Great concept book as well as basic reading vocabulary
934700
A must read for preschool through first grade.  Great concept book as well as basic reading vocabulary.
1931908
I received a copy of this book to review on my blog and was impressed enough I decided to review it here too! I think it's a really great book for introducing soccer vocabulary and concepts to toddlers and preschoolers. My 2 year old mostly liked the pictures and finding the soccer ball in each, while my 5 year old wanted to know more details about the things pictured like a corner kick or header and liked learning how to spell soccer words he'd heard but didn't know how to write. It covers basic gear like cleats and shin guards, people like a team, coach, ref, and goalie, and concepts like goal, yellow card, header, kick, pass, save, and more. It'd be a fun gift for soccer lovers in the under 4 crowd, or as a shower present for pregnant soccer  aficionados!
4945970
This book is great for someone who is trying to prepare for any test involving word knowledge or just reading in general. I really appreciate this book because it not only gives you the prefix words and their meaning but it gives different genres of words and where they originate from. Definitely looking forward to expanding my vocabulary even more with the help of this book
2055843
My 5 year old loves this book! Great for keeping up basic concepts.
4575864
Great book that teaches the beginning concepts of opposites.
2275035
I'd like to call this children's book 'a concept book'. The author uses only few words, quantity words like 'nothing','few','several', 'lots', 'plenty', 'enough', 'less' to tell the whole story. The best is a massage to reader, having a lot stuff will not make you happy, but having nice friendship will.

This book is easy enough to read with 2 years old kids but also mature to read with 6 year old kids,too. However, reading with big children, I have to add more words by myself. Not the big problem.
991248
I'm a big fan of the Mandarin Companion graded readers. The stories - like this Great Expectations adaptation - are familiar enough that I already have a bit of context before I open the book but the authors have done a good job of adding a "Chinese twist" to keep it fresh.

While the Mandarin Companion level two seems to be aimed at advanced beginner/intermediate Chinese learners, even as an advanced student I enjoyed the easy read. It improves my confidence (I'm used to reading news articles where I'm guessing at a number of words and phrases) and introduces grammar concepts in a simple way.

Silly as this sounds, I also like the illustrations scattered throughout the book.

Overall, if you're anything beyond a beginner Chinese learner, you'll enjoy this relatively short read.
264598
This book is one of the best reading comprehension skills book I've found. I used general principles from Jim Treleases's Read Aloud Handbook (read aloud often and discuss everything) to improve my son's general reading comprehension, but I felt that he needed specific instruction on the types of questions he might encounter on standardized tests.

While I generally love Evan-Moor products, this book is better than their "Read and Understand" series and far superior to the Spectrum workbooks I've picked up.

This book presents reading comprehension as a game - my son becomes a "Reading Detective", looking for the specific clues in the readings that will provide the answer to higher level questions. Kids are required to specify the sentences that provide the clues in addition to providing the answer. I like how this gets my son engaged in meta-cognition, as he tries to figure out how he knows what he knows.

Specifically, the book provides instruction and practice in drawing conclusions & making inferences; defining vocabulary using context; identifying story parts; identifying the main idea and supporting details; identifying the theme; identifying cause and effect; and making predictions.

I got my copy off of EBAY, but it is worth the full price.
3799139
In my elementary ed. teaching classes, our reading methods teacher shared this book as a fun way to explore the alphabet and expand vocabulary with both English and ESL students.

When I had my son two years ago, my parents got him the book, and from 13 months on, he has continually asked to read it and look at the pictures.  The illustrations are vivid and action-oriented, so it captures and keeps a young child's attention the whole book long.  It it a great way to introduce your young child to new vocabulary words as well.  For example, A is for "Arf", and I would tell my son "Doggy barking." B is for ball "Doggy caught the ball." C is for "catch", "Doggy caught the ball."  He must have learned 100 words from this book alone and the short phrases/sentences I made up to add to each page describing what each doggy was doing.

This is one alphabet book a parent needs to add to his child's library!  I would recommend it for any child ages 1-5
3689057
This nonfiction book describes the human nose in very basic terms.  A simple table of contents list the topics and page numbers; topics include "my nose," nostrils, smelling, new words, "to find out more", and "about the author."  The book also includes a simple index so children can learn how an index works.  The font is large, black type, with vocabulary words in boldface.  Vocabulary words are defined in the text and by the photographic illustrations.  "My nose has two holes called nostrils" is illustrated by a close-up photograph of a nose.  The "New Words" page at the back lists all the vocabulary words and simple definitions. This book could be easily used in a preschool or kindergarten setting or for new readers.  The text is simple yet informative, while the photographs clearly indicate the meaning of the text.  The book size is small, but most of the pictures are large enough that it could be successfully used in a group setting.
3484519
Great book full of basic and beyond basic vocabulary. I'm expecting my first child and plan on speaking to baby exclusively in Italian, I hope to enjoy this for years to come!
657392
I really like how this book is divided into categories.  Short grammatical lessons at the front serve as a good, if very basic start to understanding the language if one has an interest in going beyond learning vocabulary for a short trip.  And if you're not interested in the grammar lessons, the bulk of this book is still perfect for those wishing to just pick up the necessary vocabulary and polite greetings.  It's very small in size, easy to toss in a bag without taking up much space at all.  Well worth the minor investment.
2224231
My nine year old son is reading this book for his school. I asked him to rate it. He said five stars. I have read bits and pieces and it seems to be very well written. It uses some fairly big words, which is great for building a child's vocabulary.
722481
I bought this book on the recommendation of one of my teachers, and it has been well worth the price.  Each chapter is divided into individual topics, such as Meetings and Conferences, or Demonstrations.  It introduces important vocabulary prior alongside a news article using the vocab.  At the back of the book is additional vocabulary by topic.  It's definitely helped me out so far, as I can now scan the headlines of BBC Arabic and don't feel as stupid.
202351
I found this book to be exciting and fun to use. Its structure reflects the way we (at least, I) learn - by association. It is a rather "effortless" way to build one's vocabulary. I wish this book had been available when I came to the US and enrolled in college. It would have been extremely helpful in my vocabulary building efforts rather than depending solely on the good and tried (but time consuming) advise: read, read, and read. I highly recommend it to anybody interested in expanding vocabulary and improving writing skills. Also it can be very helpful to high school juniors preparing to take the SAT and to undergraduates preparing to take the GRE and other graduate admission tests.
1989068
This was a great book.  I had my students use it for independent vocabulary study.  The difference in their pre-term and post-term vocabulary tests was astounding.  They enjoyed using the book, and it really helped them improve their vocabulary skills.  I recommend this book!
3035105
I like the concept of this book.  I wish this book, like others on the market now, were published years ago.  You can read a short paragraph and right below are words you may not know, which will help you with immediate comprehension.  You still need a dictionary or glossary for, but at the end of a story, there is a list of vocabulary, and it urges you to write and summarize the story, and gives you examples to compare your written work with prepared summaries.  I like the fact that there are 7 different stories and subjects, which gives you vocabulary practice in many different areas.  This is a very good book for A1/A2 with guidance and instruction, or someone with basic French knowledge  studying on their own.