This is a FANTASTIC book, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who has a defiant or easily frustrated child. Just the beginning of the book alone was really helpful to me – the author believes that most children with the sorts of issues he describes in this book (ADD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, etc.) really are motivated to do well (in other words, it’s not just more discipline that is needed), and that they do well if they have the ability. If they are misbehaving, it’s likely because they don’t have the developmental skills to do any differently.

Then, the author gives some strategies for making the child’s environment “User-friendlier,” to reduce the number of tantrums and other sorts of episodes, mostly through what is basically well-defined “choose your battles” system. I loved this book. 10/10.

A lovely tale with good illustrations. I enjoyed this book, and my son said he wants to read it again, which is usually a good sign. 8/10

A beautifully-illustrated book of retellings of Egyptian myths. Very well done. 9/10

An interesting book to read, and definitely worth reading, although (strangely enough), I’m not sure I really “liked” it. The writing is beautifully crafted, and the characters are well-developed. Trouble is, almost none of them are actually likeable (this, for me, is usually a big stumbling block for me in terms of enjoying a novel. If there’s no one I can like, I’m usually not very happy). Somehow I managed to get through this, though – as one earlier reviewer said, the author shows both great contempt and great tenderness for his characters. That’s it exactly. I’ll give this one 7/10.

Nice children’s book on the pyramids, mostly Egyptian ones.

Watched this a few nights ago, on recommendation from several people. I enjoyed this film – the premise was interesting (and rather terrifying, actually), and I did enjoy watching the story unfold. At times, though, I thought it moved a bit slow, and I didn’t really “get” the love story – not a lot of chemistry there, IMO. But, on the whole, it was a good film. I probably won’t watch it again, but I’m glad to have seen it.

I really enjoyed this book. The mystery was interesting, and I enjoyed learning a bit about Dante and his “Inferno” as the members of the Dante Club discussed the various cantos. Plus, I felt the author did a wonderful job of bringing the time period to life, as well as giving real voices to the historical characters. I particularly enjoyed Longfellow and Holmes. A very well-done and enjoyable book. 9/10

This was a fantastic book, and fit in perfectly with our current study of Mesopotamia. The information was interesting and beautifully presented both through illustrations and photographs of artifacts. There were all sorts of interesting little facts, in addition to the general information presented. The book also includes several website URLs where additional information can be found. There’s a timeline at the end, as well as a glossary of some of the more unusual words used in the text. It covered exactly what I was hoping it would cover, and my son really enjoyed it. When we were half-way through, I asked him if he wanted to take a break and finish reading it later, but he wanted to keep going! That’s always a good sign. 10/10

I feel sort of bad giving this book a low rating, since there really wasn’t anything bad about it. It’s just that neither I, nor my son, enjoyed reading it. It was dry in the way it presented the information, and I was surprised at some of the things that weren’t included in the text. We ended up skipping parts of it, and barely got to the end. Definitely not an engaging book for someone my son’s age (8). Or someone my age, either, for that matter. 6/10

This is a book which helps you identify the learning styles of your child in several different areas. There is an extensive survey to fill out, which I did for my son and myself, and the results were very interesting. I didn’t read the entire book, though – I think I’ll probably want to buy my own copy (this one had been checked out of the library), so that I can use it for reference, rather than just reading through one time and trying to remember all the great strategies for working with your child’s (and your own) strengths.