of PMI's perspective and philosophy is invaluable even to the most experienced project manager seeking the PMP certification. The techniques of memory association and organization of the topics provided a confidence in my preparation for the exam. I began my study for the PMP in April, 2003; I also passed the exam in April, 2003. The many weeks of study about which you typically hear were not necessary to pass the exam. I have also found that the presentation of the PMI methodology was more beneficial to me than just excellent preparation for the exam; I have already utilized my new knowledge and understanding to improve my job performance and long-term career potential.

This valuable guide is worth its weight in gold! This was the only reference I used to study for the PMP exam and like the title says, I passed it on my first try in March 2003 - by a wide margin I might add.

The book reads as if the author were right by your side guiding you through the critical information needed to pass the exam. Instead of simply presenting a large volume of information as other reference guides do, Andy Crowe has ranked and rated all of the information he presents. He has organized the book in such a logical format that not only did I pass the PMP exam, but I really understand PMI's processes and why PMI does things the way they do. That's the real purpose of the PMP certification in the first place, right.

I can't recommend this book enough. If you are interested in passing the PMP the first time and shaving months off your study time, (who isn't) you have to read this book.