Wednesday, April 13, 2011

The Cranky Language Lady: Wednesday Grammar Quiz for Grownups


The Cranky Language Lady: Wednesday Grammar Quiz for Grownups comes from CrankyLanguageLady.com. To find out more about the Cranky Language Lady, view sample pages from her new book, peruse her blog, or visit the website.


Grammar Quiz #20 — Run-On Sentences



The story below has only three errors. One of them is a word Cranky Language Lady sees misspelled more than nearly any other. Can you find that word and the two other very subtle errors?

“Perhaps seven cats are a tad too many,” suggested Alan tentatively, scooting Fluffy over as he tried to put his arm around Natalie.

Fluffy bit him.

Alan glared.

“Come here, Fluffikens,” Natalie said, “Did mean old Alan hurt your feelings”?

Alan sighed and tried again. “Your cats are interfering with our relationship,” he said, “and I think we need to discuss this.”

“Discuss what?” she asked, smiling as Snuggles and Snowball joined Fluffy in her lap.

“Cats!” exclaimed Alan. “Cats!”

“Yes, I definately love them,” she smiled.

Alan finally started to face the fact that his relationship with Natalie was doomed.



View answer.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Tuesday Trivia


  1. Which author said, “The true artist will let his wife starve, his children go barefoot, his mother drudge for his living at seventy, sooner than work at anything but his art”?
  2. Which famous American author ran for mayor of New York City in 1969 using the campaign slogan “No More BS”?
  3. Having obtained a medical degree in 1884, which Russian writer considered himself a doctor, rather than an author, saying, "Medicine is my lawful wife and literature is my mistress."
  4. Upon his death, which author bequeathed his birthday (November 13) to a young girl he knew because she often complained that her December 25th birthday left her with little reason to celebrate at any other time of the year?
  5. Which Russian author learned to ride a bicycle at age 67?



Last Week's Answers




Which author suffered the death of his daughter and her husband in a drowning accident and the institutionalization of another daughter for madness?


Victor Hugo



Chekhov, Robert Louis Stevenson, Ernest Dowson and Novalis all suffered from which affliction?

Tuberculosis



Which author lost his father at an early age, ran off to sea, and was captured by a tribe of cannibals?

Herman Melville



Which poet was born with a clubfoot?


Lord Byron



Which journalist requested that his ashes be fired from a cannon while Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" played at his funeral?


Hunter S. Thompson



Monday, April 11, 2011

FREE Preparation for the State Reading Assessment Sampler for Facebook Fans!



As a thank you to all of the teachers who show their support as our Facebook fans, we are offering a FREE sampler of our Preparation for the State Reading Assessment series!







To claim your FREE Preparation for the State Reading Assessment sampler with 6 full-length nonfiction passages and corresponding multiple choice questions, visit the Prestwick House Fan Page on Facebook today!


Lost Stories by Dr. Seuss to Be Published in September

According to AOL news:


Fans of iconic children's author Theodor Seuss Geisel, otherwise known as Dr. Seuss, have reason to celebrate. In September, Random House will release "The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories," a collection of seven virtually unknown stories that the author wrote in the 1950s.



Random House says the new Seuss stories are the "literary equivalent of buried treasure," and how they were unearthed is in and of itself an interesting tale.



Ten years ago, Dr. Seuss' art director Cathy Goldsmith was on eBay when she came across some tear sheets from 1950s magazines. The tear sheets contained stories that the seller claimed to be by the late Dr. Seuss.

Goldsmith purchased the tear sheets from the seller, Dr. Charles Cohen, a Massachusetts dentist whom she quickly learned possessed an encyclopedic knowledge of Dr. Seuss -- and had a collection of Seuss memorabilia to match.



Goldsmith, along with Random House vice president and publisher Kate Klimo, paid a visit to Cohen's home shortly after the purchase.



"His house was literally bursting at the seams with Seussania: plush, toys, beer trays, puzzles and a wide range of ephemera," Klimo told The Guardian. "Not only that, Dr. Cohen was a fount of Seuss information, history and theories about Ted's artistic process."



Klimo immediately contracted Cohen to write a book about the author. Published in 2003, Cohen's book, "The Seuss, the Whole Seuss and Nothing but the Seuss," is a comprehensive look at Seuss' career as a children's author and illustrator.



"But through it all," Klimo says, "Charles always wanted to compile the Seuss stories he had found in various magazines."



When "The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories" comes out in September, 10 years after Goldsmith discovered the magazine tear sheets on eBay, Cohen will finally get his wish.



"In these stories, we'll meet new characters," Susan Brandt, president of Dr. Seuss Enterprises in LaJolla, Calif., told Fox News. "So you're going to meet the twins Todd and Tadd, you'll meet Gustav the Goldfish and a small boy name Henry McBride, as well as the other characters Dr. Seuss is known for."



The new book will include an introduction by Cohen, which will explain the significance of the stories in Dr. Seuss' career. They were written in the 1950s, a time that many consider Seuss' most productive creative period -- when he wrote both "The Cat in the Hat" and "The Grinch."



"The stories are as good as anything in the already-published canon," Klimo says. "And readers of all ages are in for a treat."


Wednesday, April 6, 2011

The Cranky Language Lady: Wednesday Grammar Quiz for Grownups



The Cranky Language Lady: Wednesday Grammar Quiz for Grownups comes from CrankyLanguageLady.com. To find out more about the Cranky Language Lady, view sample pages from her new book, peruse her blog, or visit the website.


Grammar Quiz #20 — Picky, Picky


The story below has only three errors. One of them is a word Cranky Language Lady sees misspelled more than nearly any other. Can you find that word and the two other very subtle errors?



“Perhaps seven cats are a tad too many,” suggested Alan tentatively, scooting Fluffy over as he tried to put his arm around Natalie.



Fluffy bit him.



Alan glared.



“Come here, Fluffikens,” Natalie said, “Did mean old Alan hurt your feelings”?



Alan sighed and tried again. “Your cats are interfering with our relationship,” he said, “and I think we need to discuss this.”



“Discuss what?” she asked, smiling as Snuggles and Snowball joined Fluffy in her lap.



“Cats!” exclaimed Alan. “Cats!”



“Yes, I definately love them,” she smiled.



Alan finally started to face the fact that his relationship with Natalie was doomed.




View answer.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Tuesday Trivia



  1. Which author suffered the death of his daughter and her husband in a drowning accident and the institutionalization of another daughter for madness?
  2. Chekhov, Robert Louis Stevenson, Ernest Dowson and Novalis all suffered from which affliction?
  3. Which author lost his father at an early age, ran off to sea, and was captured by a tribe of cannibals?
  4. Which poet was born with a clubfoot?
  5. Which journalist requested that his ashes be fired from a cannon while Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" played at his funeral?





Last Week's Answers





Which author was sent a rejection letter that read "I regret the American public is not interested in anything on China"?




Pearl S. Buck, author of "The Good Earth"



Which U.S. President was a Finalist for the National Book Award?





John F. Kennedy was a nonfiction finalist in 1957 for Profiles in Courage.



What does the “K” stand for in J.K. Rowling’s name?





Joanne Kathleen Rowling does not have a middle name, but chose to take her paternal grandmother's name, Kathleen.



What was Judy Blume's maiden name?





Sussman



Friday, April 1, 2011

Prestwick House Introduces New Product Line that Will Raise the Bar for Pre-Schoolers





April 1, 2011 Smyrna, DE — This week, Prestwick House is proud to announce their newest product line, Prestwick House Pre-K AP, a series of young readers’ literature aimed at preparing students aged three to six years old for eventual success on the Advanced Placement in English Literature and Composition Exam.

The brainchild of adjunct-under-assistant Secretary of Education, Penelope Rychek, the Pre-K AP program has undergone strict testing in pre-schools across the country. Although students involved in the study have not yet actually taken the AP test due to a minimum age requirement of 12 years, critical indicators suggest that these products are in fact advancing pre-schoolers’ cognitive and test-taking abilities.




Click on the image above to view sample pages from Tommy and Tammy's Ocean Adventure, Book I in the Prestwick House Pre-K AP series.



“With this program, we’re hoping to raise the bar for preschoolers,” says Prestwick House New Product Development Specialist, Douglas Grudzina. “Over the past decade, studies have shown that preparing students for the AP exam at an earlier age provides many benefits. Recent evidence from the Education Institute of American strongly suggests that the time wasted coddling preschoolers and kindergartners with color names and counting on fingers could be better spent exploring the nuances of literature.”

Prestwick House Pre-K AP, the development of which has been the best-kept secret since the Manhattan Project, has been funded and supervised by such notable partner organizations as the National Association of Education (NAE), the American Higher Education Collaboration (AHEC), and the Children’s Literature Association of Southern States (CLASS).


“The books themselves are very child-friendly, exploring the lives of characters like Tammy and Tommy Turtle,” says Grudzina. “Students will explore concepts such as anthropomorphism, rhyme scheme, alliteration, and even interdisciplinary issues like learning biology and oceanography while reading quality, age-appropriate fiction. Delightful illustrations by artist Larry Knox will reinforce lessons and help students excel in elementary and high school, the Advanced Placement Exam, and beyond.”


To find out more about this innovative new program, visit PrestwickHouse.com or call (800)-932-4593.

Thursday, March 31, 2011

The Cranky Language Lady: Wednesday Grammar Quiz for Grownups


The Cranky Language Lady: Wednesday Grammar Quiz for Grownups comes from CrankyLanguageLady.com. To find out more about the Cranky Language Lady, view sample pages from her new book, peruse her blog, or visit the website.


Grammar Quiz #19 — Comma Crisis


Commas are troublesome. People often leave them out when they are needed or toss them in when they are not. Can you find the five comma errors below? (Pat yourself on the back if you can find the two spelling errors as well.)


Donald had doubts about his new therapist when she handed him an accordian, and said "Learn to play polkas, no one can be depressed when playing a perky polka."



Donald was skeptical. After all a big reason for his divorce was his wife's insistence on watching reruns of the Lawrence Welk Show every night while they ate dinner.



He picked up the accordian and put it on. In just moments, "The Chicken Dance Polka" started looping through his brain. He smiled, suddenly he did feel better.



View answer
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Monday, March 28, 2011

Tuesday Trivia

  1. Which author was sent a rejection letter that read "I regret the American public is not interested in anything on China"?
  2. Which U.S. President was a Finalist for the National Book Award?
  3. What does the “K” stand for in J.K. Rowling’s name?
  4. What was Judy Blume's maiden name?
Last Week's Answer
  1. Louisa May Alcott — Beth (Little Women)
  2. Pearl S. Buck — O-Lan (The Good Earth)
  3. Geoffrey Chaucer — Troilus (Troilus and Criseyde)
  4. Virginia Woolf — Septimus Warren Smith (Mrs. Dalloway)
  5. Charles Dickens — Nell Trent (The Old Curiosity Shop)
  6. Kate Chopin — Edna Pontellier (The Awakening)
  7. Thornton Wilder — Emily (Our Town)
  8. Aldous Huxley — John (Brave New World)
  9. Toni Morrison — Pilate Dead (Song of Solomon)
  10. Arthur Miller — Willie (Death of a Salesman)