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
The Stoics did much better with the much shorter Enchiridion.
A follow-on to the author’s garbled but popular 48 Laws of Power, promising that readers will learn how to win friends and influence people, to say nothing of outfoxing all those “toxic types” out in the world.
Greene (Mastery, 2012, etc.) begins with a big sell, averring that his book “is designed to immerse you in all aspects of human behavior and illuminate its root causes.” To gauge by this fat compendium, human behavior is mostly rotten, a presumption that fits with the author’s neo-Machiavellian program of self-validation and eventual strategic supremacy. The author works to formula: First, state a “law,” such as “confront your dark side” or “know your limits,” the latter of which seems pale compared to the Delphic oracle’s “nothing in excess.” Next, elaborate on that law with what might seem to be as plain as day: “Losing contact with reality, we make irrational decisions. That is why our success often does not last.” One imagines there might be other reasons for the evanescence of glory, but there you go. Finally, spin out a long tutelary yarn, seemingly the longer the better, to shore up the truism—in this case, the cometary rise and fall of one-time Disney CEO Michael Eisner, with the warning, “his fate could easily be yours, albeit most likely on a smaller scale,” which ranks right up there with the fortuneteller’s “I sense that someone you know has died" in orders of probability. It’s enough to inspire a new law: Beware of those who spend too much time telling you what you already know, even when it’s dressed up in fresh-sounding terms. “Continually mix the visceral with the analytic” is the language of a consultant’s report, more important-sounding than “go with your gut but use your head, too.”
The Stoics did much better with the much shorter Enchiridion.Pub Date: Oct. 23, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-42814-5
Page Count: 580
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Doyle offers another lucid, inspiring chronicle of female empowerment and the rewards of self-awareness and renewal.
More life reflections from the bestselling author on themes of societal captivity and the catharsis of personal freedom.
In her third book, Doyle (Love Warrior, 2016, etc.) begins with a life-changing event. “Four years ago,” she writes, “married to the father of my three children, I fell in love with a woman.” That woman, Abby Wambach, would become her wife. Emblematically arranged into three sections—“Caged,” “Keys,” “Freedom”—the narrative offers, among other elements, vignettes about the soulful author’s girlhood, when she was bulimic and felt like a zoo animal, a “caged girl made for wide-open skies.” She followed the path that seemed right and appropriate based on her Catholic upbringing and adolescent conditioning. After a downward spiral into “drinking, drugging, and purging,” Doyle found sobriety and the authentic self she’d been suppressing. Still, there was trouble: Straining an already troubled marriage was her husband’s infidelity, which eventually led to life-altering choices and the discovery of a love she’d never experienced before. Throughout the book, Doyle remains open and candid, whether she’s admitting to rigging a high school homecoming court election or denouncing the doting perfectionism of “cream cheese parenting,” which is about “giving your children the best of everything.” The author’s fears and concerns are often mirrored by real-world issues: gender roles and bias, white privilege, racism, and religion-fueled homophobia and hypocrisy. Some stories merely skim the surface of larger issues, but Doyle revisits them in later sections and digs deeper, using friends and familial references to personify their impact on her life, both past and present. Shorter pieces, some only a page in length, manage to effectively translate an emotional gut punch, as when Doyle’s therapist called her blooming extramarital lesbian love a “dangerous distraction.” Ultimately, the narrative is an in-depth look at a courageous woman eager to share the wealth of her experiences by embracing vulnerability and reclaiming her inner strength and resiliency.
Doyle offers another lucid, inspiring chronicle of female empowerment and the rewards of self-awareness and renewal.Pub Date: March 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0125-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
PROFILES
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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