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Print: $10.00 Download: FREE Free download. This book contain 250 stories about good deeds, including this one: When Paul Dver was a high-school student, he met comedian Soupy Sales, became friends with him, and even occasionally talked to him on the telephone. Paul would tell his fellow high-school students that he was friends with Soupy Sales, and of course they didn’t believe him. One day, Paul asked Soupy for a favor. Paul and a friend were appearing in a play, and Paul asked Soupy to record an advertisement for them because if it were recorded in Soupy’s voice the local radio station would play it. Soupy did more than just record the advertisement as written. He threw in some ad-libs and made it funny. Of course, Paul’s high-school friends were amazed to hear Soupy’s voice on the radio advertising Paul and his friend’s play.
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Download: FREE Free download. Comedian Danny Thomas received his greatest compliment from Mike Todd, who was in a nightclub while Mr. Thomas was performing. Mr. Todd had lifted his coffee cup from his saucer when Mr. Thomas went into the dramatic part in his “Ode to the Wailing Lebanese.” Mr. Todd felt it was inappropriate to put the coffee cup to his lips at such a dramatic moment, and he was afraid that he would make a noise if he set the coffee cup back down. So he held the coffee cup suspended in mid-air for three minutes, until the dramatic part was over.  Download for Free |
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Print: $12.95 Download: FREE Free download. This book contains 250 anecdotes about good deeds, including this one: Because of illness, comedian/singer Martha Raye was unable to appear on Garry Moore’s nighttime show, so Carol Burnett, then a relative unknown, was asked to replace her. Ms. Raye watched the show, then mock-complained to Mr. Moore, “I knew you were going to have to get someone good to replace me—but did you have to get someone that good?” She also sent Ms. Burnett twelve roses.
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Download: FREE Free download. This 657-word story uses humor to teach young children not to litter.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. This book contains 500 anecdotes, including this one: Andrew Tobias knows a couple of gay men who are raising a daughter who is trilingual. The gay men speak English and French around the house, and the babysitter speaks nothing but Spanish. Not allowing their daughter to watch TV, the gay men bought her instead a bunch of Disney videotapes—all in Spanish. For a long time, their daughter thought the TV set spoke only Spanish.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. This book is a question-and-answer guide to Dante's "Inferno," the first volume of his great trilogy "The Divine Comedy." This book provides background information and an interpretation of the poem and is meant to be a guide for new readers and new teachers of the "Inferno." I have read and taught Dante's "Inferno" many times at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. I have read, studied and taught Dante’s "Divine Comedy," and I wish to pass on what I have learned to other people who are interested in studying Dante’s "Divine Comedy." In particular, I think that the readers of this short introduction to Dante’s Purgatory" will be bright high school seniors and college first-year students, as well as intelligent adults who simply wish to study "The Divine Comedy" despite not being literature majors.
This book uses a question-and-answer format. It poses, then answers, relevant questions about Dante, background information, and "The Divine Comedy." This book goes through the "Purgatory" canto by canto.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. I have read, studied and taught Dante’s "Divine Comedy," and I wish to pass on what I have learned to other people who are interested in studying Dante’s "Divine Comedy." In particular, I think that the readers of this short introduction to Dante’s "Paradise" will be bright high school seniors and college first-year students, as well as intelligent adults who simply wish to study "The Divine Comedy" despite not being literature majors.
This book uses a question-and-answer format. It poses, then answers, relevant questions about Dante, background information, and "The Divine Comedy." This book goes through the "Paradise" canto by canto.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. I enjoy reading Forrest Carter’s “The Education of Little Tree,” and I believe that it is an excellent book for young adults (and for middle-aged adults such as myself) to read.
This book contains many questions about Forrest Carter’s “The Education of Little Tree” and their answers. I hope that teachers of young adults will find it useful as a guide for discussions. It can also be used for short writing assignments. Students can answer selected questions from this little guide orally or in one or more paragraphs.
I hope to encourage teachers to teach Forrest Carter’s “The Education of Little Tree,” and I hope to lessen the time needed for teachers to prepare to teach this book.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. This book is a question-and-answer guide to Homer's "Iliad," the great epic poem about the Trojan War. This book provides background information and an interpretation of the poem and is meant to be a guide for new readers and new teachers of the "Iliad." I have read and taught Homer's "Iliad" many times at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. I have read, studied, and taught the Odyssey by Homer, and I wish to pass on what I have learned to other people who are interested in studying the Odyssey. In particular, I think that the readers of this short introduction to the Odyssey will be bright high school seniors and college first-year students, as well as intelligent adults who simply wish to study the Odyssey despite not being literature majors.
This book uses a question-and-answer format. It poses, then answers, relevant questions about Homer, background information, and the Odyssey. This book goes through the Odyssey book by book.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. I have read, studied and taught Jane Austen’s "Pride and Prejudice" many times, and I wish to pass on what I have learned to other people who are interested in studying Jane Austen’s "Pride and Prejudice."
This book uses a question-and-answer format. It poses, then answers, relevant questions about Jane Austen, background information, and "Pride and Prejudice." This book goes through "Pride and Prejudice" chapter by chapter.
Teachers may find this book useful as a discussion guide for the novel. Teachers can have students read chapters from the novel, then teachers can ask students selected questions from this study guide.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. I enjoy reading Jerry Spinelli’s “Maniac Magee,” and I believe that it is an excellent book for children (and for adults such as myself) to read.
This book contains many questions about Jerry Spinelli’s “Maniac Magee” and their answers. I hope that teachers of children will find it useful as a guide for discussions. It can also be used for short writing assignments. Students can answer selected questions from this little guide orally or in one or more paragraphs.
I hope to encourage teachers to teach Jerry Spinelli’s “Maniac Magee,” and I hope to lessen the time needed for teachers to prepare to teach this book.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. I enjoy reading Jerry Spinelli’s "Stargirl," and I believe that it is an excellent book for young adults (and for middle-aged adults such as myself) to read.
This book contains many questions about Jerry Spinelli’s "Stargirl" and their answers. I hope that teachers of young adults will find it useful as a guide for discussions. It can also be used for short writing assignments. Students can answer selected questions from this little guide orally or in one or more paragraphs.
I hope to encourage teachers to teach Jerry Spinelli’s "Stargirl," and I hope to lessen the time needed for teachers to prepare to teach this book.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. This short pamphlet contains Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" and a few anecdotes about Jonathan Swift. It also includes a number of questions and their answers about Jonathan Swift and "A Modest Proposal."  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. I enjoy reading Lloyd Alexander’s "The Book of Three," and I believe that it is an excellent book for children (and for adults such as myself) to read.
This book contains many questions about Lloyd Alexander’s "The Book of Three" and their answers. I hope that teachers of children will find it useful as a guide for discussions. It can also be used for short writing assignments. Students can answer selected questions in this little guide orally or in one or more paragraphs.
I hope to encourage teachers to teach Lloyd Alexander’s "The Book of Three," and I hope to lessen the time needed for teachers to prepare to teach this book.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. I enjoy reading Lois Lowry’s “Number the Stars,” and I believe that it is an excellent book for children (and for middle-aged adults such as myself) to read. This book contains many questions about Lois Lowry’s “Number the Stars” and their answers. I hope that teachers of children will find it useful as a guide for discussions. It can also be used for short writing assignments. The questions in this little guide refer to writing, but of course students can answer selected questions from this little guide orally or in one or more paragraphs. I hope to encourage teachers to teach Lois Lowry’s “Number the Stars,” and I hope to lessen the time needed for teachers to prepare to teach this book.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. I have read, studied and taught Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” many times at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, and I wish to pass on what I have learned to other people who are interested in studying Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” In particular, I think that the readers of this question-and-answer guide to Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” will be teachers who will be teaching this novel. This guide will give teachers discussion questions to use in class as well as topics for student papers, both long and short.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. I have read, studied and taught Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Tom Sawyer” many times at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, and I wish to pass on what I have learned to other people who are interested in studying Twain’s “Adventures of Tom Sawyer.” In particular, I think that the readers of this question-and-answer guide to Twain’s “Adventures of Tom Sawyer” will be teachers who will be teaching this novel. This guide will give teachers discussion questions to use in class as well as topics for student papers, both long and short.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. This book uses a question-and-answer format. It poses, then answers, relevant questions about Twain, background information, and "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court." This book goes through "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court" chapter by chapter. I recommend that you read the relevant section of "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court," then read my comments, then go back and re-read the relevant section of "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court." However, do what works for you.
Teachers may find this book useful as a discussion guide for the novel. Teachers can have students read chapters from the novel, then teachers can ask students selected questions from this book.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. I have read, studied and taught Mark Twain’s “The Prince and the Pauper” many times at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, and I wish to pass on what I have learned to other people who are interested in studying Twain’s “The Prince and the Pauper.” In particular, I think that the readers of this question-and-answer guide to Twain’s “The Prince and the Pauper” will be teachers who will be teaching this novel. This guide will give teachers discussion questions to use in class as well as topics for student papers, both long and short.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. I enjoy reading Nancy Garden’s “Annie on My Mind,” and I believe that it is an excellent book for young adults (and for middle-aged adults such as myself) to read.
This book contains many questions about Nancy Garden’s “Annie on My Mind” and their answers. I hope that teachers of young adults will find it useful as a guide for discussions. It can also be used for short writing assignments. Students can answer selected questions from this little guide orally or in one or more paragraphs.
I hope to encourage teachers to teach Nancy Garden’s “Annie on My Mind” and I hope to lessen the time needed for teachers to prepare to teach this book.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. The purpose of this book is educational. I enjoy reading Nicholas Sparks’ “A Walk to Remember,” and I believe that it is an excellent book for young adults (and for middle-aged adults such as myself) to read.
This book contains many questions about Nicholas Sparks’ “A Walk to Remember” and their answers. I hope that teachers of young adults will find it useful as a guide for discussions. It can also be used for short writing assignments. Students can answer selected questions from this little guide orally or in one or more paragraphs.
I hope to encourage teachers to teach Nicholas Sparks’ “A Walk to Remember” and I hope to lessen the time needed for teachers to prepare to teach this book.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. I have read, studied and taught the Aeneid by Virgil, and I wish to pass on what I have learned to other people who are interested in studying the Aeneid. In particular, I think that the readers of this introduction to the Aeneid will be bright high school seniors and college first-year students, as well as intelligent adults who simply wish to study Aeneid despite not being literature majors.
This discussion guide uses a question-and-answer format. It poses, then answers, relevant questions about Virgil, background information, and the Aeneid. This discussion guide goes through the Aeneid book by book.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. This short document consists of John Dryden's translation into English of Book 2 of Virgil's "Aeneid." Book 2 tells the story of the Fall of Troy. I have annotated the document in hopes to make the writing more intelligible to readers who are unfamiliar with ancient mythology. I have also included a number of questions and their answers so that teachers can use them, if they wish, in discussions in classrooms.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. I have read, studied and taught Voltaire’s "Candide," and I wish to pass on what I have learned to other people who are interested in studying Voltaire’s "Candide."
This book uses a question-and-answer format. It poses, then answers, relevant questions about Voltaire, background information, and "Candide." I recommend that you read the relevant section of "Candide," then read my comments, then go back and re-read the relevant section of "Candide." However, do what works for you.
Teachers may find this book useful as a discussion guide for the novel. Teachers can have students read chapters from the novel, then teachers can ask students selected questions from this study guide.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. I have read, studied and taught William Shakespeare’s "1 Henry IV," and I wish to pass on what I have learned to other people who are interested in studying William Shakespeare’s "1 Henry IV."
Teachers may find this book useful as a discussion guide for the play. Teachers can have students read a section of the play, then teachers can ask students selected questions from this study guide.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. I have read, studied and taught William Shakespeare’s "Macbeth," and I wish to pass on what I have learned to other people who are interested in studying William Shakespeare’s "Macbeth."
This book uses a question-and-answer format. This book goes through the play scene by scene. I recommend that you read the relevant section of "Macbeth," then read my comments, then go back and re-read the relevant section of "Macbeth."
Teachers may find this book useful as a discussion guide for the tragedy. Teachers can have students read a section of the play, then teachers can ask students selected questions from this study guide.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. I have read, studied and taught William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and I wish to pass on what I have learned to other people who are interested in studying William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
This book uses a question-and-answer format. This book goes through the play scene by scene. I recommend that you read the relevant section of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream," then read my comments, then go back and re-read the relevant section of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream."  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. I have read, studied and taught William Shakespeare’s "Romeo and Juliet," and I wish to pass on what I have learned to other people who are interested in studying William Shakespeare’s "Romeo and Juliet." In particular, I think that the readers of this short introduction to William Shakespeare’s "Romeo and Juliet" will be bright high school seniors and college first-year students, as well as intelligent adults who simply wish to study "Romeo and Juliet" despite not being literature majors.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. A major reason to use "Oddballs" in schools is as a model for autobiographical writing. Writing autobiographical essays can be a fun composition assignment, and for some students it can be an art.
Be aware that although "Oddballs" was written for children in middle school and junior high school and for young adults in high school, it can also be used in college courses. The essays are entertaining and well written, and they are excellent models for the autobiographical essays you can ask your students to write.
I hope to encourage teachers to teach William Sleator’s "Oddballs," and I hope to lessen the time needed for teachers to prepare to teach this book. I also hope to give teachers many anecdotes to tell in class.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. This is a retelling of Dante's "Inferno" in novel form.  Download for Free |
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Print: $13.95 Download: FREE Free download. This is a retelling of Homer's "Odyssey" in novel form.
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Download: FREE Free download. This book consists of a number of philosophical arguments that I find interesting and that I think that some other people may find interesting. May you be struck by philosophical lightning.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. This pamphlet contains several Mark Twain anecdotes, including this one: Humorist Mark Twain, author of "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," once stayed at the home of political cartoonist Thomas Nast, who first used the images of an elephant and a donkey to represent the Republican and the Democratic parties. During the night, Mr. Twain was bothered by the sounds of the Nast family’s clocks, so he got up and stopped all of them. The next morning, everyone overslept. Mr. Twain explained what had happened and stated that the clocks had been working too hard, so they should benefit from a good night’s rest.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. This short pdf file contains a number of handouts that cam be used to teach students some basic writing rules. Feel free to make and give away as many copies as you want to for educational purposes. Feel free to distribute this little pamphlet as a pdf file.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. This little pamphlet contains a numbers of handouts that teachers can use to teach their students how to avoid some common writing errors. Of course, students and other people can use this short pamphlet simply as a way to refresh their memory about some simple rules of writing.
Feel free to make as many copies as you want to for educational purposes.
Feel free to distribute this little pamphlet as a pdf file.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. This free pdf file includes a number of handouts about writing that teachers and students are welcome to use for free. Feel free to make as many copies as you want to for educational purposes. Feel free to distribute this little pamphlet as a pdf file.
The handouts cover a number of topics that are important in the writing process, including proofreading. Writing is important in the modern world, and I hope to help teachers to teach well and students to write well.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. I have published several collections of anecdotes in Print-on-Demand book format.
So you would like to write and publish book collections of anecdotes such as "The Funniest People in Sports" or "The Funniest People in Music."
No problem.
It will take a time commitment and some writing ability, but pretty much anyone can do what I do.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. This brief pdf file lists a few techniques for writing humor and satire. It also includes examples.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. This document is written especially for college students. It tells how to write a good resume, list of references, and job-application letter. Feel free to make as many copies as you want to for educational purposes. Feel free to distribute this pamphlet as a pdf file.
The names in the resumes, lists of references, and letters are pseudonyms, and the addresses and telephone numbers have been altered.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. This little pamphlet contains a number of problem-solving scenarios that teachers can use to teach their students how to solve problems. These scenarios are humorous as well as thought provoking. Feel free to make and give away as many copies as you want to for educational purposes. Feel free to distribute this little pamphlet as a pdf file. Teachers may want to put some of these scenarios on transparencies. Teachers can show students a problem-solving scenario on a transparency and then have students come up with solutions to the problem. The problems usually or always will have more than one solution.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. This document describes how to teach a composition project: writing an autobiographical essay or personal narrative. It includes sample student essays, some advice about writing and some rules of composition, and exercises to help students gather content and write vividly.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. This free pdf download describes a composition assignment that I have used successfully during my years of teaching at Ohio University. Feel free to make as many copies as you want to for educational purposes. Feel free to distribute this little pamphlet as a pdf file. Other teachers are welcome to download and read this pdf file and decide whether this assignment will work in their classes.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. This free pdf download describes a composition assignment—writing a review (e.g., of a restaurant, book, movie, etc.)—that I have used successfully during my years of teaching at Ohio University. Feel free to make as many copies as you want to for educational purposes. Feel free to distribute this little pamphlet as a pdf file.
Other teachers are welcome to download and read this pdf file and decide whether this assignment will work in their classes.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. This free pdf download describes a composition assignment that I have used successfully during my years of teaching at Ohio University: writing a short research project on a famous plagiarist. Feel free to make as many copies as you want to for educational purposes. Feel free to distribute this little pamphlet as a pdf file.
Other teachers are welcome to download and read this pdf file and decide whether this assignment will work in their classes.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. This free pdf download describes a composition assignment that I have used successfully during my years of teaching at Ohio University. Feel free to make as many copies as you want to for educational purposes. Feel free to distribute this little pamphlet as a pdf file. Other teachers are welcome to download and read this pdf file and decide whether this assignment will work in their classes.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. This free pdf download describes a composition assignment that I have used successfully during my years of teaching at Ohio University. Feel free to make as many copies as you want to for educational purposes. Feel free to distribute this little pamphlet as a pdf file.
Other teachers are welcome to download and read this pdf file and decide whether this assignment will work in their classes.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. This free pdf download describes a composition assignment that I have used successfully during my years of teaching at Ohio University. Feel free to make as many copies as you want to for educational purposes. Feel free to distribute this little pamphlet as a pdf file.
Other teachers are welcome to download and read this pdf file and decide whether this assignment will work in their classes.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE This free pdf download describes a composition assignment that I have used successfully during my years of teaching at Ohio University. This document describes a Progress Report that can be assigned at school, but Progress Reports are commonly used at work.
In my junior composition courses at Ohio University, I require a long paper at the end of the quarter. Midway between the date the long paper is assigned and the date the long paper is due, I require students to write a Progress Report that details the work that the student has done on the paper and the work that remains to be done on the paper. One benefit of my doing this is that students are motivated to work on the long paper so that they have actual progress to report.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE This free pdf file explains and gives examples of a composition project that I have used successfully during my years of teaching at Ohio University. In this composition project, students write a Proposal to write a Long Project such as an Employee Manual.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Free download. This free pdf download describes a composition assignment that I have used successfully during my years of teaching at Ohio University. Feel free to make as many copies as you want to for educational purposes. Feel free to distribute this little pamphlet as a pdf file. Other teachers are welcome to download and read this pdf file and decide whether this assignment will work in their classes.  Download for Free |
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Print: $6.34 Download: FREE Free download. Talented writers congregate in Athens, Ohio. This is a collection of some of their humorous autobiographical essays.
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Print: $6.34 Download: FREE Free download. Talented writers congregate in Athens, Ohio. This is a collection of some of their essays.
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Print: $7.38 Download: FREE Free download. Talented writers congregate in Athens, Ohio. This is a collection of some of their humorous autobiographical essays.
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Print: $6.60 Download: FREE Free download. This book collects the humorous autobiographical essays of talented authors in Athens, Ohio, who write about life, and especially about growing up, in America.
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Print: $7.78 Download: FREE Free download. This book collects several stories by talented authors in Athens, Ohio, who write about love, friendship, and growing up.
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Print: $7.74 Download: FREE Free download. This book is a collection of mainly humorous stories by talented writers in Athens, Ohio, about life, growing up, family, and friends.
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Print: $8.90 Download: FREE Free download. This book collects several humorous autobiographical essays by talented writers in Athens, Ohio.
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Print: $8.04 Download: FREE Free download. Talented writers congregate in Athens, Ohio. This is a collection of some of their essays.
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Print: $9.10 Download: FREE Free download. Talented writers congregate in Athens, Ohio. This is a collection of some of their essays.
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Print: $8.50 Download: $1.25 This volume is a short biography of Nadia Comaneci, winner of five gold medals at the Olympics.
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Print: $11.50 Download: $1.25 This book collects 250 stories about good deeds, including this one: When the great 19th-century actor Sir Henry Irving discovered an old woman who needed money to survive but who couldn’t work, he would hire her to take care of the cats in his theater. Later, he was going to hire an old woman to take care of the cats, but then he discovered that he had already hired three old women to take care of the cats. Therefore, he hired this old woman to take care of the three old women who took care of the cats.
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Print: $12.95 The doing of good deeds is important. As a free person, you can choose to live your life as a good person or as a bad person. To be a good person, do good deeds. To be a bad person, do bad deeds. If you do good deeds, you will become good. If you do bad deeds, you will become bad. To become the person you want to be, act as if you already are that kind of person. Each of us chooses what kind of person we will become. To become a hero, do the things a hero does. To become a coward, do the things a coward does. The opportunity to take action to become the kind of person you want to be is yours.
This book collects 250 stories of good deeds from the arts, from religion, and from life.
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Print: $9.95 Download: $1.25 This book includes 250 anecdotes about movies, including this one: When she was a little girl, actress Samantha Morton attended drama club with other little kids. For one lesson, she was supposed to improvise a scene with another little girl. The two girls stood in front of the group, and the drama teacher whispered to little Samantha the theme of the improvisation: “The other girl’s stolen your hamster.” Samantha responded by improvising in her own way. She says, “I beat the crap out of this girl, and they didn’t ask me back.”
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Print: $9.99 Download: $1.25 This book contains 250 anecdotes about politics and history, including this one: AIDS activist Kate Barnhart once demonstrated outside a board of education, a reporter for a Catholic TV station interviewed her. The reporter asked if she used condoms, and she answered no. Hearing this, the reporter thought that this was a contradiction in Ms. Barnhart’s position, so he asked, “You mean you don’t use condoms during sex?” Ms. Barnhart explained that she doesn’t have sex. The reporter then asked, “Well, since you believe in abstinence, would you recommend that other young people do as you do?” She replied, “Sure, I would recommend that all young people spend their time out here on the streets demonstrating for AIDS education.”
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Print: $11.00 Download: $1.25 This book contains 250 anecdotes about politics and history, including this one: The Kennedy family was well known for playing touch football, a game that can sometimes be hazardous. Before marrying John F. Kennedy, Jackie Bouvier played touch football with his family—and suffered a broken ankle. And when John and Jackie were finally married, the groom had scratches and bruises on his face from a touch football game he had played earlier that day.
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Print: $10.75 Download: $1.25 This book contains 250 anecdotes about people in politics and history, including this one: William Jennings Bryan used to travel the country by train, stopping in towns and cities to make political speeches. In one small town, no platform was available for him to use to make his speech, so he stood on a piece of farm equipment known as a manure spreader. Standing on the manure spreader, Mr. Bryan told the crowd, “This is the first time I have ever made a speech while standing on the Republican platform.”
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Print: $11.00 This book contains 250 anecdotes about religion, including this one: Comedian Joe E. Brown got married three times to the same woman and never got a divorce. As an impoverished acrobat, he married his wife in an inexpensive civil ceremony, but promised her when they could afford it, they would get married in a fancy church wedding—which they did, 25 years later. A few years after the fancy church wedding, Mrs. Brown said that she wanted to be married by a Catholic priest, since she was Catholic. Mr. Brown agreed to her request, then added, “If it will make you any happier, let a Rabbi marry us, too.”
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Print: $10.75 Download: $1.25 This book contains 250 anecdotes about sports, including this one: Some boys playing baseball in a park once saw Babe Ruth stopped at a red light, and they requested, “Come on, let us see you hit a few.” Babe parked his car and spent 30 minutes hitting easy fly balls so the boys could catch them—and he hit a few that traveled a very long distance. Babe was generous with money, too. One day during spring training, rain resulted in the cancellation of a game, so he went to a racetrack, where he won $9,000. In Babe’s day, players were not paid during spring training, so most of his teammates were broke. Babe went back to the clubhouse, threw the $9,000 on top of an equipment trunk, and said, “Well, boys, look what I found.”
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Print: $7.95 This book contains 250 anecdotes, including this one: Jockey Julie Krone was four-foot-eleven and weighed 100 pounds, and she worried that horse trainers would think that she wasn’t strong enough to handle their horses. To solve that problem, she developed a very strong handshake. One horse trainer remembers, “This cute little girl … comes up to me and squeaks, ‘Hi! I’m Julie Krone! I’m a jockey!’ and takes my hand and brings me to my knees. Well, we let her ride, and she rides like a god.”
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Print: $10.00 Download: $1.25 This book contains 250 anecdotes, including this one: Pro basketball referee Joe Gushue took his young son Michael to a game in Detroit. Unfortunately, the fans were not happy with the referees, and so they threw pennies on the court. Mr. Gushue scooped up the pennies and gave them to his son, who said, “This town is bush. In New York they throw quarters.”
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Print: $9.95 Download: $1.25 This contains 250 anecdotes about art and artists, including this one: Mexican artist Diego Rivera knew what was important in life. While he was living in Paris, a fire broke out in his apartment one night as he was sleeping. Mr. Rivera ran around, gathering paintings and taking them outside to safety. Only after he had saved several paintings did he discover that he wasn’t wearing any pants.
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Print: $10.95 Download: $1.25 This book contains 250 anecdotes about books, authors, and publishing, including this one:
Famed portrait photographer Yousuf Karsh did research on his subjects before taking their photograph. For example, the evening before taking the photograph of author Ernest Hemingway, Mr. Karsh visited Mr. Hemingway’s favorite bar, La Floridita, and sampled Mr. Hemingway’s favorite drink, a daiquiri. The next morning, Mr. Karsh arrived at Mr. Hemingway’s home to take his photograph, and when Mr. Hemingway asked him what he wanted to drink, Mr. Karsh thought that he had the perfect answer: “Daiquiri, sir.” Unfortunately, Mr. Hemingway responded, “Good God, Karsh—at this hour of the day!”
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Print: $10.50 Download: $1.25 This book contains 250 anecdotes about books and authors, including these anecdotes: 1) When author Peg Bracken was growing up, she and her brother sometimes raided the cookie jar. Understandably, their mother did not want them to ruin their appetite before supper, so sometimes young Peg and her brother would find this note inside the cookie jar: “KEEP YOUR BIG MITTS OFF!” 2) The son of professional writer Arthur Machen once asked him to write a 200-word article on the French Revolution for his school’s magazine, but he warned him that the magazine’s editorial board—composed of children like himself—would have to find the article worthy before it would be printed. Mr. Machen was gratified when the editorial board deemed his article worthy of being published.
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Print: $9.95 Download: $1.25 This book contains 250 anecdotes, including these:
1) Opera singer Mary Garden sometimes watched rehearsals of the Ballets Russes with Sergei Diaghilev, and she noticed just how much attention to detail he paid. On one occasion, he noticed a tiny flower in a dancer’s hair and ordered her to remove it because the color wasn’t right. Ms. Garden asked him, “Don’t you ever rest?” Mr. Diaghilev replied, “My dear Mary, there is all eternity to rest.” Ms. Garden writes, “I don’t wonder it was the greatest ballet company in the world.”
2) Whenever the Merce Cunningham Dance Company performed, many dancers sat in the audience. A non-dancer at a performance looked at the audience members as they walked around during the intermission and said, “I’ve never seen an audience so erect, with such beautiful posture.”
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Print: $10.00 Download: $1.25 This book contains 250 anecdotes about families, including this one:
On September 24, 1974, the daughter of actors Michael Williams and Judi Dench was born. She was named Tara Cressida Frances, but everyone called her Finty. Because Finty’s parents were Shakespearean actors, she learned quotations from Shakespeare as a tiny tot. One parent would say, “I’ll put a girdle around the earth …,” and Finty would finish the quotation: “in 40 minutes.” If a parent asked her what King Lear says, Finty would answer, “Never, never—FIVE times!” In a Nativity play, Finty played the innkeeper’s wife, and when she was asked what the play was about, she replied, “It’s about this inn-keeper’s wife, of course.” When Finty was 11 years old, she told a friend that a play her mother was appearing in was “without doubt the most boring play I’ve ever seen in the whole of my life.”
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Print: $9.95 Download: $1.25 This book contains 250 anecdotes about family, friends, and the funny things that happen in real life, including this anecdote: Quaker humorist Tom Mullen has an older brother named Frank, who lives in New York City. During strikes by the people who collect the garbage, Frank has discovered a creative way to get rid of his garbage. He gift wraps it, then leaves it out in plain view. Someone always comes along and steals it.
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Print: $9.95 Download: $1.25 This book contains 250 anecdotes about friends and family, including this anecdote:
When Ohio University student Kate Krushinski was in middle school, she had a German teacher whose last name was “Ball.” Of course, in middle school many students call their male teachers “Mister” and address them by their last name. However, the German word for “Mister” is “Herr,” and the German teacher made his students address him by his first name because he did not want them to call him “Herr Ball.”
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Print: $10.50 Download: $1.25 This book contains 250 anecdotes about families, friends, couples, pets, etc., including this one:
Like heterosexual couples, gay couples have stories about how they got engaged. In 2004, on New Year’s Eve, Amber and Carol were playing Trivial Pursuit with two friends. When the clock struck midnight, Carol knelt and tried to propose—she tried because in the middle of the proposal, Amber yelled, “You’re doing it now? It’s happening now?” Yes, it was happening, and yes, Amber said yes. Today, Amber and Carol share the last name of Dennis after getting married on July 4, 2006.
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Print: $9.95 Download: $1.25 This book contains 250 anecdotes about movies, including this one: While attending Yale University, movie actress Jodie Foster got a role in an off-campus student play—her first role on the stage. On opening night, she warned reporters that they had better write about more than just her—because if they wrote about just her, the other actors “will kill me.”
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Print: $11.00 This book contain 250 anecdotes, including this one: Long ago, singer/songwriter Billy Bragg made a music video for a song called “The Boy Done Good” with some of his nieces and nephews. During a visit, a niece mentioned the video, and Billy’s son, who was a toddler when the video was made, wanted to see it. So Billy spent a week looking everywhere in his home for the video, including getting out a ladder so he could look in the attic. Finally, he gave up and telephoned his niece to ask, “Where did you see the video? ’Cause I can’t find it anywhere. Have you got a copy?” She replied, “Duh, Uncle Bill, it’s on YouTube.” Perhaps unnecessarily, Billy says, “I felt such an idiot, such an old guy.”
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Print: $11.00 Download: $1.25 This book contains 250 anecdotes about music, including this one:
Woody Guthrie taught fellow folksinger Pete Seeger the art of busking—getting money for playing music in a bar. Here is what you do: Go into a bar with your guitar strapped ostentatiously on your back. Buy a beer for a nickel and sip it slowly. Soon, someone will ask about the guitar, “Can you play that thing?” Say, not too eagerly, “Maybe, a little.” A little later, someone will say, “Kid, I’ve got a quarter for you if you pick us a tune.” “Then,” Mr. Guthrie would conclude, “you play your best song.” Mr. Seeger did a lot of busking during his traveling days.
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Print: $10.50 Download: $1.25 This book contains 250 sports anecdotes, including this one: Don Faurot, football coach at Missouri, punished unsportsmanlike behavior. During a game, one of his players hit an opposing player. Referee Cliff Ogden saw the infraction and came running over to throw the player out of the game. However, the player told him, “You can’t put me out of the game—Faurot’s already beat you to it.”
About the Author:
David Bruce is a humor columnist for “The Athens News” in Athens, Ohio. He also teaches English at Ohio University.
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Print: $10.00 Download: $1.25 This book contains 250 anecdotes about television and radio, including this one: Humorist Frank Sullivan had a sister named Kate, who bought a TV in the days when TVs were rare. Very quickly, she called a TV repairman, who asked, “What seems to be wrong with it?” She replied, “Well, for one thing, a lot of the programs are lousy.”
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Print: $10.00 Download: $1.25 This book contains 250 anecdotes about the theater, including this one: Actor John Neville was unhappy in the late 1950s Old Vic production of “Measure for Measure,” so he used to escape to the nearest pub as often as possible. In fact, just before the pub opened at 5:30 p.m., he would lean against the door. When the door was opened, he would fall inside and say, “Sorry I’m late.”
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Print: $10.00 Download: $1.25 This book contains 250 anecdotes, including this one: As a boy, George W. Bush used profanity—something that his mother, Barbara, did not like. One day, they were playing golf. George hit a bad shot on the first hole, and he swore out loud. His mother told him not to use profanity, but George swore out loud on the second hole, too. Barbara ordered him to leave, and George sat in the car while Barbara and a friend (actually, George’s friend) played the remaining 16 holes of golf.
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Print: $9.95 Download: $1.25 This book contains 250 anecdotes, including these: 1) Like other satirists, Mort Sahl is angry and he wants other people to be angry. (Certainly we have enough things to be angry about, and getting angry about them may result in change.) He once advised, “You know what I want you to do? I want you to blow out the candles and curse the darkness.” Mr. Sahl was a good friend of jazz musician Paul Desmond, a sax player. Mr. Sahl once gave Mr. Desmond a cigarette lighter inscribed, “To the sound from the fury.” 2) Comedian Pat Henning once toured England, then many years and a toupee later, toured England again. The toupee did its job—theater managers told him that he was much funnier than his father had been.
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Print: $14.50 Download: $1.25 “The Funniest People in Books and Music” contains such anecdotes as these:
1) When Peg Bracken started writing, she would often type the first page of a famous short story for inspiration. Often, she discovered that the page did not look as impressive typed on a sheet of paper as it did printed on a page in a book, so sometimes she would imitate her English professor and write on the sheet of paper: “You can do better than this, Mr. Faulkner.”
2) In 1950, André Previn played jazz in Baltimore with a couple of American-African musicians. Afterward, he went into a diner, where a couple of white men asked him, “Why the hell don’t you play with your own kind?” Mr. Previn replied, “Well, to tell you the truth, I wanted to, but I couldn’t find two other Jews that swing.”
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Print: $13.62 Download: $4.85 This book contains such anecdotes as these:
1) In his Answer Man column, film critic Roger Ebert answered a question by Matt Sandler about who was the world’s most beautiful woman by saying that she was Indian actress Aishwarya Rai. In a later Answer Man column, a reader stated that Mr. Ebert should have answered the question by saying, “My wife.” However, Mr. Ebert had a good reason for not answering the question that way: “Matt Sandler asked about women, not goddesses.”
2) To advertise its Razzles candy, Mars Candy decided to use a Cleveland, Ohio, show in which comedian Ron Sweed, aka The Ghoul, hosted several mostly bad horror movies. The Ghoul criticized the candy for weeks, and the more he criticized it, the more its sales went up. In gratitude, Mars Candy delivered a case of Razzles to The Ghoul. The case of candy remained on the set of The Ghoul’s show for year--unopened.
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Print: $10.47 Download: $1.25 This book contains such anecdotes as the following:
One day Pope John XXIII went to a nursing home that was run by nuns so he could visit a dying prelate. The nun who answered the door was understandably astonished to see the Pope, and she almost fainted. However, the Pope told her, “No need to be alarmed, Sister. After all, I’m only the Pope.”
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Print: $14.96 This book contains such anecdotes as these:
1) When Panamanian salsa singer Rubén Blades married Lisa Lebenzon, an Anglo (a white American not of Spanish descent) non-Spanish speaker, he asked her to learn Spanish so he could speak his native language at home. She finished in only seven months a Spanish course that normally took three years.
2) Dr. Louis Finkelstein, chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, kept a strictly kosher diet. While in Paris, he and a group of rabbis ate only in kosher restaurants. On leaving Paris, Dr. Finkelstein joked, “I can’t understand all this fuss people make about French cooking. We have the same things at home.”
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Print: $14.98 Download: $5.71 This book contains such anecdotes as these:
1) Bob Zuppke coached the football Illini for years. In a discussion of football rules, someone described a play and asked whether the officials had made the right call. Before answering, however, Mr. Zuppke asked, “Which team made the foul—Illinois or the other one?”
2) At a Westminster Dog Show in Madison Square Garden, a woman was selling an expensive coat made for dogs. Saying “We want her dog to look as smart as madame,” the saleslady held up a pink cocktail coat made out of embroidered silk with a lining of mohair. Sportswriter Robert Lipsyte asked her, “When would a dog wear that?” The saleslady replied, “After five o’clock.”
3) Shannon Martin was six years old when she won an age-12-and-under roping contest, for which she was written up in the “Roping Sports News.” Because she hadn’t learned to read yet, she kept saying to her father, “Come on, Dad. Read it again.”
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Download: $1.25 Hardcover Print: $27.50 The doing of good deeds is important. As a free person, you can choose to live your life as a good person or as a bad person. To be a good person, do good deeds. To be a bad person, do bad deeds. If you do good deeds, you will become good. If you do bad deeds, you will become bad. To become the person you want to be, act as if you already are that kind of person. Each of us chooses what kind of person we will become. To become a hero, do the things a hero does. To become a coward, do the things a coward does. The opportunity to take action to become the kind of person you want to be is yours.
This book collects 250 stories of good deeds from the arts, from religion, and from life.
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Download: $1.25 Hardcover Print: $17.50 This book collects 250 stories about good deeds, including this one: When the great 19th-century actor Sir Henry Irving discovered an old woman who needed money to survive but who couldn’t work, he would hire her to take care of the cats in his theater. Later, he was going to hire an old woman to take care of the cats, but then he discovered that he had already hired three old women to take care of the cats. Therefore, he hired this old woman to take care of the three old women who took care of the cats.
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Download: $1.25 Hardcover Print: $17.50 This contains 250 anecdotes about art and artists, including this one: Mexican artist Diego Rivera knew what was important in life. While he was living in Paris, a fire broke out in his apartment one night as he was sleeping. Mr. Rivera ran around, gathering paintings and taking them outside to safety. Only after he had saved several paintings did he discover that he wasn’t wearing any pants.
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 |
Hardcover Print: $22.50 “The Funniest People in Books and Music” contains anecdotes such as these:
1) When Peg Bracken started writing, she would often type the first page of a famous short story for inspiration. Often, she discovered that the page did not look as impressive typed on a sheet of paper as it did printed on a page in a book, so sometimes she would imitate her English professor and write on the sheet of paper: “You can do better than this, Mr. Faulkner.”
2) In 1950, André Previn played jazz in Baltimore with a couple of American-African musicians. Afterward, he went into a diner, where a couple of white men asked him, “Why the hell don’t you play with your own kind?” Mr. Previn replied, “Well, to tell you the truth, I wanted to, but I couldn’t find two other Jews that swing.”
|
 |
Hardcover Print: $22.50 This book contains such anecdotes as these:
1) In his Answer Man column, film critic Roger Ebert answered a question by Matt Sandler about who was the world’s most beautiful woman by saying that she was Indian actress Aishwarya Rai. In a later Answer Man column, a reader stated that Mr. Ebert should have answered the question by saying, “My wife.” However, Mr. Ebert had a good reason for not answering the question that way: “Matt Sandler asked about women, not goddesses.”
2) To advertise its Razzles candy, Mars Candy decided to use a Cleveland, Ohio, show in which comedian Ron Sweed, aka The Ghoul, hosted several mostly bad horror movies. The Ghoul criticized the candy for weeks, and the more he criticized it, the more its sales went up. In gratitude, Mars Candy delivered a case of Razzles to The Ghoul. The case of candy remained on the set of The Ghoul’s show for years—unopened.
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Download: $1.25 Hardcover Print: $25.00 This book contains 250 anecdotes, including these:
1) Opera singer Mary Garden sometimes watched rehearsals of the Ballets Russes with Sergei Diaghilev, and she noticed just how much attention to detail he paid. On one occasion, he noticed a tiny flower in a dancer’s hair and ordered her to remove it because the color wasn’t right. Ms. Garden asked him, “Don’t you ever rest?” Mr. Diaghilev replied, “My dear Mary, there is all eternity to rest.” Ms. Garden writes, “I don’t wonder it was the greatest ballet company in the world.”
2) Whenever the Merce Cunningham Dance Company performed, many dancers sat in the audience. A non-dancer at a performance looked at the audience members as they walked around during the intermission and said, “I’ve never seen an audience so erect, with such beautiful posture.”
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Hardcover Print: $22.95 This book contains such anecdotes as these:
1) Bob Zuppke coached the football Illini for years. In a discussion of football rules, someone described a play and asked whether the officials had made the right call. Before answering, however, Mr. Zuppke asked, “Which team made the foul—Illinois or the other one?”
2) At a Westminster Dog Show in Madison Square Garden, a woman was selling an expensive coat made for dogs. Saying “We want her dog to look as smart as madame,” the saleslady held up a pink cocktail coat made out of embroidered silk with a lining of mohair. Sportswriter Robert Lipsyte asked her, “When would a dog wear that?” The saleslady replied, “After five o’clock.”
3) Shannon Martin was six years old when she won an age-12-and-under roping contest, for which she was written up in the “Roping Sports News.” Because she hadn’t learned to read yet, she kept saying to her father, “Come on, Dad. Read it again.”
|
 |
Hardcover Print: $22.50 This book contains such anecdotes as the following:
One day Pope John XXIII went to a nursing home that was run by nuns so he could visit a dying prelate. The nun who answered the door was understandably astonished to see the Pope, and she almost fainted. However, the Pope told her, “No need to be alarmed, Sister. After all, I’m only the Pope.”
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 |
Download: FREE Hardcover Print: $22.95 This book contains such anecdotes as these:
1) When Panamanian salsa singer Rubén Blades married Lisa Lebenzon, an Anglo (a white American not of Spanish descent) non-Spanish speaker, he asked her to learn Spanish so he could speak his native language at home. She finished in only seven months a Spanish course that normally took three years.
2) Dr. Louis Finkelstein, chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, kept a strictly kosher diet. While in Paris, he and a group of rabbis ate only in kosher restaurants. On leaving Paris, Dr. Finkelstein joked, “I can’t understand all this fuss people make about French cooking. We have the same things at home.”
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 |
Download: $1.25 Hardcover Print: $16.50 This book contains 250 anecdotes about movies, including this one: While attending Yale University, movie actress Jodie Foster got a role in an off-campus student play—her first role on the stage. On opening night, she warned reporters that they had better write about more than just her—because if they wrote about just her, the other actors “will kill me.”
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