I purchased this book last year for an essay course I taught at a Korean university. It's an incredible book and I wish the authors would make this a series. The stories deal with many topics and they're never dull. The book also provides excellent material for teaching grammar, which is essential for good writing.

The authors divide the stories into chapters that deal with certain themes. For example, the first chapter is named "A Life Lesson." All of the stories in that chapter have protagonists that learn something significant in the story.

Each story is presented with the same format:

Think Before You Read
Literary Term
Idioms and Expressions
Comprehension
Vocabulary
Grammar
Sharing Ideas
Writing

The grammar lessons are excellent, I found it very easy to cover the topics. Unlike other ESL materials, I rarely had to supplement the book with outside material. There is a wealth of material in each chapter and it makes a reading and writing course informative yet fun for the students.

I was impressed with their selection of writers. They chose stories from heavyweights like Ernest Hemingway and Langston Hughes, but they also have excellent stories from lesser known writers. They also show the diversity of the American experience by including stories by ethnic writers.

I would highly recommend this book as a text for a reading and writing course for ESL students at the university level or advanced high school students.

I am an ESL/HS English teacher and have used America Writes for two years now. The choices of stories is excellent, introducing English language students to classic authors such as, Hemingway, Langston Hughes,Hawthorne, and O. Henry (to name just a few). The prereading questions and vocabulary along with idioms and expressions help tremendously to prepare the reader for the selection. It's great being able to have my students read at the higher level of content that they are ready for emotionally and intellectually and still have their language needs addressed. I would love to see this be made into a series with more than the one edition!! I highly recommend it for teachers as well as students working on their own to broaden their reading in English!!!

I collect cookbooks of all kinds from glossy, gourmet hardcovers to local Junior League fundraiser cookbooks. This great book falls to the latter end of the spectrum and is a constant resource for straightforward recipes using ingredients you are likely to have on hand. The dishes, from appetizers to desserts, always work and afterwards people usually ask for the recipe for themselves. An American kitchen classic.

These are incredible recipes that have been in people's families forever. They all won blue ribbons at a state fair and are delicious and easy to prepare. The chili from New Mexico is my favorite. But also try the Macaroni and Cheese...it's to kill for. THEN, go for it with the New York Cheesecake!!! Really good down home cookin' like we like here in VA. Susan

This book is a great quick reference if you enjoy aromatherapy and wish to use it as an alternative medice to aid the aleviation of physical (and mental) ailments. It provides great overviews of the plants and their uses.

I have been practicing, teaching and selling aromatherapy for ten years. As such, I have many books on aromatherapy. This one is unique. I purchased AROMATHERAPY FOR COMMON AILMENTS for the full page, breath taking photographs of 13 essential oil plants. But - it is much more. Illnesses and ways to heal these illnesses with essential oils are discussed. Massage techniques are illustrated and explained. Safety guidelines are outlined. Recipes for blends are given. This is a good book for the beginning aromatherapist. It can also be useful to the more advanced person. Shirley Price is a professional, practicing aromatherapist. Her love and respect for the profession shines through-out this text. Highly recommend!

This book is about an aardvark who wants to see new places but when he actually gets there there are these weird creatures called pigs there.I will not tell you any more so I won't ruin it for you since there's a surprisingly intresting plot.However I will tell you this: get this book, you will not be dissapointed. The pictures are great too!

A beautifully illustrated and hilarious look at human nature and especially the nature of our prejudice against new and different ideas or people. This charming picture book makes its point as it entertains using endearing aardvarks and pigs to illustrate our human foibles. More effective than a million boring & didactic injunctions, this slim volume ranks with the Sneetches as a delightful way to encourage tolerance and open mindedness in the picture book set. I do hope the publisher will reprint it.

This book, along with Inside Out by Dan Kirby and Tom Liner, changed my teaching life. Using the ideas of these two authors, I have successfully taught high school, community college, and university students how to think and write for personal as well as academic audiences.

This book should be required for ALL teachers of writing.

Writing is a process. An exciting way to communicate thoughts and emotions. Just as we learn a spoken language through practice without judgement, so must we learn the written language. Beat Not The Poor Desk is a teaching tool based on that philosophy. It is a compilation of lessons and projects presented in sequence as a guide for teachers of English. Written with input from English teachers,it gives instructors a sequenced set of writing lessons that make it easy for students to get past the anxiety they may have about producing 'perfect prose'. It includes student models of lessons presented in the book that are interesting to read and study. In a step by step approach, writers are encouraged to stretch their skills and do the 'playing' necessary to get good at expressing themselves with the written word. The authors start with a series of lessons about fables, then moves on to lists, essays and stories. On a parallel track in the book, Ponst and Deen address the grammar, syntax and semantics of writing. Although the book was written for use as a guide for teachers of college writing courses, I found it of great help in teaching multi-age groups of children (ages 8 through 13), and for summer tutoring of high school remedial English students. Beat Not The Poor Desk is a well-written text for teachers of written English. I found it to be one of the best I have ever used, and one of the most versatile in its success with diverse student populations.

I agree with the excellent review already listed here, but I would like to add that the value of the book for a more casual reader (like myself) is having the opportunity to read the reactions to and observation of the plague by people who lived through this terrible period. The reality of their words heightened the reality of the period for me. It is true that some parts of the book were a bit too dense for me (some of the allusions went right over my head), but the rest of the book provides a wonderful insight into the minds and souls of real human beings who still have much to say to those of us living centuries later. Highly recommended--and not just for scholars.

From 1348 to 1350 Europe was devastated by an epidemic that left between one third and one half of the population dead. Using contemporary writings, this collection of sources traces the calamitous impact of the Black Death in Europe, with particular emphasis on its spread across England from 1348 to 1349. Rosemary Horrox surveys contemporary responses to the plague. The almost universal belief that the plague was an expression of divine anger at the sins of humankind did not preclude the attempts to explain the epidemic in scientific and medical terms or to look for human scapegoats. The sources which are included show some of the social and psychological impact of the plague, chronicle its effects on the late-medieval economy, and illustrate the fear that spread with the disease as well as the diverse ways that such terror influenced social behavior.

Part One focuses on narrative accounts of the plague in Continental Europe and in the British Isles. Part Two examines explanations and responses to the plague, including religious and scientific. Part Three deals with the extraordinary consequences of the plague, its impact and repercussions. Finally the text ends with excellent and up-to-date suggestions for further reading.

Dr. Horrox's text is the most extensive collection of relevant sources in translation and is an invaluable addition to the field. This book should be a part of the personal collection of every serious student of the Medieval period.

Five stars aren't enough for this wonderful book. Perfectly written, deeply moving, beautiful.

This is a fascinating book on several levels. First it is the story of a young girl, an only child born in 1920, growing up with middle-class parents, but in a fashion which combined the usual practices and mores of the time with the unusual. As she was crippled (her word) at the age of three, her mother insisted on bringing her up herself rather than delivering her to a nanny, and, due in part to her disabilities, and the long periods of treatment made necessary, she had little formal education. However, she discovered books at an early age, initially through being read to, and was a consummate observer of both people and landscape, particularly on a small scale - the play of light on a dagger blade, the petals of a flower. Second, it is story of the development of a writer, up to the time her first book was accepted for publication (what a pity she stopped there - I wanted her to go on!) Third, for me as the child of Service parents (father in the RAF) it is the best representation I have ever seen of the life of the Service child. Rosemary's father was a naval officer, and she, like me, absorbed unconsciously the traditional values and mores of the British Armed Services while moving every two or three years according to her father's postings. These values, which have a timelessness about them, in particular the reciprocal loyalties of officer to man and man to officer, the duty of an officer towards his men, come through very clearly in all her fiction. As with all her books, the descriptions are superb (she trained as a miniature painter. The fourth element, I suppose, relates to the disability and her acceptance of it, in an atmosphere very different from that of today. She says that her mother in particular sought as far as possible to bring her up as a normal child, and so she never really thought of herself as crippled, even though in practical terms she was quite badly disabled. I was lucky enough to correspond with her, and to meet her on one occasion before she died, and I was quite surprised to see how disabled she actually was - she was a person who was incredibly alive.

This is a wonderful story of the first Jacobite rising of 1689 against William of Orange, newly crowned King of England. John of Claverhouse (Bonnie Dundee) was a staunch supporter of King James, who was deposed in favor of William by parliament. The story is told from the perspective of Hugh Harriot, a young lad who soon becomes a devoted follower of Dundee. While intended as a children's or young adult book, this is a rich and detailed account suitable for any age group. Young readers might find it challenging, as the scots brogue of many of the characters is hard to follow at times. Nonetheless, this is a fascinating look at late 17th centruy Scotland and the origins of the Jackobite movement which would later see full fruition in the disasterous rising of 1745 under Bonnie Prince Charlie. John of Claverhouse who became Viscount Dundee by order of King James for his service against the disruptive religeous group known as the Covenenters, is an inspiring Scottish hero, a far greater man of honor and ability than either William Wallace or the rogue Rob Roy in the opinion of this reviewer. But in comparison to the other two he is little known. Dundee was an aristocrat who championed the cause of the Stewarts, and this may account for his being less known. His career was also tragically cut short at the famous battle of Killiecrankie in 1689 where Bonnie Dundee and his Highland army routed the government forces, but sacreficed his life in the process. With his death the Stewart cause was doomed in Scotland, and the rebellion was over almost as soon as it started. The reader will learn about these inspiring events through the eyes of the protagonist, Hugh, who is portrayed as one of Bonnie Dundees devoted followers. Sutcliff's research and skill of telling a story long forgotten are to be commended. This reviewer highly recommends this book either for sophisicated young readers, or adults who enjoy good historical fiction. You can see where the old famous scots tune "Bonnie Dundee" came from by reading this fine work.

Hugh Herriot was an orpan who lived with his grandfather. When he was twelve, he was given a job as a horse tender at a large house. There he first met John Claverhouse or Bonnie Dundee. Hugh is so inspired by this man, that he joins his army which eventually leads him to fight against his own family. On his journeys he meet many characters who shape his life and personality including a young gypsy girl, Darklis, who holds his heart.

Do you like fast fascinating reads?, then you will like By Heart. I read it so fast and normally i'm a slow reader. A great documentary well written!

I suppose this is mainly of interest to those who have read "By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept" which is autobiographical but incoherent. This biography of Elizabeth Smart explains what really happened.
There is lot more to it than that. The insights into Canadian-British-American relationships are illuminating. The British literary scene comes across as the least inhibited and most tolerant of the three. The book has those snide cutting anti-Canadian jibes that Canadian writers do so well. The account of Soho in the fifties is fascinating and the account of Edmonton in the seventies is devastating.
Elizabeth Smart and George Barker and his wives went on to have close and warm relationships into their old age. In a way it's a happy ending to "By Grand Central Station" although there were further tragedies. The paracetemol that killed her daughter Rose (it produces hepatic necrosis when combined with alcohol) is known as acetominophen (Tylenol) in America.
Robert Fraser has written a biography of George Barker.

I took this book out of the library because I do costuming, but I didn't think it would be that good- now I want my own copy. Even though it contains theatre oriented advice on making realistic looking armor without breaking your budget, aging fabric, padding out your actors properly, etc., it also contains basic helpful advice for anyone who sews about the fabrics you use, how to solve problems when things don't fit right, picking the right sized dart, and more. I definitely recommend it.

After being in a small costume shop for five years, i wish i had discovered this sooner! This book gives realistic solutions for common problems!