Crackers for Your Soup! [Paperback]

Roger Polt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 3, 1999

Crackers for Your Soup! is an INDEXED collection of (155) inspirational and humorous quips, stories and anecdotes for public speakers, teachers, preachers and casual readers.

Each story (nearly all are one page long) ends with a list of topics or key words in that story. These are alphabetically indexed. (There are 670 entries in the 16 page index!)

The stories are "tweakable" so that public speakers can personalize them to make a point or reinforce an idea in their presentation.

Some of the stories are personal family stories. Many are from the public domain.

What makes "Crackers for Your Soup!" unique is that the author has given permission to change the stories' specifics, (times, places and names of characters) to make them fit a storyteller's needs. Speakers, "Toastmasters", preachers and teachers can use them to their advantage by "tweaking" them for their own needs.

"Crackers for Your Soup!" is a great reader for fast-lane folks who want a quick story to make them smile, but only have time to read a page or so at a sitting. (It's a great "bathroom reader"!)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A very useful resource for any speaker to add wit, wisdom and 'spice' to a speech." -- Ian B. Edwards, Ph. D., Distinguished Toastmaster, 1995 - 1996 President - Toastmasters International, Balcata, Western Australia

Roger Polt is a great story teller. I have experienced with great amusement the colorful and captivating ways he weaves his tales. Now in written form he has captured those same skills to allow all of us to enjoy those stories at any time. With this book, we can now share these stories and bring smiles and laughter to others. -- Phil E. Rzewnicki, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.

When I heard that Roger Polt was coming out with a book, my first reflex was to buy a copy sight unseen. The idea of being able to tap into Polt's wisdom and wit in book form for my own use was truly exciting. Crackers for Your Soup! is a great read and a very useful tool when you're trying to keep an audience interested in what you have to say. Buy this book. I did. -- Lyle George, President, George & Associates, International Business Consulting and Sales, Seattle, WA.

About the Author

Roger Polt was born and educated in Nebraska, earning his BAE in English from Wayne State College in 1972. He sold agricultural products to farmers and began collecting the stories they told. He began editing them in 1995, and self-published "Crackers for Your Soup!" in 1999.

Roger married his elementary school sweetheart, Lois, in 1969. They have five adult children. Roger is the "caboose", being the eleventh child of eleven. Roger was ordained a Roman Catholic Permanent Deacon in 1983. He is employed as a sales associate at Riddle's Jewelry in Marshalltown, Iowa, where he sells "real estate: one rock at a time."

Polt does professional inspirational and humorous public speaking. In 1998 he earned the Toastmasters International ranking of "Able Toastmaster - Bronze".

Product Details

• Paperback: 220 pages
• Publisher: Person to Person Publishing (September 3, 1999)
• ISBN-10: 0967454700
• ISBN-13: 978-0967454702
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,444,601 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly enjoyable and a great resource. A must have., July 3, 2000

By 

Marlin Vrbas (Madison, WI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crackers for Your Soup! (Paperback)

Crackers in an easy, fun read and much more. With the convenient index, you can quickly find stories that relate to the topic at hand that can be easily adapted for adding zest to any presentation. Good job, Roger!

5.0 out of 5 stars Crackers cracked me up, October 14, 2011

By 

moesleah - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Crackers for Your Soup! (Paperback)

Just read Crackers for your soup and smiled, giggled adn laughed through the entire book. Most in not all stories were relatable. Honestly will be "retuning" some for my own speaking experience. Having met with and knowing Roger, will be a pleasure to share these with my audiences.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars These crackers are stale!, June 14, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Crackers for Your Soup! (Paperback)

As a professional speaker I am always looking for new stories to keep my presentations fresh and alive. This particular collection is filled with old jokes (told rather badly) and stories from the author's family -- which I suppose MIGHT have been funny had one been there. The index is not very helpful since the stories have been indexed according to single words rather than thematically. A few of the stories are kind of cute -- a couple about children from the author's family come to mind -- but they are written with such a heavy hand that it becomes a chore to wade through to the punch line. If you are looking for a book to keep your speeches flowing, this is not the one.