This is a very concise, yet thorough look at our language. It starts with the history of languages, the percentage of the world population that speak the most common languages, a diagram of Indo-European languages and which one evolved from what. It defines terms like "semantics", "phonetics", "phonemics", "phonics", "morphemics", etc. It gives nine different alphabets, including sign language, smoke signals and morse code. It gives examples of Hebrew and Japanese. There are some very informative drawings of the mouth, and how sounds are made.

And that's just the first 15 pages.

If you want to know what the "CAT" in CAT scan stands for, or why we write "please R.S.V.P." on party invitations, you can find the answers here.

This book is very nicely laid out, easy to read and aesthetic, with nice pictures and lots of color. There is just tons of information in this book, but it's not weighty or difficult to understand. Unlike a typical textbook, one piece can be understood at a time - one doesn't need to start from the beginning and read all the way through it.

I knew this book would be useful for my kids, but when I read the page that completely - and simply - defined "past perfect tense", "present perfect tense" and "future perfect tense", I was sold. I immediately called my friend who is the head teacher at a K-12 school, and told her she needed to get this book! (Turns out she already has it, and uses it all the time with her students.)

I can't say enough good things about this book!

As a home schooler I continually search for quality books at an affordable price. This book was an excellent find. The amount of information included here is exceptional. One look at the table of contents, I was sold. It covers topics from the history of language and alphabets to creative writing and reading literature, and of course, all the basics are here too. Each section is color coded for quick and easy reference. "Everything You Need To Know About English" makes English easy and understandable. This little book is not just a great value for the home schooling household, but should be in every home with school aged children or where anyone may need a well prepared English reference book.

This book, like the others in the series, is full of bright pictures, diagrams and charts.

The chapters are:

What's Life All About? (with an easy to understand description of the various plant and animal kingdoms)

The Animal Kingdom

The Plant Kingdom

Ecology and the Landscapes of Life

Planet Earth

Outer Space

The Physical World

The basic concepts are simply explained, with helpful graphics, so it is very easy to understand.

From the history of plants on earth to the effects of erosion on the earth and oceans, to the table of elements and the laws of motion, every concept is easy to grasp.

This is a wonderful book, and my kids really enjoy it.

Highly recommended for children from 2nd through 8th grade. (Although the book says 4 - 6 grades.)

I am an educator, and in my opinion, this book is an excellent, entertaining resource chockful of scientific information. It covers topics in biology, earth science, chemistry and even physics. The color, interesting illustrations are well done and informative.

This book is structured like that of a devontional type with one to one-half page explanation and what to do about a sympton of ADD that the authors have encountered in their lives. This book has helped me become comfortable with having ADD and has given me many good ideas and guidelines on how to make my symptons work with me not against me. I highly recommend this book to anyone with any form of ADD.

Parenting books can be so boring, but Kate Kelly has organized an informative, fun way to help parents figure out and live in peace with their teenagers! Wish I had this book when my first child was a teen-but I'll get my money's worth because I have a soon to be teenager who makes me feel like a "complete idiot" sometimes! Thanks, Kate, you've made me a new parent!

This book deserves an A+! It's a well organized text that clearly explains Geography. Geography can be a difficult subject for the young students, but Scholastic's use of colorful graphics and understandable language make the subject reachable! As a home schooler, books are very important in our house and this book will be well used.

This book, though it is suggested reading for 4th to 6th graders, was helpful to me. Not only am I an adult, I am in the process of getting certified to teach high school social studies. It provided me the essentials that I must cover for any class (other than at the college level). The page layout is excellent; the variety in print type and color as well as maps and pictures made it a"fun" reading and learning experience. I highly recommend it for students, parents and social studies teachers.

As a person who advises students and clients on how to start and operate a business from home, I am always looking for books and other resources for them to use. Kate Kelly's book on setting fees is the only book I recommend on this subject because it is written in a way that makes you feel she is talking just to you. Ms. Kelly covers all the practical considerations for setting your fees whether for a service- or a product-based business and makes you believe you can get the fees you set for yourself/your business. I highly recommend this book even, and maybe especially, if you are already in business and have a fee schedule. You will either have affirmation that you are in the right ballpark or find you are out in left field somewhere with your pricing.

This book gives parents tons of activities to help enrich the skills their child is learning in Kindergarten. All activities are practical and easy to do. Directions are written to the child with pages of parent notes that explain the skills that will be used.

This book was an excellent book on the most effective use of time. Since I tend to procrastinate so easily, this book helped me to focus on the tasks at hand. The author,gives great insight into what one needs to get control of our time and therefore have time for those all important things in our lives.

If you want to find out how you can never have to go to the gym again, read this book. It's a great "how-to" about incorporating what you do anyway all day long into activities that burn calories! You will feel stronger almost right away. Stop being a slave to the treadmill and step classes. Read this book with its useful tools for improving your overall well-being.