Amazon.com
This is a survival guide for parents who find themselves marooned among volatile and incomprehensible aliens on Planet Teen. Area maps cover the obvious ground--there are chapters on school, sex, suicide, and so on--but it's the title of Chapter 2, "What They Do and Why," that best captures the book's spirit and technique. Anthony Wolf's modus operandi is not so much to make pronouncements about what parents should do, as to explain adolescent behavior in a way that's bound to leave parents with a changed view of the plausible options. Wolf is a clinical psychologist, and his writing is clear--even witty--and he doesn't resort to jargon. The expository text is punctuated with snatches of illustrative dialogue, which serve as concrete examples and help parents learn how to see, anticipate, and avoid "bad strategies." (One key mistake is getting dragged into no-win conflicts instead of having the wisdom to shut up at the moment when shutting up would be most effective--albeit the least satisfying--thing to do.) There are also some nicely tongue-in-cheek samples of "ideal" communication--the stuff we imagine might get said if only we were better parents. After one such rosily cooperative and considerate interchange between a father and his adolescent son, Wolf offers the following two-edged comfort: "The above conversation has never happened. Never. Not in the whole history of the world." Message: Parenting adolescents is inherently difficult. Don't judge your efforts by otherworldly standards. --Richard Farr
Book Description
A brand new edition of the bestselling guide to raising teenagers
When Anthony E. Wolf's witty and compassionate guide to raising adolescents was first published, its amusing title and fresh approach won it widespread admiration. Beleaguered parents breathed sighs of relief and gratitude. Now Dr. Wolf has revised and updated his bestseller to tackle the changes of the past decade. He points out that while the basic issues of adolescence and the relationships between parents and their children remain much the same, today's teenagers navigate a faster, less clearly anchored world. Wolf's revisions include a new chapter on the Internet, a significantly modified section on drugs and drinking, and an added piece on gay teenagers. Although the rocky and ever-changing terrain of contemporary adolescence may bewilder parents, Get Out of My Life gives them a great road map.
Customer Reviews:
Understanding Teen Girls.......2007-10-05
In reading this book, it really hits home. He takes real life situations and applies them to your concern and life. As my daughter is only 14 some of the scenarios are not as effective as I would like them to be. I do understand that he has to cover all audiences. As well, I realized last evening in reading the book, that children's minds do not mature until age 25 and I thought I was crazy. I guess this too shall pass, it is just nice to know that other people feel the same pains that you do when dealing with teen age children. I also understand the reason why we send them off to college for a while, this is to keep our sanity as well.
Review of Get Out of My Life.......2007-09-07
I have found this audio book to be a great help in trying to deal with teenage issues. Most of what is stated is common sense, however, a lot of us need a reminder now and then. In addition, there were also a number of ideas presented which were contrary to the route I would have taken, in trying to manage my teenage son.
Why "managing your teenager" doesn't work.......2007-09-05
This book is a painless method of learning to deal with today's teenagers and why saying, "...but I didn't behave that way when I was your age" is simply irrelevant. Practical advice in a book that is a real page turner. I couldn't wait to read on from the example of outrageous teenage or parental behavior to the "this might work better" solution. Being a grandparent, I gave it to my long suffering son, the father of two teenage girls.
Get Out of My Life, but First Could You Drive Me and Cheryl to the Mall?.......2007-07-05
Awesome book. It has taught me a lot with my 14 yr. old daughter. I have used the things that I had learned from this book and it works!
All parents of teens should read.......2007-07-03
I found this very easy to read and insightful. I thought Mr. Wolf was over hearing conversations in my house. It was recommended to me and I recommend it to you!
Amazon.com
Paco Underhill has a genius for retail. As a follow-up to the bestseller Why We Buy, he has written an arch entertaining ethnography of the shopping mall. Energized by two dripping cinnabons, Underhill guides readers on a walking tour to encounter senior mall walkers, teen jean and hoodie shoppers, shoe fetishists, six second sales greeters, kiosk vendors and food court diners.
He nails our ambivalence about indoor shopping saying, "the mall, like television, is an easy American target for self-loathing. We look at the mall and wonder: is this the best we could do?" He gets the devil in the details with wonderful riffs about global malls, parking spaces, the "free" gift with cosmetics, retail tribalism (Nordstrom versus Ann Taylor, Pac Sun versus Abercrombie) and why CD and bookstores have returned to city streets. But Underhill doesn't whine. When he critiques multiplex theatres, raunchy bathrooms or the absence of coatrooms, he also offers witty suggestions. For example, how to turn a well-appointed restroom into a profit center.
Underhill is convinced that online shopping and fatigued boomer shoppers are leading to the "post-mall era." This kind of prediction makes The Call of the Mall a great read. It is a smart, observant meditation--one that suggests the past and the future of our shopping culture. --Barbara Mackoff
Book Description
Paco Underhill, the Margaret Mead of shopping and author of the huge international bestseller Why We Buy, now takes us to the mall, a place every American has experienced and has an opinion about. The result is a bright, ironic, funny, and shrewd portrait of the mall -- America's gift to personal consumption, its most powerful icon of global commercial muscle, the once new and now aging national town square, the place where we convene in our leisure time.
It's about the shopping mall as an exemplar of our commercial and social culture, the place where our young people have their first taste of social freedom and where the rest of us compare notes. Call of the Mall examines how we use the mall, what it means, why it works when it does, and why it sometimes doesn't.
Download Description
"The author of the international bestseller Why We Buy -- praised by The New York Times as ""a book that gives this underrated skill the respect it deserves"" -- now takes us to the mall, a place every American has experienced and has an opinion about. Paco Underhill, the Margaret Mead of shopping, has run hundreds of research assignments in malls across the country (and in Tokyo and European capitals). He has visited them, observed his fellow mall-ers, looked long and hard for his car in mammoth parking lots, chatted up the staffers, gone hunting for jeans with adolescent girls and anniversary shopping with guys. The result is a bright, ironic, funny, and shrewd portrait of the mall -- America's gift to personal consumption, its most powerful icon of global commercial muscle, the once new and now aging national town square, the place where we convene in our leisure time. Call of the Mall is about desire and buying lingerie, about why the same camel hair coat costs twice as much in the women's department as it does in the boys'. It's about why shoes, handbags, and cosmetics are clustered, why Cartier is next to cut-rate, and why the movie theater is hard to find. It's about the shopping mall as an exemplar of our commercial and social culture, the place where our young people have their first taste of social freedom, and where the rest of us compare notes. Call of the Mall examines how we use the mall, what it means, why it works when it does, and why it sometimes doesn't. Visiting the mall with Paco Underhill is a surprising and insightful tour through the American crossroads. Why We Buy changed the way we watch ourselves shop. Call of the Mall will deepen our understanding of how we live, work, play, and spend."
Customer Reviews:
Somewhat engaging but not very informative .......2006-12-04
"The Call of the Mall" is a book that is sure to please the "minority" of Americans who do not favor the big box/stripmall/fashion mall culture of mainstream America. I am among that growing group of people seeking more sustainable, more humane geographical models of existing and getting along with one another. As an introduction to this notion, "Call of the Mall" is indeed "engaging" as another reviewed described it. However, it does not really address the underlying WHYS of the physical structure of modern America, nor does it propose realistic solutions.
Insider Tour of Malls.......2006-11-02
Underhill meanders through the mall voicing his observations aloud. It feels like an informal tour, but his knowledge of shoppers and retailers is based on the indepth study that has consumed his adult life.
Along the way, he entertains us with descriptions of avid women shoppers, men's discomfort in the mall setting and how teens and seniors interact with malls. The reader gains new insight into his/her own behavior while shopping and in the way the stores lure the buyer.
He touches on international malls, as well as the typical American mall. He exposes their flaws, suggests changes, and praises what works.
I kept feeling that there must be more to tell, as the effect is of a behind-the-scenes, but not all-the-secrets tour.
Insider Tour of Malls.......2006-08-19
Underhill meanders through the mall voicing his observations aloud. It feels like an informal tour, but his knowledge of shoppers and retailers is based on the indepth study that has consumed his adult life.
Along the way, he entertains us with descriptions of avid women shoppers, men's discomfort in the mall setting and how teens and seniors interact with malls. The reader gains new insight into his/her own behavior while shopping and in the way the stores lure the buyer.
He touches on international malls, as well as the typical American mall. He exposes their flaws, suggests changes, and praises what works.
I kept feeling that there must be more to tell, as the effect is of a behind-the-scenes, but not all-the-secrets tour.
Never be a naive shopper again!.......2006-07-19
I love this book. It opened my eyes to all the tricks of the trade: how stores lay out their merchandise to attract buyers, secret shoppers, shopping spies, etc. I now look for end-cap specials, pricing on the low shelves, perimeter shopping, etc. Did you know that stores hire shopping evaluators to follow customers around, recording what they touch, pick up, put in their baskets? I have now spotted several that I would have missed before. I also purchased Underhill's other book, Call of the Mall, although I wouldn't rate it quite as highly as this one. If you are at all interested in the subject of why people buy, then you need to read this book.
A retailing must have!.......2006-07-17
Call of the Mall by Paco Underhill is an excellently written work that explores the geography of mall usage as well as a bit of a history of suburban and urban malls. First off, I was caught by the writing style as it was easy to follow and yet full of good information. Paco explores everything from mall security to food courts to discount jewelry stores being next to Tiffany's. He goes into analyzing the shopping habits of men, women, and teenage girls. He talks about the barrier between the mall and store and how to entice customers inside. All in all, this is a must have for any retail person.
I am into retail but from the web side of things and really enjoyed trying to make connections into that space. It is a little more limited in that aspect but still a good mental exercise. For instance, it is known that as people stay in the mall for a longer period of time they are more and more likely to buy things which is why you have the food court, rock climbing, and movie theatres. Imagine in the web world on ebay where you could have flash games that would allow you to stay and watch your auctions while killing time. Ebay could then put up other similar auctions to the ones you are watching...
Either way, this is a must have for retailers and a fun read for hobby anthropologists.
Book Description
Provides the nuts-and-bolts material to begin designing a retail or mixed-use facility.
* Features project photographs, diagrams and floor plans, and sections and details.
* Provides need-to-know information on such essential topics as consensus-based decision making, site selection, renovation, code compliance, and more.
Order your copy today!
Book Description
Winner of the Society of Architectural Historians' 1999 Spiro Kostof Award
From the 1920s to the 1950s, Los Angeles did for the shopping center what New York and Chicago had done for the skyscraper. In a single generation, the American retail center shifted from the downtown core to the regional shopping center.
Ten years in the making, City Center to Regional Mall is a sweeping yet detailed account of the development of the regional shopping center. Richard Longstreth takes a historical perspective, relating retail development to broader architectural, urban, and cultural issues. His story is far from linear; the topics he covers include the emergence of Hollywood as a downtown in miniature, experiments with the shopping center as an amenity of planned residential developments, the branch department store as a landmark of decentralization, the evolution of off-street parking facilities, and the obscure origins of the pedestrian mall as a spine for retail complexes.
Longstreth takes seriously the task of looking at retail buildings--one of the most neglected yet common building types--and the economics of real estate in the American city. He shows that Los Angeles in the period covered was a harbinger of American metropolitan trends during the second half of this century. Over 250 illustrations, culled from a wide variety of sources, constitute one of the best collections of old LA photographs published anywhere.
Customer Reviews:
Very Informative Book about Los Angeles.......1999-12-11
If you ever wanted to know about the history of Los Angeles and how it became a large metropolitian area, this is the book for you. Hundreds of pictures from the late 1800's to the 1950's makes this book a very resourceful tool.
Well researched documentation of retailing change in L.A.......1998-08-06
The changes in retailing which have taken place in L.A. which are examined in this book have occured throughout the United States and are taking place throughout the world right noe. The population shift to the suburbs and shopping in regional malls.
This has caused the value of retail space to decline in many area of America.
Book Description
Brandscaping - die Gestaltung dreidimensionaler Markenwelten wird mehr und mehr zu einem Thema für die Architektur von Verkaufsflächen. Auf die Herausforderung von E-commerce und globalisiertem Wettbewerb reagieren Unternehmen mit komplexen Konzepten, die den Markenmythos, die Begegnung mit dem Produkt als Objekt der Begierde, im Sinne umfassender prägender Raumerlebnisse inszenieren. Neueste Technologien und Anleihen bei der Unterhaltungsindustrie sind Elemente dieser real erfahrbaren Markenlandschaften, die auf emotionale Qualitäten setzen und vom standardisierten Shop-System bis zum monumentalen Themenpark reichen. "Brandscaping" stellt fünfzehn internationale Projekte aus Architektur und Innenarchitektur vor, darunter Niketown London, City-Mall Sevens Düsseldorf, BMW-Themenpark München, Showroom Qiora New York, Shop-Konzepte Superga (Italien) und Migros (Schweiz). Das Buch dokumentiert ferner eine Workshop-Diskussion zwischen den für diese Projekte verantwortlichen Imagedesignern und Architekten.
Amazon.com
Pico Iyer's book of essays about international locales contends that the modern world-scurrying citizen, pushed by business demands or political migrations, can easily lose both roots and sense of home. Airports have morphed into cities where scores of languages are spoken, thousands work, and millions travel through mazed villages of McDonalds, massage parlors, and self-help groups that twist along for miles; the Dallas-Fort Worth airport alone grabs more space than Manhattan. And city life is no different: Iyer's apartment building also houses an immigration office, banks, four cinemas, dozens of restaurants and nearly 100 boutiques; the technologically plugged-in businessman with whom he stays has five phones across the world, a dozen international bank accounts, and travels more than a pilot.
Whether in Toronto--where in larger schools nearly 80 languages may be heard--London, or at the Olympics in Atlanta, Iyer witnesses the overlapping of hundreds of heterogeneous cultures, often pushed by corporate concerns toward commercial homogeneity and powered by technology that offers an office in the sky. The picture painted by Iyer--himself a confused and well-traveled multicultural citizen--is extreme, sci-fi, and futuristic even though set in the present: a global village turned spinning metropolis, with so many fragments set loose in its gyrations that it threatens to explode the minds of its residents. But even this shell-shocked world traveler finds peace, concluding that a simpler life may be a richer one and that home is simply where the frazzled mind decides it will be. In an era when new frontiers open monthly, when frequent flyer miles serve as currency, and constant change may be a lifestyle demand, Iyer's frantic words and dizzying images may prove as prophetic as Alvin Toffler's Future Shock. --Melissa Rossi
Book Description
From the acclaimed author of
Video Nights in Kathmandu comes this intriguing new book that deciphers the cultural ramifications of globalization and the rising tide of worldwide displacement.
Beginning in Los Angeles International Airport, where town life?shops, services, sociability?is available without a town, Pico Iyer takes us on a tour of the transnational village our world has become. From Hong Kong, where people actually live in self-contained hotels, to Atlanta's Olympic Village, which seems to inadvertently commemorate a sort of corporate universalism, to Japan, where in the midst of alien surfaces his apartment building is called "The Memphis," Iyer ponders what the word "home" can possibly mean in a world whose face is blurred by its cultural fusion and its alarmingly rapid rate of change.
Customer Reviews:
Fun Topic .......2005-12-27
A fun topic with only partial in depth exploration. A change from Pico Iyers other true travel stories, this book explores the actual travler themself. For anyone who has spend time actually living in other cultures, the book will hit home on some tangent. Fun read but not as good as some of Pico Iyer's other reads.
A little too much?.......2003-02-22
Iyer is an entertaining writer. That's why I read him. This book, although not excellent, is good (I like "The Lady and the Monk" better though). I really enjoyed the last chapter of the book about his experiences as a foreigner in Japan. I could relate because I too, lived as a foreigner in Japan. But the remainder of the book came across to me as a little bit too much. In other words - exaggerated and overdone. But this is not a worthless book. It's merit comes in remembering that these are the author's ideas and experiences - not everyone else's.
Smart, humane , edgy and I couldn't stop reading.......2002-07-24
I love this book. I'm sending it to all my relatives who, like the author, are modern post-ethnics with no true sense of ethnic allegiance. His insights are quite droll: a person with no deep national loyalty may be staunchly loyal to one airline. And some huge portion of all airmiles are earned on the ground! He captures the absurd, the sad, the hopeful aspects of being a bourgeois post-ethnic in today's climate. I take my hat off to this man for writing a book that can be said to speak for an entire generation. That may sound audacious but those are the feelings he inspires in one reader! The book is not only about travel. You can be a reluctant traveller (like me) and still enjoy his narrative.
The great thing about this book -- it can be read out of order. I read the Toronto chapter first. I read the Empire chapter next. I read the first chapter last. It works. This is a book I will re-read. It has some errors, which other reviews here have rightly pointed out, but in total it's a...good read and its insights are substantial.
Struck by Disconnect - Customer v. Editorial Reviews.......2001-12-07
I had already begun reading this book (have read only a/b the first 50 pages), when I logged on to Amazon, with a view to e-mailing a friend a link to the book. Started browsing through the editorial and customer reviews -- all the editorial reviews v. positive, but majority of the customer reviews quite negative.
My bias is gen. towards the customers (and esp. in this case, since they seem to be more actual travellers, vs. editors who merely review travel writing). Yet, and I find this odd, I actually like what I've read so far (caveat: haven't read it all), though I would agree, to a degree, with some of the negative comments.
Perhaps it's because I can relate. Work in finance. Born & raised in Bombay, studied in the US, lived in China learning Mandarin, now in Toronto and a soon-to-be Canadian citizen. No family, no strong ties to anywhere. Perhaps some those readers who dislike the book can't relate.
Some of the comments I agree with. There is repetition. Tone can sometimes be "whiny", as a few readers note. Iyer should pick up some language skills - I can feel at ease in Bombay or Beijing in large part because I have speak both Hindi and Mandarin.
Other criticisms I don't agree with. E.g., some have commented that Iyer's "global soul" relates to a v. small number of people. Well, that's the going-in position. The book is made of observations about being raised, living and working in multiple cultures/geographies. By definition, it's not going to be relevant for most of the 6 bn + people on the planet. They're not the target audience.
Pick yourself up off the ground, Pico!.......2001-11-18
I'm not eager to read a whole lot more by Pico Iyer. He seems very jaded with the world and despairing -- a killjoy for anyone enthusiastic about travel, such as myself. His go-nowhere anecdotes in this book seem like the unbearable whining of a guy who's barking up all the wrong trees looking for happiness.
The reason I don't feel for Pico is that a lot of his woes seem to be directly caused by choices he's made. Don't like airports and strip-malls? Bike or walk the world! Find Japan utterly dehumanizing? Learn the language, so you can make some friends there and talk to your wife, for chrissakes!
I don't feel for people who set themselves up to be miserable, let alone ones who take it out on the reading public by sowing seeds of despair. For an uplifting look at an Indian Brit who's made the best of his situation and shown a good deal of chutzpah, listen to the group Cornershop!
Book Description
Ten ridiculously stereotypical consumer victims (a yuppie, a housewife, a retiree, a jock, a bible thumper, a cowboy, a preppy, a gamer, a goth, and a white suburban gangsta) find themselves unable to leave the mall one day. There is nothing stopping them. The doors are unlocked. Other shoppers are able to come and go as they please. But for some inexplicable reason, these ten people cannot pry themselves away from their shopping miasma. The mall closes, and they won't leave. Days pass, and they're still there, eating meals in the food court and sleeping in department store bedroom displays. Then they begin to die off, one by one, murdered by a mysterious killer, and they still won't allow themselves to escape.
Carlton Mellick III's "The Menstruating Mall" is both a modernized take on Luis Bunuel's "The Exterminating Angel," and a parody of Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None." Featuring mock mall advertisements by retard punk hero Food Fortunata and cover art by Skin242.
Customer Reviews:
Fun, satirical, read.......2007-09-20
I read this book in between my college classes. It is fast paced and fun to read and made me laugh out loud about a dozen times. The characters are hilariously stereotypical but definitely that way by design. This book has definitely surreal moments and circumstances, as the title mentions, the mall is literally menstruating, which even though that is hard to picture or understand, it actually makes sense in the context of this book. I've read other books by Carlton Mellick III and I would say that this is one of his best. The plot is well fleshed out and the setting is very strange and compelling. Oh, and the illustrations are killer!
Don't shop at this mall!.......2007-08-31
Okay, there is this really big suburban shopping mall, but ordinary really big, not biggest-in-the-world big. On a Friday afternoon, it is pretty crowded, with lots of different kinds of people, some more ordinary than others. One of them is a guy named John, and he is a bit lonely, a workaholic, a bit drab, and very consumerismistic (probably not a word, so equate it with "Yuppie"). When the mall is about to close, John goes to leave . . . but cannot. He simply cannot get even close to the door, before he loses all ability to move forward. He does more shopping, tries to leave again, and still cannot. John really wants to go, so that he can work overtime and earn more money, so he can buy more things. He simply cannot leave. John even looks around for security guards, who would normally escort out those who will not leave, but he cannot find one. Not one. Frustrated and beginning to despair, John hides . . . in the john.
The next day dawns, John eats at the food court, and still cannot leave. He starts to notice that there are several people there, whom he saw the day before. As time goes on, it becomes clear that there are ten people who cannot leave the mall, and each is the epitome of whatever he or she is. John the Yuppie, Jen the Preppy, Spyder the Gamer, Cedrick the White Gangsta, Aaron the Cowboy, Brock the Jock, Chloe the Goth Girl, an old man (he does not give his name, I believe) who is the Retiree, Wyoming the Housewife, and Carole the Super-religious. The ten of them try to figure out how to escape the mall, but none of their ideas work. Then, they notice that nobody else is in the mall any more. There are many people standing outside, staring inside, expressionlessly.
Then, the first person dies, possibly by suicide, but probably not. Is the killer one of the remaining nine? They try to piece is together, but no luck. Another one dies, and it clearly is murder. The killer leaves a message behind, that the remaining eight can survive, if they can prove they are able to break out of their respective stereotypes. They act weirder and weirder, trying to prove they can go beyond their typical, mundane selves.
This sounds strange? It gets much, much more bizarre after that, ending up in what could be described as a suburban consumerist nightmare dreamscape. By the way, the title of the book is not symbolic, but literal. Does anyone survive? I will not tell. Would you want any of them to survive, by the end? I am not sure I did.
This is one of the most bizarre books that I have read, and I am sure that Carlton Mellick III (the author) would take that as the highest praise. I have read two other books of his: Sea of the Patchwork Cats (Avant Punk Book Club) and Punk Land, and those two are also some of the most bizarre books I have read. This author strives (and sometimes strains) to be bizarre. On to specifics:
While very strange, there is also a very, very interesting story here. I often found it revolting and disgusting, but it was also riveting. I had trouble stopping, despite often wanting to find a seek out the nearest incinerator in which to deposit this book.
By the way, this is not a novel, by formal definition. While it has over two hundred pages (which are not numbered!), it also has very large print, and it is littered with "illustrations" or "advertisements". I used the word "littered" very intentionally, as they were definitely the part of the book I liked the least. These pictures are on a par with public restroom (or high school bathroom) graffiti. I refer to both the quality of these line drawings, and to the vulgar, profane, and consistently scatological content of the drawings. They are parodies of advertisements of well-known franchise stores. I am surprised that the author, the illustrator, and/or the publisher did not get sued by many of these chains. I guess that the drawings are no outrageously insulting that they figured that no one could possibly take them seriously. I did not take them seriously, nor did I find them funny.
I did not enjoy reading this book. I did not hate reading this book. I will never read it again. I will never forget it. I will try to, but I fear that I will fail. But, I could not stop reading it either. When you were a little kid, and had a loose tooth, did you wiggle it, even though it hurt? That is a good analogy for reading this book. Wiggle, wiggle. Ow! Wiggle, wiggle.
Read this instead of Stephen King.......2007-07-11
Faster, funner, grosser, funnier, cleverer, weirder... everything "-er." If you're sick of the same old 400 pg. snooze with a little twist at the end, read this instead. It's got the humor and the horror that makes a great horror movie, plus the pacing to get you through it.
One of Mellick's best.......2007-06-19
This book is hyper fun. Ten characters shopping in a mall suddenly find that they can't bring themselves to leave, the mall closes, they are stuck there and find themselves in the middle of a mall-world that in undergoing some fundamental shift. The mall itself is like some kind of living being that is on its period and transforming in some weird ways. If that isn't distraction enough, the characters are starting to be killed off one by one in very strange and hilarious ways by a serial killer. This book is surreal, funny, irreverent, satirical, and touching. I highly recommend it!
Mellick's Best.......2007-01-24
This was the first Carlton Mellick III book I read and was the first Bizarro genre book I read. Since then I have delved deeply into the genre, but I always keep coming back to this book.
Other reviewers have summarized the plot, so read other reviews to find out what the book is about. What is not discussed enough is the densely woven story that Father Mellick has for us. By using stereotypes, Mellick can easily target so many hypocrisies of human nature. But there is also an incredible amount of satire that is easy to miss at work in the book. The scenes at the mall bar are easily, the best parodies Mellick has done of the "common man."
I feel I could write a book on just interrupting this book. Buy this now, if you don't have it. It could just change your life.
Customer Reviews:
A must-read for secondary educators.......2004-02-15
This is the best book I've read on secondary education. Most educators would agree that small schools--where teachers and students know each other well and cooperate on meaningful work--are incredibly effective. However, standard high schools are large and chaotic places where students and teachers go through the motions and not much of great intellectual significance ever happens. Rather, they are like shopping malls, where customers (students) go into stores (classrooms) and are offered goods (knowledge) by merchants (teachers).
We convince ourselves, though, that large, shopping mall-style high schools provide a "choice" for students, and grant them numerous "opportunities" to achieve. (Customers can choose whether they want to buy what the merchant is selling.) Writing in a similar style as "Horace's Compromise"--what Ted Sizer calls "fictional non-fiction"--the authors challenge the notion that big is better, and that more content equates to more learning. They demonstrate how truly ineffective schools are when they force teachers to see 160 students a day for only 50 minutes at a time.
The book wraps up with a detailed history of secondary schooling in the United States that demonstrates how we got to a place where we expect schools to do so much that they cannot do any of it well. If you are a secondary teacher in a large high school, I highly recommend this book.
Book Description
Mercer Mayer's popular Little Critter has a little-bit-scary adventure in this picture-book tale. When he goes to the busy, crowded mall with his mother, he loses track of her. "My mother is lost!" he tells the nearest security guard, bravely trying not to cry. Little Critter is taken to the security office and watches for his mother on the tv screens that are all around. It isn't long before Little Critter's mother rushes to the office to reclaim her son. His mother has been found! This small, suspenseful tale treats an important subject, and its funny, satisfying ending will be reassuring to children.
Customer Reviews:
Just Cute! (And Smart).......2006-03-05
That's how I'd describe this book in the "Little Critter" series, but then again, that's how I'd describe a lot of them.
This book is about Little Critter and his family visiting a shopping mall. There's a "jillion" critters there and Little Critter's Mom encourages him to stay close. But despite his best efforts, Little Critter's Mom gets lots. :D Fortunately, Little Critter knows just what to do and once they've read this book, kids will too.
The power of this book has already been attested to, so there's not really much more I can say about that. This is a story that kids can remember and if they ever get lost, they'll know just what to do.
My review of Just Lost.......2004-09-22
I think the book is very good. I liked reading it. The book gave a lot of information about not getting lost and what to do if you get lost. If you are ever lost in a mall you need to go to an adult and tell them that you are lost or that your mom is lost. I also like the pictures that are in the book. The pictures helped to make the book interesting
Helped my son when he got lost.......2003-02-15
I highly recommend this book! We recently went to a very crowded water park where we got separated from our 4 year old son. We found him, or I should say he found us, about 10 minutes later. He went up to a lifeguard and told them he couldn't find his mommy, then proceeded to give them my name and his name. When we asked him how he knew what to do, he said, it was because of the "Just Lost!" book and what we had talked about if he got lost. This book gives you a great opportunity to discuss a plan with your child if they should, heaven forbid, ever get lost.
Review by a 7-year-old.......2000-05-03
This story is a good one. It is called "Just Lost". It reminded me that I should stay by my mom or dad at the mall. And I learned that I should say "Wait for me" so I won't get lost.
Wonderful.......1998-11-10
I have been reading Mercer Mayer books to my children since they were one year old, and they love everyone of them. Just Lost is now my favourite, because of what took place in the book, actually came true this Spring while vacationing in Florida while we were at a mall. My 6 year old son, who was "just lost", did exactly what Little Critter did in this story. When we finally found him, his actual first words were, "I did just what they said in the Little Critter book Mommy". I was so proud of him, and can't believe that this book would come to his mind at a time like that!
Books:
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7)
- Haywire: Poems (Swenson Poetry Award)
- High Noon
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- I Like You
- In Cold Blood
- Judge & Jury
Books Index
Books Home
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- God of War
- Mastering the Trade
- Molecular Genetics of Bacteria
- Ride the Big Red Cars: How Trolleys helped Build Southern California
- Global Issues 2006: Selections from the CQ Researcher
- The Spook Who Sat By the Door
General
| Parenting
| Parenting & Families
| Subjects
| Books
I'm Not Mad, I Just Hate You!: A New Understanding of Mother-Daughter Conflict
Staying Connected to Your Teenager: How to Keep Them Talking to You and How to Hear What They're Really Saying
Stop Negotiating With Your Teen: Strategies for Parenting Your Angry, Manipulative, Moody, or Depressed Adolescent
Positive Discipline for Teenagers (Positive Discipline)
When We're In Public, Pretend You Don't Know Me: Surviving Your Daughter's Adolescence so You Don't Look like an Idiot and She Still Talks to You
