Customer Reviews

Thirty Days Has September: Cool Ways to Remember Stuff (Best at Everything)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a good collection of memory tricks for recalling information. It was easy to read and it will be a good reference. I also bought another book, Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge: The Book of Mnemonic Devices which I have found to contain much more information. I would recommend both books though.

This is a book filled with mnemonics - cool devices that help one remember important facts in the areas of english, math, history, geography, and more. My son is 7 and really enjoys it! It's full of acronyms, poems, and sayings. The book's cover is also very attractive.

A little old for my 6 year old right now, but my husband loves it. I think the memorization devices will be really handy as our son gets older.

As a homeschooling mom I'm always looking for books like this. It is the kind of book my kids will pick up because it looks fun, inside and out. And yet, it's chock full of "vitamins and minerals." It reinforces the "boring" stuff they learn, but the look of the book is cartoon-y enough to hook them. They end up learning more because it's fun.

The book is divided into sections with different subjects represented: English, History, Geography, Science, Math and even a section called "Out of School" with two sections: General Knowledge and Music. They really pack a lot of information in there in such a compact little book, it's amazing.

*whispering* (Don't tell anyone, but Mom enjoys reading it, too!)

This book had a hook - the beginning of that old comfortable ditty "thirty days has September (April, June, and November all the rest have thirty-one, blah, blah, blah) - right there in the title. Sucks you in and makes you think here's something you can pass on to your kid who'll learn all the cool ways you learned how to remember important stuff the way you learned it back in the day when a school was where you learned, not where you were indoctrinated. But no.

Remember the vowel song? A E I O U - we proudly sang - and sometimes why-iiiiiii, (mouths stretched for maximum affect) too! That's all the vowels in the world. Do you know your vowels too? A E I O Uuuuuu! (also sung, I think, to a modified tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star). But ... it's not here. Remember "caught in the trap by 'a rat' so you would spell "separate" correctly and not "seperate"? Well, it ain't here either. As a matter of fact, there were many glaring omissions and some truly ridiculous suggestions on how to "remember":

The Ridiculous

(1) a poem of SEVEN two-line stanzas to memorize the 7 wonders of the world - really? (2) a poem of 1 SIX-line stanza and 1 FIVE-line stanza to memorize the Greek alphabet - I don't think Greek is the language we need worry of being at a disadvantage (3) (my absolute favorite) a poem of NINE (count `em) NINE four-line stanzas (and more than SEVENTY words) to memorize American Presidents sans Barack Obama. Wasn't this published AFTER he won the election or at the very least immediately out-dates the book?

To memorize the date the pilgrims landed: `It's twenty past four, Let's go ashore!' The logic: "on a 24-hr clock, you'll know that 16:20 means twenty past four in the afternoon. That's sure to jog your memory of this important date". That's assuming the kid learned about the 24-hr clock.

A few good tips, but a lot of what's here doesn't make enough sense to be of any help, e.g., under the section for oft misspelled/misused words, where were definately/definitely, independent/independant, advise/advice, lead/led? Not here.

I'm guessing that if the kid does know the 24-hr clock then there's no excuse for this same kid to mistake aural/oral, boar/bore, brake/break, dear/deer, or desert/dessert. Why would he/she confuse allowed/aloud, accept/except, buy/by/bye, chord/cord, dual/duel, fair/fare, flour/flower, great/grate? Aren't 9-12 year old kids being taught language arts? How to read? How to write? And shouldn't/isn't part of that process choosing the correct word in meaning and spelling?

There are questionable examples in the Same Sound, Different Meaning section: 1) desert and dessert don't have the same sound, and neither does loose and lose!

What should be there but isn't?

1) its and it's. So many of the "college"-educated miss this little word and dutifully misuse it.

2) maybe I missed it, but where was the section for words that look alike, but sound different and have different meanings like minute (min nit - unit of time) and minute (my NOOT - brief), lead (leed) and lead (led - the metal)?

3) where was the definition and example of an idiom or that poem type wherein it rhymes but doesn't make sense? (Mother may I go out to play? Yes, my darling daughter. You may get your feet wet, but don't go near the water.)

4) a definitive acceptance of the pronunciation of Illinois (there is no noise in Illinois). Apparently in the aftermath of the attack of the illiterates they won because I'm hearing it pronounced with that 's' more often. So I looked it up and the dictionary notes that the 's' at the end is now being accepted - as if by force. yup - the illiterates won)

5) spring forward, fall back - where is that under-the-rock dweller who doesn't know what that means, but the babies might not. Teach them! They will remember!

6) Hey, was PEMDAS there? I don't remember it being there, this order of operations used in algebra.

7) mine own invention for the word I've had so much trouble remembering how to spell: weird. I came up with "we are weird" and I never again forget which vowel comes first.

As a mom who homeschooled a child (diagnosed with autism) from 5th through 10th grade (and successfully taught him to read, spell, write, and do much better than any of the schools he attended all with great praise from the school system who evaluated lesson plans and tracked his progress), I know that there are better books and websites that very clearly - with many clear examples - teach and explain all of this.

Sometimes the tips are more involved and therefore less helpful: 1) Mount Rushmore National Memorial: better to remember the names of the presidents on Rushmore as the call numbers of a radio station: WJLR (Washington Jefferson Lincoln Roosevelt) than that essay of a tip given in the book.

What I did like and found helpful:

1) remember the colors of a rainbow

2) remember which space mission landed on the moon

3) remember our Greek philosophers

4) the simplified explanation of a colon

5) the simple explanation of affect and effect

6) explanations and examples of alliteration and onomatopoeia

7) the lists of a) Roman emperors, b) kings and queens of England, c) wives of Henry VIII, d) royal families of England, e) the wars of the roses, f) the continents, oceans, major rivers and deserts, and Central American countries, g) geological periods, and h) Stone Age mankind (I must admit. My happiness with these lists is purely subjective. This stuff is of particular use to me.)

8) how to tell a stalactite from a stalagmite. I didn't even know there was a difference - see there? Old dogs, new tricks.

9) and the poem for remembering the hurricane season is very cute.

But still. Many of these "memory joggers" may more easily discourage than encourage memory. It may be a good - but nowhere in the neighborhood of a great - reference. Lots better ways to learn these things and a lot cheaper - try the library and the internet. Both places are overrun with better stuff.

My eight year old daughter loves this book. She is curious about words and language. This will help foster her curiosity about our language and culture.

Just what the doctor ordered for this old geezer that can't remember squat any longer. I should have studied harder and paid more attention in school. If I would have had these helful hints I would have retained more. THANK YOU for making learning fun and possible still. Seriously this is a GREAT book; I recommend it to anyone just starting their education AND for those that never want to stop learning. A worthwhile investment for a lifetime of education.

Love this book! It's filled with really cool and fun ways to remember important things. I bought it for my 7 year old niece.

Great book to learn things you don't know and to remember the things you learned before.

This book is a very good tool to have in a home library, it has many anecdotes and rhymes to help remember everyday things. Whether you are 11 or 41 something for everyone to help remember common things. Its like playing Memory using mnemonics.