Review of "Instructor Literature Series: Story of Harding"

Review of

Instructor Literature Series: Story of Harding

Four out of five stars

 This is more of a bland short biography of a politician than it is a historical document. From the structure and content, it was likely written by a political operative allied to Warren G. Harding. His childhood in a small town was sound and wholesome, he was successful in college and the newspaper business. Like nearly all politicians that rise to the top, his trip up the political ladder was not without electoral mishap.

 This book is brief and written in the style of someone that wants to praise Warren Harding without ascending into superlatives. Despite that it is a good primer on his career before the scandals and poor health overcame him and his presidency.

Review of "Instructor Literature Series: Speeches of Lincoln"

Review of

Instructor Literature Series: Speeches of Lincoln 

Five out of five stars

 Abraham Lincoln is an existence proof that the best possible education is the one that a person gives themselves. An avid reader as a child, Lincoln grew into a very able writer and speaker. Both of those talents are in evidence in this collection of eleven of his speeches.

 Not only are they gems of erudition, they are also very short. Unlike most politicians, he understood the power of the briefer remarks as opposed to the lengthy and boring addresses so popular among politicians. His Gettysburg Address was only two minutes long, yet in the context of history, it totally dominates the two-hour speech given by Secretary of State Edward Everett.

 Lincoln was a complex man and a president during the most difficult of times, yet you can learn a great deal about his thought processes from these 36 pages.

Review of "Addo Arithmetic Game"

Review of

Addo Arithmetic Game

Five out of five stars

 The strength of this game is that the mathematical imagination of the players can be used to create many different versions of arithmetical games. There are 36 different cards containing a three-by-three grid of nine cells, each containing a number. The smallest number in the collection is zero and the largest is eighteen. Therefore, each number appears on a card many times. There is also a set of circular discs, just large enough to cover a number.

 One game that could be created is to give each player one or more cards and then select a number from zero to eighteen and ask them to find two numbers on their cards that sum to the selected number or say there is no such combination. The game could be modified to the selection of three numbers and for more advanced students it could be modified to include remainder classes. With so many different possibilities for creating an arithmetic game, this is a toy and a tool that educators and parents of children in early elementary school will find valuable.