Product Description
Jane Bell Kiester, author of the popular Caught'ya! Grammar with a Giggle series, has adapted her effective and fun approach to meet the specific learning needs of middle-school students.
Giggles in the Middle gives middle-school teachers the perfect alternative to boring grammar books and dry lectures. With this flexible, proven approach to teaching grammar, usage, and mechanics (GUM) skills and vocabulary, everyone has fun while they learn skills in context.
You'll find:
- One continuous story, "The Bizarre Mystery of Horribly Hard Middle School," divided into three parts, each with enough sentences for an entire school year.
- Classroom-tested writing assignment suggestions, mini-lessons, and teaching tips.
- "Almost midterm" and final exam tests for each grade, with teacher keys.
- Easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions.
- Complete vocabulary lists for words used in each part of the story.
- For easy reference and duplication, a CD with the Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics Guide; the complete, uninterrupted story in narrative form; the midterm and final exam tests; and the Caught'ya sentences.
Use Giggles in the Middle to improve writing and editing skills, raise test scores, engage students in leaning, and create classrooms filled with giggles!
Customer Reviews:
My grade 6 gifted class loves these!.......2007-09-18
My gifted class will not sit still for a traditional (boring) grammar lesson, but their writing skills aren't keeping pace with their creative ideas. The "Caught'yas" in this book keep my kids focused on doing their grammar...everyday! The lessons help them with their writing and introduce $100 words into their vocabularies. With the included CD, I don't even need to type or write the "Caught'yas." I just copy and paste into a powerpoint and put the daily work on the projector. Truly a great find!
Great service.......2007-09-17
The service I received was excellent. I received the book within 3 days in perfect condition.
Great Book.......2007-06-27
I cannot wait to use this grammar system in my 6th grade classroom. The book has everything you need to jump start your grammar lessons. The book is designed for grades 6-8 to use consecutively. If it works for me I will pass it one to my colleagues. Worth the purchase.
Great teaching tool.......2007-05-17
I am a first year teacher and just accepted a job for next year teaching both math and language arts in the 7th grade. I have never taught language arts before and was looking for motivating ideas when I came across this book. I bought it 3 days ago and have read the whole book already. Kiester does a great job of breaking down the activities and explaining exactly how to use "Caught-Ya" in your classroom. The book includes all of the corrections for each "Caught-Ya", as well as some explainations for why the corrections need to be made. The CD which is included allows you to print out the daily sentences and easily put them on transparencies. The CD also includes a great grammer review resource for those new teachers, like myself, who could use a refresher on some of the terminology as well as suggestions for introducing and reviewing the parts of grammer without boring your students with all the terminology. I am excited about using this technique in teaching my class next year. Wish me luck!!
Silly Fun!.......2007-05-12
I am "testing" this out with my class of gifted fourth-graders, and they love it! They enjoy getting to know a little bit more each day about the kids at Horribly Hard Middle School as well as dream about going to Magic Middle School. What surprised me most was the vocabulary piece. The words are well chosen and well placed. Often I find "challenging" vocabulary to just be wacky- words that we don't hear in our everyday lives. This book, however, keeps the students' interest regarding strong, usable vocabulary. They WANT to look the words up in the dictionary so they have a better understanding of the story, the puns involved, or just to be the one to get to read from the dictionary. We are only on day 16 of the program and I can already see results in the students' own writing.
Teacher's Request to Publisher: Please print a version of this in a binder or spiral format! The little paperback book is a bit hard to hold for reference while writing on the board and teaching the kids (but worth it!). I would pay for it again! :)
Book Description
Takes a hard look at the consequences of intense conflict between divorced parents
This book explores both the causes and consequences of high-level, stressful conflict between divorced parents on their children's development. It also provides concrete advice to help parents work together to the benefit of all involved, most importantly the children.
Book Description
From the Hardcover
“We stormed every classroom, inscribed our slogans on the blackboard . . . Never had mayhem brought more peace. All our lives we had been taught the virtues of behaving, and now we were discovering the importance of misbehaving. Too much fear had tainted our days. Too many afternoons had passed in silence, listening to a fanatic’s diatribes. We were rebelling because we were not evil, we had not sinned, and we knew nothing of the apocalypse. . . . This was 1979, the year that showed us we could make our own destinies. We were rebelling because rebelling was all we could do to quell the rage in our teenage veins. Together as girls we found the courage we had been told was not in us.”
In Journey from the Land of No Roya Hakakian recalls her childhood and adolescence in prerevolutionary Iran with candor and verve. The result is a beautifully written coming-of-age story about one deeply intelligent and perceptive girl’s attempt to ï¬?nd an authentic voice of her own at a time of cultural closing and repression. Remarkably, she manages to re-create a time and place dominated by religious fanaticism, violence, and fear with an open heart and often with great humor.
Hakakian was twelve years old in 1979 when the revolution swept through Tehran. The daughter of an esteemed poet, she grew up in a household that hummed with intellectual life. Family gatherings were punctuated by witty, satirical exchanges and spontaneous recitations of poetry. But the Hakakians were also part of the very small Jewish population in Iran who witnessed the iron fist of the Islamic fundamentalists increasingly tightening its grip. It is with the innocent confusion of youth that Roya describes her discovery of a swastika—“a plus sign gone awry, a dark reptile with four hungry claws”—painted on the wall near her home. As a schoolgirl she watched as friends accused of reading blasphemous books were escorted from class by Islamic Society guards, never to return. Only much later did Roya learn that she was spared a similar fate because her teacher admired her writing.
Hakakian relates in the most poignant, and at times painful, ways what life was like for women after the country fell into the hands of Islamic fundamentalists who had declared an insidious war against them, but we see it all through the eyes of a strong, youthful optimist who somehow came up in the world believing that she was different, knowing she was special. At her loneliest, Roya discovers the consolations of writing while sitting on the rooftop of her house late at night. There, “pen in hand, I led my own chorus of words, with a melody of my own making.” And she discovers the craft that would ultimately enable her to find her own voice and become her own person.
A wonderfully evocative story,
Journey from the Land of No reveals an Iran most readers have not encountered and marks the debut of a stunning new talent.
Customer Reviews:
Using a snapshot to tell a story.......2007-04-15
The author was incredibly adept at using a well written snapshot of an event in her life to give the reader an overall sense of what was going on in the country during the Iranian revolution. This author can write!
Insights on revolution.......2007-04-14
I've never examined the Iranian Revolution, and this book provided great insight. By reading Roya's story, I witnessed how passion for and support of the revolution turned into horror when things got out of control. Revolutions often turn out this way; let the mistakes of the past be warnings for all of us today! Sometimes what looks good doesn't really turn out to be so great! This book, however, looks good and IS good. Journey from the Land of No is a must-read as it provides excellent insight.
Don't bother!.......2007-02-09
I truly enjoy reading memoirs, but this one did not grab me at all. I couldn't wait until I was done, and regret wasting my time. There are numerous other books on this topic much more interesting!
Eye-opening.......2007-01-05
This is an excellent book; I highly recommend it. I learned a lot, and Ms. Hakakian is a great author. One word of warning; she does not claim to be completely unbiased about what occured in and before 1979 in Iran; and she stays true to this claim. So, the book is a bit one-sided, I suppose; but it tells the side of the story that I also had never heard, which is important.
Vefry Good Middle Class Perspective.......2006-12-03
This book is a treasure for those interested in enhancing their understading of religious minorities' "Nationalist" mindset in Iran, particularly during the Pahlavi period. One has to take into cosideration that a large number of Jews in Iran converted to Islam for pragmatic reasons prior to the pahlavi dynasty. The brand of pre-Islamic nationanist secularism promoted by the Pahlavi shahs in Iran is ever present throughout this book. Personally, I believe the author is an Iranian patriot. She does, to some degree, have an undesrstanding of an "Iranian consciousness" regardless of religious inclination. She is very sympathetic toward "martyrs" of Iran-Iraq war, to the extend to which she modestly discredits herself as a moral authority on the subject due to the fact that she did not pay a physical price for defending Iran. I am very glad that I read this book. It reaffirmed my belief that many Iranian Jews consider themselves Iranians first and then perhaps Jewish, quite similar to their secular Muslim Iranian cousins.
Book Description
For years, Christians have fled from the horrific conflict in the Middle East. Today, in the land where the church began, less than two percent of the people in Israel, West Bank and Gaza are Christians. Yet that remnant holds the hope for peace-if they can only persevere in faith and not be discouraged. Light Force is the remarkable story of Brother Andrew's mission to seek out the church in the Middle East, learn about its conditions and needs, and do whatever he can to strengthen what remains. Through dramatic true stories, readers get an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at real people affected by the centuries-old conflicts in this volatile part of the world. Now available in paper, this gripping account of the church caught in the crossfire will captivate readers everywhere.
Customer Reviews:
A must read!.......2007-05-14
If you have not read any of Brother Andrew's books, start here then proceed w/ the rest. Very insightful. He exhibits a view of the Middle East through Christian eyes that everyone should read. It does not matter if you're Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Christian, Black, White, Red, Purple; reading this will change your heart. Brother Andrew grasps hold of the human soul and exposes what GOD's Children are experiencing in one of the most chaotic places on EARTH!
Thought Provoking.......2007-04-03
I bought Light Force because I enjoyed another book about Brother Andrew called God's Smuggler. Light Force chronicles the middle east climate through the eyes of Brother Andrew, Palestinian Christians and Israeli Christians, and Muslims, from not long after Israel became a nation through 2004.
This book opens my eyes to the suffering of others based upon race and religion in a captivating way and offers readers an interesting story as well as a fresh perspective on the mideast crises.
I couldn't put the book down.
A Revealing Insider's Account of the Church's Struggle in the MIddle East.......2006-12-16
Light Force is a real eye-opener, presenting the plight of Christians caught in the crosshairs of the Middle East battle. Christians are right to support Israel--obeying God's command to "bless them." At the same time, we should not ignore our brothers and sisters in Palestine who are often lumped in with the worst of the terrorists and jihadists.
Kudos to Brother Andrew for having the courage to share Christ with Hamas leaders and other dangerous men. He's right when he says that this is the only way to change the world.
Fortunately, for Christians, we have hope. Jesus is our only hope for peace and stability in this world.
I would encourage American believers to read Light Force, if only to help them realize that not all Palestinians are terrorists. In fact, most aren't. Most just want to live their lives as we do.
God bless Brother Andrew for his life and work.
A Rarely Seen (Yet Significant) Side to the Middle East Situation.......2006-05-07
In our newspapers, we tend to read a great deal about the Jewish people and the Muslim people--but what about the 15 million Christians who are caught in the crossfire of the Middle East? It's a story the media doesn't often explain. Brother Andrew with the excellent writing of Al Janssen tells a riveting story of the Middle Eastern Church. The faces become more than names but memorable people whose stories will burn into your hearts and minds.
I was very moved to read this paragraph in the book, "The Church was the only hope for the Middle East, not because she had a better program or more political insight. She didn't. What she had was a way to bring people from both sides together based on the work of one Man whose birth two thousand years ago would be celebrated in a few days. His light still shone through believers here in the Holy Land. Many didn't understand the light. Many covered their eyes and refused to acknowledge the light. Others attacked the light and tried to put it out. But surely there are those who realized the bankruptcy of a peace process that had brought no peace for fifty years. For those who were willing, they could see the answer--Palestinians and Jews meeting at the foot of the cross." (p. 313)
I highly recommend Light Force. It is excellent.
Terrorists are not Born but Made.......2006-04-20
In a recent conference, Brother Andrew said that terrorists are not born but made. He adds that they become terrorists because no one cares for their souls. Light Force is a book that prompts its readers to be concerned about the souls of terrorists. It also wants its readers to be involved in the struggles of their brothers and sisters in the Lebanese and Palestinian churches.
Light Force is a fair book that is not marked by any mindless emotionalism. Instead, it reflects a strong commitment to Christ, to supporting God's people in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, to loving both Arabs and Jews, and to evangelizing Muslims.
In four parts, the book introduces a world marked by horror, violence, and death. We see this world through the eyes of Brother Andrew who travels throughout Lebanon and the Palestinian territories seeking to encourage the churches in these dangerous areas. As he travels, he meets courageous evangelical men and women who love God wholeheartedly and serve Him in the midst of very depressing circumstances. This could be the unique contribution of this book for it unpacks before its readers the stories and struggles of many faithful Lebanese and Palestinian evangelicals who are committed to following Jesus Christ. Through their lives and struggles, the reader considers the dwindling numbers of Christians in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, and the escalating influence of Muslim fundamentalists.
Most of the book deals with the Palestinian Evangelical church and its context. It focuses on the contributions of Bethlehem Bible College, the Palestinian Bible Society, the Jerusalem Alliance Church, Musalaha, and the Baptist Church in Gaza. Brother Andrew meets with the leaders of these ministries. He encourages them and inspires them to be faithful in the midst of trouble. He also listens to their needs and through "Open Doors" partners with them in prayer and financially.
Last, the book presents a unique Christian perspective concerning Muslim fundamentalists. On the one hand, they are not mindless, nameless, or faceless terrorists. Instead, they are hospitable friends and hurting people. On the other hand, the authors emphasize that they don't condone any terrorist actions. Their words and actions lift up Christ without demonizing or dehumanizing Muslim fundamentalists. They see that doing the former properly demands a deep and sincere love for all Muslims. Such love seeks to visit these Muslims, hear their anguish, and respectfully present the living Christ to them.
By the time, the reader finishes this book, he or she will be informed, inspired, and prompted to be involved in remembering their brothers and sisters in the Middle East, in reflecting on their eschatological/theological positions in light of the Middle Eastern church, and in responding with love to Muslims, Jews, and Christians in the Middle East.
Yohanna Katanacho
PhD Candidate @Trinity International University
Amazon.com
Kyoko Mori spent a largely unhappy childhood chafing at social restrictions in Japan before migrating to the American Midwest. In 12 beautifully turned essays she shuttles between these two cultures, observing local customs with a wondering eye. Too bold to be emotionally fluent in either land, Mori scrutinizes--and sometimes ridicules--the sound of a woman's voice raised in a childish squeak; the differences between Americans who marry for love (and divorce the day it dissolves) and traditional Japanese women, who may be more likely to find happiness in an honorable widowhood; and the navigation of uncomfortable truths and painful emotions. "Having a conversation in Japanese is like driving in the dark without a headlight," she says. "Every moment, I am on the verge of hitting something and hurting myself or someone else, but I have no way of guessing where the dangers are." Despite frustration and puzzlement, Mori rarely swerves even to make her own limitations more palatable.
Book Description
In this powerful, exquisitely crafted book, Kyoko Mori delves into her dual heritage with a rare honesty that is both graceful and stirring. From her unhappy childhood in Japan, weighted by a troubled family and a constricting culture, to the American Midwest, where she found herself free to speak as a strong-minded independent woman, though still an outsider, Mori explores the different codes of silence, deference, and expression that govern Japanese and American women's lives: the ties that bind us to family and the lies that keep us apart; the rituals of mourning that give us the courage to accept death; the images of the body that make sex seem foreign to Japanese women and second nature to Americans. In the sensitive hands of this compelling writer, one woman's life becomes the mirror of two profoundly different societies.
Customer Reviews:
Japan exposed.......2007-06-21
As a half-Japanese raised in the Midwest by an old-fashioned Japanese mother born and raised near Tokyo, I could really relate to much of this book. Mori's personal story and her eye-opening revelations of traditional Japanese culture vs general American culture are fascinating, however she did lose me a bit in her comparisons with the Midwest which I did not fully buy into. Others may argue that Mori discloses the "old" Japan, but there are plenty of books out there trying to teach Americans how to negotiate the Japanese social terrain which is extremely complex and still quite traditional and conservative. Mori is an unusually independent and practical woman, so much so that she discovers marriage even to a good man who gives her space is too constricting. It seems her own childhood experiences have thrust her into the extreme. I hope she finds happiness.
Vivid memoir Social Commentary Japan & US.......2007-03-12
I loved this book. I am not surprised that there are bad reviews. Some Japanese and japanophile readers could be offended by the revelations about Japanese culture. But, Kyoko is giving the reader tremendous insight into the social structure of Japan. She points out quite a few similarities to American Midwest culture. Best of all, her stories draw the reader in and keep reader wanting more.
Beautifully Written but Flawed.......2006-05-27
I really enjoyed reading this book. Mori, as befits a writing instructor, writes beautifully. Her essays have a wonderful flow about them and are peppered with interesting details. I think they would serve as great instructional pieces on writing personal essays.
However, I found some un-evenness in the actual content of what Dr. Mori had to say. Her observations about what it's like to be a person caught between or maybe with one foot in each of two very different cultures struck me as very true and perceptive, as this is also my life story.
The problem is when Dr. Mori talks about Japan. She is one of a fairly typical group of adult-immigrants to the US, who moved here because they disliked their life in their home country. And since she has been here for 20 years and has been very successful and lived a full life, all her stories about Japan are going to have a goal of saying 'I am so glad I left Japan.' In addition, as the other reviewers have said, Dr. Mori had an extremely unhappy childhod in Japan, which probably colors all of her perceptions of that country. I found her descriptions of her feelings in flying closer to Japan on a rare visit there very revealing -- to her, Japan is not a home, not even a happy place, but instead a place full of terrible memories that she is only too happy to have escaped from.
Nonetheless, I think this book is worth reading both for its writing and its observations about being a person who is bicultural by choice.
Recommended if you have lived in Japan.......2006-04-06
Having lived in Japan 4 separate times, I loved returning because things worked somehow and at the same time confused me as to how they worked. Mori by sharing her personal experiences -- through her mother's suicide, her stepmother's evil intent, her transition to life in Green Bay, her divorce to her husband, and more -- offers a lot of insight into the thinking that makes Japan's culture such a magnetic source of confusion for me. Although this represents more the author's insights from her personal experiences more than whatever "average" there may be to Japanese life, the reader can still learn from her unique experience of being "Japanese."
Also, coming from the Chicago area, I learn from Mori's comparison of her understanding of Midwestern Green Bay culture and Kansai Japanese culture. It's a comparison that other sociological books and more quantative readings fail at. In terms of writing quality, maybe I'd give it 3 stars, but the way Kyoko Mori shares so much personally, this open honestness encouraged me to give it 4 stars. This book might also be useful for couples with a Japanese or Japanese-American partner.
just terrible and offending!!!!!.......2005-12-04
Someone wrote, "She is writing about a Japanese society that she is no longer part of. She makes statments that assume that Japan has remained frozen in time since she left. She is comparing apples still on the tree to 20 year old rotten oranges." I really agree with this person!!! Does she really think that Japan is stii the same country which she had belonged to? Ridiculous! Don't believe anything in the book as well as her other books. I am a really Japanese and was truly offended by her description of Japan in her books. Her books just cause misunderstanding of Japan and Japanese people. To the author, don't write about Japan anymore. Because you already had left Japan many years ago and you are not Japanese who is able to describe Japan accurately. You ARE an Urashima Taro.
Average customer rating:
- A Bishop's view of the Palestinian struggle
- Full of contradictions
|
Caught in Between
Riah Abu El-Assal ,
Riah Abu El-Assal , and
Bishop Riah El-Assal
Manufacturer: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Blood Brothers, exp. ed.
ASIN: 0281052239 |
Customer Reviews:
A Bishop's view of the Palestinian struggle.......2003-09-24
Bishop Riah Abu El-Assal combines a personal biography with an inside look at living as an Arab Christian in Palestine over the turbulent history of the past 55 years. The Bishop's experience as the Vicar of Christ Church in Nazareth gives an inside look at the lives of the Arab people and provides a fresh perspective on the issues of Palestine.
Full of contradictions.......2002-01-20
If Riah Abu El-Assal is a peaceful Palestinian Arab leader, we are in serious trouble.
Here is a man who claims to abhor violence, laudable to be sure. He also states, at the end of chapter 10, "The road to peace lies in recognition of the realities, including the reality that is Israel, and I will do nothing to harm the cause of peace." Equally praiseworthy.
Yet this book is full of contradictions.
Born in 1937 in Nazareth, Bishop Abu El-Assal fled with his family at age 11 in 1948 to Beirut, where his father refused to register the family as refugees. They fled of their own accord, not as the result of any battle or threat thereof, or the author would have made great use of the details.
Yet with neither firsthand experience of being forced off the family's land, nor reputable sources, El-Assal describes Al Nakba, the Catastrophe, as "expulsion of the Palestinians from their lands by the victorious Zionist forces...." (p. 51)
Here is a man whose wife's family had in the 1930s emigrated from Lebanon INTO Palestine, where Jewish development had created strong demand for labor. El -Assal himself returned to Nazareth from Beirut in 1949 with his sister Suad, who was then 13. Some time later, his father also returned. He took Israeli citizenship in 1959. He successfully reclaimed and repossessed his family's home.
In other words, neither the Bishop of Jerusalem nor his wife's family has any basis to claim that anything was stolen from them. Yet he does. In fact, throughout the book he claims that the entire land of Israel was "stolen" from Palestinian Arabs, without references to back up this claim. The 151-page volume contains only 15 footnotes, not one of them citing legitimate scholarly material to prove the claim.
(I tend to believe no such scholarly material exists, for I have looked and found none. On the other hand, several books seem to prove just the opposite. These include H.B. Tristram's Land of Israel (1865); Arieh Avneri's Claim of Dispossession: Jewish Land Settlement 1878-1948 (1984); Kenneth W. Stein's The Land Question in Palestine, 1917-1939 (1984); Samuel Katz' Battleground: Fact and Fantasy in Palestine (1972) and Joan Peters' From Time Immemorial (1984).)
Abu Al-Assal also attempts to deflate the importance and severity of the 1948 invasion of Israel by seven Arab armies by claiming that most of the fighting was done in Palestinian areas. This is misleading at best. For had not those armies swept into the area, there would have been no fighting at all. Much of the fiercest fighting, moreover, was in the Negev, which the partition plan had designated for Israel. As it was, the war took substantially more Jewish lives, a total of 6,373--nearly 1% of the entire Jewish population. Jewish casualties, moreover, included 600 kidnap victims whom Arab forces mutilated beyond recognition.
Though a citizen of Israel, El-Assal cheered on Gamel Nasser in 1956. He has repeatedly broken Israeli laws and has quite negative feelings for the state. He traveled many times on a Vatican passport to enemy states, including Lebanon and Jordan (before the peace). He twice traveled to Tunisia to meet with Yasser Arafat, before Israel had relations with the PLO. Afterwards, he resented being detained from international travel. He dislikes Israel, its Jewish symbols, and its internal policy of accepting any Jewish person as a citizen of the Jewish homeland. While he admires the beauty of the Israeli national anthem HaTikva (The Hope), he writes that the Zionist movement's hymn, expressing a Jewish desire for a homeland, "is not mine, and never can be."
He claims to be for two separate states, Israel and Palestine, but argues for an Israel that is secular and bi-national. In other words, he considers Jewish desire to nurture a Jewish homeland a bad thing.
Given that El-Assal is an Anglican Bishop, one would expect to find in his book some evidence of closeness with God. Abu El-Assal mentions his "calling," of course. Yet I was surprised to find no real expression of spiritual awareness, love for God, Christ, or mankind. Perhaps I missed it but I don't think so.
In fact, the author actually makes statements I would have thought un-Christian. In a discussion of the different Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Easters, for example, he recounts the story of a father who tells his son on the first that people are crying "because Jesus was crucified." When the son asks who did it, the father says, "The Jews and the Romans were responsible. Damn the Romans." The boy replies, "Damn the Jews." At the second service, when the people weep again, the boy asks, "Dad, Dad, do you mean the Jews and the Romans have done it again?" No, the father tells him, it was the Greek Orthodox. (pp. 59-60)
Granted, this tasteless story is supposed to be a joke. But no person of Jewish faith would find it funny. Neither should an Anglican Bishop. The Roman Catholic Pope and Church, at least, have apologized to the Jewish people for centuries of teaching that the Jewish people were responsible for the death of Jesus. So should all churches.
There are many other weaknesses in this book, not least of all its complete failure to denounce anti-Semitic Arab propaganda taught to each new generation, making meaningful dialogue between the Jewish state and Arab Palestinian people all but impossible. Like too many people, Al-Assal is willing to completely overlook institutionalized Arab hatred of Jews and the Jewish state, meanwhile making blanket condemnations of Israel's supposed evils--which he cannot and does not prove.
One hopes for true and honest Palestinian Arab peace partners to emerge from the ongoing 53-year conflict. But like many other supposed Arab men of peace floated in the last nine years, Abu Al-Assal in this book seems hoisted on his own petard. He herein contradicts his own seemingly peaceful pronouncements with words of deceit and hate. Alyssa A. Lappen
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- Bodies Wind Up In Her Trunk - Even Hers
- Don't look at the ending!
- A Breath of Fresh Air
- The *kayters* review
- A clever caper of whodunit
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Caught in the Middle (Amhearst Mysteries, No. 1)
Gayle Roper
Manufacturer: Steeple Hill
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Caught in the Act (Amhearst Mystery Series #2) (Steeple Hill Love Inspired Suspense)
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See No Evil
ASIN: 0373442408 |
Book Description
Amhearst, Pennsylvania, was just the kind of place for new beginnings for brokenhearted reporter Merry Kramer. But she soon discovered danger lurked behind the holly bushes when a dead body turned up in her car!
The trouble didn't end there—gunshots, attacks and a handsome new friend who might not be what he seemed. Surrounded by suspects, Merry would have to use all her investigative skills to keep from becoming front-page news—as the killer's next victim.
Customer Reviews:
Bodies Wind Up In Her Trunk - Even Hers.......2007-08-13
Caught In The Middle, with this first book in the series, Merrilee Kramer moves away from home to escape her deadbeat boyfriend Jack, who could not make a commitment. Naturally she was a bit down when she arrived in Amherst, leaving her family behind, and with her only companion in her new apartment her cat.
But just as she's starting to adjust, to feel she fits in at her job as a reporter at The News, the local paper, and when it seems this sleepy little town won't be so bad, she finds a dead body in her car. This arouses her reporter's instincts and she begins to investigate this murder, finding the young man was a fine son, was engaged to be married, a model citizen and upstanding Christian. The next day, the town's mayor is found dead. As the plot twists, and she's on the trail of a killer, she is choked, then thrown into her trunk, and yet has time to consider a new romantic interest.
Merry Kramer is a delightful sleuth and funny as all get out. A relationship with the Lord is part of the fabric of Merry's life, so the reader is never hit over the head with a religious ptich. This book is a wonderful read, well written. I recommend it.
Don't look at the ending!.......2006-10-20
Mystery authors will hate me. I am the type of reader that will look at the end of the book. But take it as a compliment! It means I am enjoying the book so much that I want to know the ending now! And I did enjoy Caught in the Middle, the 1st book the Amhearst Mysteries series. Merry Kramer is an ideal heroine who wants independence and to become a reporter for the local paper. However that's all interrupted when she opens her car trunk and finds a dead body on top of her Oreos and soda. When the mayor turns up dead the next day, Merry soon finds her life being threatened. The book gives readers a ride of twists and turns as you try to figure out who's behind everything. And yes I was surprised with the ending. This was a very well written mystery with a strong female character. The end of the book leaves you hanging. Recommended for any grown up Nancy Drew fan.
A Breath of Fresh Air.......2004-01-13
I am sick and tired of reading sappy Christian novels that revolve around a perfect heroine-beautiful, perfect, damsel in distress type. That is why I love Gayle Roper's Caught in the Middle series-her heroine is none of those things!
Merry Kramer is the kind of person you would meet in the check out line in the grocery store who got in the Express lane with 1 item too many. She's like a real person-nothing phony about her. She's hilarious! I fall off the couch laughing every time I read this book! She doesn't do stupid things like other heroines do (you know, like running into the dark, abandoned building at night while being chased). She's sensible, and a little bit ditzy, just like normal people!
The mystery here is truly a good one-and I read mysteries all the time. I can usually figure out what's going to happen, but this book kept me guessing until the answer was revealed. Curt, the love interest in the story, isn't the knight in shining armor that fixes everything-true, he helps her out a couple of times, but she is not at all a subservient type of lady! She tells him off several times, which results in very entertaining reading!
Bottom line: Read this book if you're sick of cheesy, unreal Christian novels with characters that make you want to puke.
The *kayters* review.......2003-02-14
This was a good introduction to an inspirational mystery series of which I will be reading more. Merrileigh "Merry" Kramer is new to Amhearst, PA and has been working for The News, the local newspaper for just about three months when she finds a body in her car trunk. Of course, she must write a story on this and so she does. She ALSO has to write a puff piece on a local artist, Curtis Carlyle, whose show is opening the next evening. She and Curt hit it off rather well and she runs into him again the next night when they wind up being shot at. Various mishaps continue to occur until, of course, Merry stumbles onto the murderer.
One of the major things I enjoyed about this story was the humor. It was a unique style of humor that occasionally made me laugh out loud. I didn't feel as though I was being pandered to, which was nice. The humor was truly humorous. Also, this is definitely a Christian mystery, but I didn't feel as though I was beaten over the head with religion. Merry is just your average twenty-something with relationship issues, flaws, etc. She does rely on God, but she also makes mistakes - and not the HUGE mistakes that you sometimes find in Christian novels - just your average, everyday kinds of stupid things people do. I really appreciated that!
I welcome this series debut and will be reading the others in the series.
A clever caper of whodunit.......2002-01-28
Merry Kramer is a feisty reporter not afraid of an assignment - even if it includes chasing down the person who put a dead man's body in the trunk of her car.
Roper delivers a spirited heroine who is confident yet sometimes questions herself. With Merry Kramer, she has created a likeable, good-head-on-her-shoulders character and has numerous possibilities of whodunit in this story.
If you like mystery, intrigue, and suspense with a bit of romance, you'll want to read the three book series.
Average customer rating:
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Caught in the Middle: Educational Reform for You Ng Adolescents in California Public Schools
California
Manufacturer: California State Department of Education
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0801104882 |
Amazon.com
"I remember them arguing a lot. All the time." "My dad and mom are still real good friends." "When she married somebody else, at first it was comfortable." "It was like a shock." These are the voices of children of divorce, as compiled by David Royko, talking about issues as diverse as separation, self-blame, visitation, siblings, "Mom and Dad and Dating and Sex," stepfamilies, money, coping tactics, and fantasies of stalemate reconciliation. Over the course of three years, Royko, a divorce mediator for the Cooks County Court in Chicago, interviewed scores of children, ages 5 to 21. Their moving and insightful comments comprise this book, which is designed as a teaching tool for divorcing parents. Royko occasionally annotates these stories, pointing out for readers which elements to look for. But it is the words and emotions of the children themselves that tell the tale, and that, perhaps, can help divorcing readers protect their children from emotional harm. As Leroy, age 15, says, "When your mother and father split up, I don't care what age you are, if you love them at all, it hurts. It hurts bad." --Ericka Lutz
Book Description
"I remember them arguing a lot. All the time." "My dad and mom are still real good friends." "When she married somebody else, at first it was comfortable." "It was like a shock." These are the voices of children of divorce, as compiled by David Royko, talking about issues as diverse as separation, self-blame, visitation, siblings, "Mom and Dad and Dating and Sex," stepfamilies, money, coping tactics, and fantasies of stalemate reconciliation. Over the course of three years, Royko, a divorce mediator for the Cooks County Court in Chicago, interviewed scores of children, ages 5 to 21. Their moving and insightful comments comprise this book, which is designed as a teaching tool for divorcing parents. Royko occasionally annotates these stories, pointing out for readers which elements to look for. But it is the words and emotions of the children themselves that tell the tale, and that, perhaps, can help divorcing readers protect their children from emotional harm. As Leroy, age 15, says, "When your mother and father split up, I don't care what age you are, if you love them at all, it hurts. It hurts bad." --Ericka Lutz
Customer Reviews:
INVALUABLE! .......2006-07-04
One of the best books I have ever read on divorce. Dave Royko has captured the children's emotions, pain, relief, anger, they're all there! As someone who works with children of divorce, I found this book incredibly helpful and frequently refer individuals to it.
very helpful.......2000-08-23
This book provides lots of insights into how parents and stepparents can make things better. I found it helpful as a prospective stepmother to see things from a child's perspective. Unlike many writers on divorce, the author chooses examples where things go well. Those cases are encouraging and provide positive examples to follow.
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