This elegant hardcover book with gold-embossed wreath is agreat gift. Its line-engravings, over 25 of them, make it a classiccollectibles. My family created our own Christmas Carol dinner using the book. Dinners and feasts based on the book are staged nationwide at historic hotels and as a part of Gerald Charles Dickens' American Holiday Tour. The book was written by his mother and father, past president of Dickens world-wide Fellowship.

This book, "Closing the Achievement Gap: How to Reach Limited-Formal-Schooling and Long Term English Learners", is an excellent resource for teachers of older English learners with limited formal schooling or English learners with more conversational than academic fluency. Yvonne S. Freeman and David E. Freeman, professors at the Graduate School at Fresno Pacific University, describe in detail these two types of students and provide four main ideas to help teachers meet the academic needs of these struggling students. The Freemans' also cite research on effective teaching practices and describe three teachers working with these particular students in a multi-grade, a middle, and a high school classroom. All three teachers are successfully implementing research proven theories in their classroom practices to help close the achievement gap.
Overall, the Freemans' did a good job in examining each point thoroughly. The format was concise, comprehensible, and the strategies described can easily be used with my Newcomer students. I thought it was a good idea to present three different perspectives of teachers working with a range of age groups. It demonstrated that the theories and strategies presented can be effective across grade levels.
I recommend that school administrators and professors of teaching candidates also read the book for the strategies presented and for the valuable research on second language acquisition. The academic gap of struggling English learners will only continue to widen if educators and administrators do not become more knowledgeable in this area.

This book's simple rhythm and beautiful illustrations of barnyard characters make this one of my son's favorites(age 23 months). The brightly colored pictures of animals with large text make this book eye-catching and appealing to the very young.

An excellent dictionary. It gives English, American and Australian meanings of
words. Although Amazon lists it as out of print and difficult to find, it is available
directly from the publishers - COBUILD in Birmingham, UK. Check out their web page.(Beware the shipping costs though!)

This is a reply to another post. Do you really think that Euripedes is arguing that Antigone is right? Sure, her brother was dishonored and should have been buried, but doesn't she have a martyr complex? I think so because, she does everything so publicly then brags about it. She seems to want to speak out against authority more than do justice... This play does an excellent job proving that women can at least be as powerful and influential as men. Anyway, Antigone is Sophocles. This is Euripedes and Medea is better. Medea is very similar to Antigone...

"Ajax" is probably the earliest extant play of Sophocles. Sophocles is the earliest known playwright to use painted scenery. He also decreased the importance of the chorus, added a third actor, and abandoned the trilogy format (each play is complete by itself). Ajax is the classical Greek tragedy about the downfall of a man who is sinned against and has a tragic flaw; in this case, insolence and pride. Ajax becomes enraged when Achilles' armor is awarded to Odysseus instead of to him. Agamemnon and Menelaus also exhibit insolence when they refuse to bury Ajax after his suicide. But, Odysseus changes their minds. This play is probably the earliest known example of a play containing a scene of violence on the stage instead of offstage. In "The Women of Trachis," considered my many critics to be the poorest of the seven extant plays of Sophocles, the wife of Heracles, Deianira, unknowingly sends a poisoned robe to her husband who has finally completed his labors. She is also concerned that she has allowed a rival for the affections of her husband to enter her household. Hercules has sent the captive Iole to Deianira. As Hercules lies dying, he orders his son Hyllus to marry Iole. Does Hercules truly love Iole? Even when dying, he is concerned for her future. In "Electra," the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra awaits the return of her brother Orestes so that he can avenge the murder of their father. I think that many scholars have tended to misread this play. It is a play about Electra, not about Orestes or Clytemnestra or Aegisthus. And, it is a tragedy. Should one allow hatred to rule their own lives to such an extent as seen in Electra, even when one is in the right? Finally, "Philoctetes," a member of a group of plays that won first prize in Athens, is concerned with a man who has been left marooned on an island several years earlier (because of his disease) under orders of Agamemnon and Menelaus. But, the two kings later discover that Troy cannot be conquered without Philoctetes and his bow, a bow given to him by Heracles. Odysseus and Neoptolemus (the son of the late Achilles) arrive at the island to persuade or trick Philoctetes to return with them. Neoptolemus wants to be noble in his actions; yet, his commander, Odysseus, wants to use guile. At the end, a deus-ex-machina device is used to resolve the conflict. All four plays should be required reading for any educated person.

The Earl of Rochester lived a life worthy of Tom Jones. He was indeed a deabauched libertine, slightly less worthy of censure than the Marquis de Sade. Yet he was something that De Sade was not, a great wit. Though nowhere near the range or genius of Pope or Swift, he nevertheless compiled a great body of satirical poetry in the Juvenalian tradition. His "Satyre Against Mankind," Like Swift's Houyhnhnms chapters, present human beings in their true place in nature, despite all the panegyrics and biblical references placing us at the top of the chain. If you are lover of satire, as I am, and don't mind observations that place us amongst the lower orders rather than atop some Parnassian peak, give this volume a try.

I've read several books on Arthurian literature, and this is one of my favorites. In Knight of the Cart, Chretien really makes Lancelot shine as he sacrifices more than anyone (Arthur particularly) to save Guinevere. Knight with the Lion is a little on the twisted side as Yvain falls in love with the wife of the man he kills, breaks a promise with her, then gets her back through trickery of words.

Very solid, very readable translation by Staines.

John Keats (5934-0, $19.95) adds to the research guides in the 'Major Poets' series, blending a biography with extracts of major critical essays examining the poet's works. New to the Major Short Story Writers series ($19.95 each) is D. H. Lawrence (5947-2) and Henry James (5943-X), which use similar approaches to examine the major themes and ideas of each writer. All are recommended as basic library acquisitions.

This is a wonderful introduction to Lawrence - the author writes with an astonishing originality and authority. It made me want to return to the original text and begin re-reading Lawrence all over again.