The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows

The story is told in a series of letter and telegrams, which is always magical to me. I find it amazing that an author (or authors in this case..) can create a story that way. I love stories told in this matter. It feels as if you have come across a chest full of old letters in your granny's attic. Almost as if you are spying on someone else's life.

This book is about the nature of expression in speech. It is a comprehensive exploration of how such expression is produced and understood, and of how the emotional content of spoken words may be analysed, modelled, tested, and synthesized. Listeners can interpret tone-of-voice, assess emotional pitch, and effortlessly detect the finest modulations of speaker attitude; yet these processes present almost intractable difficulties to the researchers seeking to identify and understand them.

Book 18 in the Magic Tree House series (1999)
Morgan Le Fey, a magical librarian from the time of King Arthur, has charged a brave young pair of children with the task of freeing an enchanted dog from a spell by collecting four gifts. In the 18th easy-to-read chapter book in Mary Pope Osborne's Magic Tree House series, eight-year-old Jack and seven-year-old Annie travel back almost 200 years to the Great Plains to find a gift from the prairie blue.

 

As an alternative and fun approach to learning and revising vocabulary, Crosswords 1 offers the chance to learn and memorize almost 400 words from the Key English Test word list.

 

"No one since John Holt has written so thoughtfully about the things that actually happen in the classroom. Ayers has been there and he knows, and he shares what he has learned with tremendous sensitivity . . . Ayers writes so beautifully of children he has known--there are so many unforgettable vignettes--that this book will touch the heart of almost anyone who loves the authenticity of oral history".--Jonathan Kozol Pub: 4/93.