I Before E (Except After C) for Kids by Susan Randol

FOIL. BEDMAS. HOMES. These are all acronyms that I used in school to remember different things. There were many more tricks, too: My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas (the order of the planets, including then-planet Pluto)), Thirty days hath September (the days in each month), Never Eat Shredded Wheat (the order of compass points). Many students find these acronyms, poems, and memory aids helpful in memorizing information for tests. This book has lots of fun ways to remember information. Wondering when to use affect or effect? Need to remember the order of the US Presidents? Forgetting how to spell "believe"? This is the book for you.

It was a bit of an information overload to sit down and read this book from cover to cover, but it seems like it would be a fun reference book for students to have in classrooms and libraries. I fully admit to my more nerdish tendencies, but I would have really loved this book as a kid (and I definitely still found it useful today). True, from an adult perspective there were some rhymes or tricks that were so elaborate that I wondered "Wouldn't it just be simpler to actually memorize the information?" But I think that there are enough different tips and approaches for a variety of students to find this book useful. It's also the type of book that could be really helpful for adults who are preparing for any type of trivia competition - did Socrates teach Plato, or was it the other way around? This book can help you remember! (P.S. - Socrates taught Plato, who taught Aristotle - you can remember it with the acronym SPA).

I received a review copy from NetGalley courtesy of Reader's Digest Children's Books.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
Popular Mechanics' The Pocket Genius by Susan Randol
I Before E (Except After C) by Judy Parkinson
"I" Before "E" Except After "C" by Dr. Laurie E. Rozakis