Customer Reviews

Mine, All Mine!

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

We are three teachers and a media specialist from a middle school in Utah. We have just read the book Mine, All Mine by Ruth Heller. We believe that the intended audience of this book is middle to high school, while it disguises itself as a children's book. As English teachers we would rate this book five stars in teaching our middle schoolers about uses of pronouns. But if a small child read this book, he or she would not enjoy or understand it. Just from the title, we may not have picked up this book to use in the classroom. Consequently, both audiences might be turned off. We would, however, use this book as a read-aloud with our seventh graders. We feel there is some good information presented in a fun way.

I used "Mine, All Mine" and the other seven books in Ruth Heller's World of Language series in an intensive 45-hour summer English-as-a-second-language class with students exiting third through sixth grades. The students had been in this country anywhere from two days to two years when the class began, although a few had studied English for many years in their countries of origin. I used Heller's books as a fun way to introduce each section on parts of speech. Heller's eye-catching illustrations made it possible for my students to interpret new words and helped expand their vocabularies. Heller's clever poetry also made the study of grammar more enjoyable, and introduced my students to more rhyming words as well. I don't think any of the books in the series are suitable for the reading level indicated on the books (ages 4-8), unless read aloud, with much explanation, by a parent or teacher. However, I think the series is highly appropriate for advanced third graders on up. The books are properly classified as non-fiction in most libraries, and would be found with a search on the part of speech (e.g., pronouns). I should know; I had to scour three different library systems to get enough copies for my students to use! In my opinion, the series should be shelved with juvenile or educational (teacher resource) non-fiction in bookstores and libraries and not with the children's picture books.

I have all of Ruth Heller's grammar books. I use them in my college classes to review grammar. The drawings are colorful and really convey the meaning of the text. I recommend them for any parent or teacher who wants to teach the basics of grammar. Dolores

This book is a great supplemental aid for teaching pronouns to third graders! The book arrived very quickly and I love having it as an extra resource.