I Love, Love, Love Google Books!

Yesterday I stumbled upon this little gem of a book, called The Child's Own English Book, written by Alice Eliza Ball, and I just had to share my pure delight mixed with sorrow.  

This book is such a fun and gentle way to teach elementary school-aged children about the parts of speech and punctuation, with the bulk of the teaching done using games, games, and more games!  Plus, not only is the book written to the child in a delightful conversational tone, but the games and exercises increase in difficulty and writing ability, so one could easily use this book year after year until a child is ready for a serious study of grammar.  Can you tell that I love, love, love this book?!

But, it's completely out-of-print and cannot be found through any used book retailer.  

Enter my sorrow.  As much as I like free, I much more prefer holding a concrete book in my hands although it be almost an hundred years old.

So, today, I'm taking a wee trip to Staples to see if they can print and bind it for me.  I want to--I need to--I must use this with all of my kiddie students this year ((and next, and next, and next))!

Here's an example of an exercise from the chapter on Verbs:

"Pretend that you are Santa Claus, and act out what he is supposed to do.  Pretend that you are an indian; a sailor; a soldier.  Have the class guess what you are doing.  Keep lists of verbs or action words that are used.  Invent other similar games."

And another from the chapter on Adjectives:

"Would you like to play some adjective games?  Let us play the one called, "I'm Thinking of Something."  Describe some object in the schoolroom and see if the class can guess what it is.  Describe something not in the classroom, for your classmates to guess.  What adjectives did you use?  Play this game at home frequently."

Can you not also hear the squeals of delight pouring from the mouths of my children, the giggles that will follow as they play charades while learning about verbs and "I Spy" while mastering adjectives?  Can there ever be a better way to spend your educational minutes than laughing and playing together?  

I think not.

Thank you, Google Books, my children and I thank you.