An effective manual for parents who want to establish a pro-learning mindset and develop concrete strategies for helping...
A longtime teacher and principal guides parents through the basics of supporting and enriching childhood education.
Casale, who has written his first book after a half-century working in education, brings an upbeat attitude to this guide for parents looking to help their children succeed in school. The book leads readers through both the mindset necessary to foster a learning environment (Casale encourages parents to develop a family-based mission statement that makes education a priority and to periodically assess their own performance as well as their children’s) and the more practical aspects of forming one, from ensuring that homework is completed to the components of a successful parent-teacher conference. Casale draws on many examples from his own years in the classroom and the principal’s office, which brings a from-the-trenches credibility to his observations and recommendations. Citations from Daniel Goleman, Alfie Kohn and other experts add support, too. One of the book’s key themes is that children cannot be compelled to learn, a point Casale often makes with wry humor: “Aside from torture, coercion, bribes, canceling cable and all electronics, or forcing your child to listen to Yanni, your chances of forcing your child to read a book are slim to none.” His frequent criticism of electronics—“a thief that steals precious time from our children”; “Limit TV, video games, and any other electronics that are mindless and a waste of precious time”; “Cell phones for children under sixteen should be used for emergencies or talking to family members only”—may be a point of contention for readers not so opposed to technology. On the whole, however, Casale gives parents a reassuring, big-picture look at how they, even more than teachers, shape their children’s attitudes to learning. By reminding readers that “even caring and loving parents must learn” how to create a home environment that supports learning, the book establishes itself as a legitimate, useful parenting tool.
An effective manual for parents who want to establish a pro-learning mindset and develop concrete strategies for helping their children succeed in school.Pub Date: Aug. 8, 2013
ISBN: 978-1482086386
Page Count: 140
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
These platitudes need perspective; better to buy the books they came from.
A lightweight collection of self-help snippets from the bestselling author.
What makes a quote a quote? Does it have to be quoted by someone other than the original author? Apparently not, if we take Strayed’s collection of truisms as an example. The well-known memoirist (Wild), novelist (Torch), and radio-show host (“Dear Sugar”) pulls lines from her previous pages and delivers them one at a time in this small, gift-sized book. No excerpt exceeds one page in length, and some are only one line long. Strayed doesn’t reference the books she’s drawing from, so the quotes stand without context and are strung together without apparent attention to structure or narrative flow. Thus, we move back and forth from first-person tales from the Pacific Crest Trail to conversational tidbits to meditations on grief. Some are astoundingly simple, such as Strayed’s declaration that “Love is the feeling we have for those we care deeply about and hold in high regard.” Others call on the author’s unique observations—people who regret what they haven’t done, she writes, end up “mingy, addled, shrink-wrapped versions” of themselves—and offer a reward for wading through obvious advice like “Trust your gut.” Other quotes sound familiar—not necessarily because you’ve read Strayed’s other work, but likely due to the influence of other authors on her writing. When she writes about blooming into your own authenticity, for instance, one is immediately reminded of Anaïs Nin: "And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” Strayed’s true blossoming happens in her longer works; while this collection might brighten someone’s day—and is sure to sell plenty of copies during the holidays—it’s no substitute for the real thing.
These platitudes need perspective; better to buy the books they came from.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-101-946909
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2015
Readers unfamiliar with the anecdotal material Greene presents may find interesting avenues to pursue, but they should...
Greene (The 33 Strategies of War, 2007, etc.) believes that genius can be learned if we pay attention and reject social conformity.
The author suggests that our emergence as a species with stereoscopic, frontal vision and sophisticated hand-eye coordination gave us an advantage over earlier humans and primates because it allowed us to contemplate a situation and ponder alternatives for action. This, along with the advantages conferred by mirror neurons, which allow us to intuit what others may be thinking, contributed to our ability to learn, pass on inventions to future generations and improve our problem-solving ability. Throughout most of human history, we were hunter-gatherers, and our brains are engineered accordingly. The author has a jaundiced view of our modern technological society, which, he writes, encourages quick, rash judgments. We fail to spend the time needed to develop thorough mastery of a subject. Greene writes that every human is “born unique,” with specific potential that we can develop if we listen to our inner voice. He offers many interesting but tendentious examples to illustrate his theory, including Einstein, Darwin, Mozart and Temple Grandin. In the case of Darwin, Greene ignores the formative intellectual influences that shaped his thought, including the discovery of geological evolution with which he was familiar before his famous voyage. The author uses Grandin's struggle to overcome autistic social handicaps as a model for the necessity for everyone to create a deceptive social mask.
Readers unfamiliar with the anecdotal material Greene presents may find interesting avenues to pursue, but they should beware of the author's quirky, sometimes misleading brush-stroke characterizations.Pub Date: Nov. 13, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-670-02496-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2012
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