First Published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

For the past twenty years, Martin Marty and the editors of Sightings, a digital publication of the University of Chicago Divinity School’s Martin Marty Center, have published informed, accessible, and witty commentary on religion in current events. Featuring more than seventy authors—including Marty himself, Eboo Patel, and Krista Tippett—this book collects one hundred of the best essays that originally appeared in Sightings. Religion in public life fluctuates in temperature, but in the last twenty years, the religious climate has produced some harsh and extreme conditions that make the need for public discussion and understanding of religion more vital than ever. In this volume writers intelligently engage and elucidate many critical trends, issues, and practices of faith in our pluralistic world. Rich food for thought awaits readers here.

Packed with never-before-published photographs, Sightings confronts the uncanny and proves once again that truth is stranger than fiction.

Bringing Words to Life has enlivened the classrooms of hundreds of thousands of teachers. Responding to readers' success stories, practical questions, and requests for extended examples, this ideal volume builds on the groundbreaking work of Bringing Words to Life. The authors present additional tools, tips, and detailed explanations of such questions as which words to teach, when and how to teach them, and how to adapt instruction for English language learners. They provide specific instructional sequences, including assessments, for grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12, as well as interactive lesson planning resources. Invaluable appendices feature engaging classroom activities and a comprehensive list of children's books and stories with suggested vocabulary for study. See also the authors' Bringing Words to Life, Second Edition: Robust Vocabulary Instruction, the authoritative guide to research-based vocabulary instruction, as well as Making Sense of Phonics, Second Edition: The Hows and Whys, by Isabel L. Beck and Mark E. Beck, an invaluable resource for K-3.

Mirrors are mesmerizing. The rhetorical figure that represents a mirror is called a chiasmus, a pattern derived from the Greek letter X (Chi). This pattern applies to sentences such as “one does not live to eat; one eats to live.” It is found in myths, plays, poems, biblical songs, short stories, novels, epics. Numerous studies have dealt with repetition, difference, and Narcissism in the fields of literature, music, and art. But mirror structures, per se, have not received systematic notice. This book analyses mirror imagery, scenes, and characters in French prose texts, in chronological order, from the 17th to the 20th centuries. It does so in light of literal, metaphoric, and rhetorical structures. Works analysed in the traditional French canon, written by such writers as Laclos, Lafayette, and Balzac, are extended by studies of texts composed by Barbey d’Aurevilly, Georges Rodenbach, Jean Lorrain, and Pieyre de Mandiargues. This work appeals to readers interested in linguistics, French history, psychology, art, and material culture. It invites analyses of historical and ideological contexts, rhetorical strategies, symmetry and asymmetry. Ovid’s Narcissus and Alice in Wonderland are paradigms for the study of micro and macro-structures. Analyses of mirrors as cultural artefacts are significant to Lowrie’s sight seeing.

Exciting and engaging vocabulary instruction can set students on the path to a lifelong fascination with words. This book provides a research-based framework and practical strategies for vocabulary development with children from the earliest grades through high school. The authors emphasize instruction that offers rich information about words and their uses and enhances students' language comprehension and production. Teachers are guided in selecting words for instruction; developing student-friendly explanations of new words; creating meaningful learning activities; and getting students involved in thinking about, using, and noticing new words both within and outside the classroom. Many concrete examples, sample classroom dialogues, and exercises for teachers bring the material to life. Helpful appendices include suggestions for trade books that help children enlarge their vocabulary and/or have fun with different aspects of words.

Alex Horne loves words. He loves them so much, in fact, that he's decided to invent his own ... and get them into the dictionary. But, as Alex discovers, gaining entry into the official lexicon takes more than just a gentle word in the ear of the editor. Evidence is required - Alex needs proof that his words are being spoken by more people than just him and his mum. He needs what the dictionary authorities call a 'corpus' of examples, hard data showing that his new words are in widespread and long-term usage. So a corpus he resolves to create, no matter what obstacles he might meet on the way. This is the epic and ridiculous story of one man's struggle to break into the dictionary. From covert word-dropping on Countdown to wilfully misinforming schoolchildren, Alex tries it all in his quest for dictionary-based immortality. Does he succeed? Are you already using one of Alex's words without realising it? You won't regret spending your hard-earned honk on this hugely entertaining book.