MSI Press Blog

  We cannot tell the back story of 10 Quick Homework Tips without telling the story of is sister book, 365 Teacher Secrets for Parents . So, here is the link to that back story , which we shared last Sunday Back Story of  10 Quick Homework Tips by Cindy McKinley Alder & Patti Trombly [Please do read the back story for 365 Teacher Secrets for Parents to learn how Cindy and Patti met.] A few years ago, after listening to the frustrations of parents trying to find time for everything as well as struggling to work with their kids at home more during the pandemic, Patti and I decided to create a “quick tip” book to help. It seemed homework issues were especially overwhelming and challenging for busy parents.   So, we worked together again and wrote a short book on   easy ways parents could help ease the frustrations of homework battles.   10 Quick Homework Tips was not as time-consuming, but just as fun for us to write.   It feels great to share so many decades of our practical, h

  This week's blog post is the next in the series of book back stories and is the story behind  Practices That Work , edited by Dr. Thomas  Jesús  Garza. From the publisher -  This is one story whose back story I know very well. I created it!  For years, a What Works in developing high levels of foreign language proficiency was wildly popular, especially at government language institutes where outcomes are intently monitored. It was a simple book with a powerful message, a small book with a big impact, short recipes by famous "language chefs" who had, as a team, led the now-closed Coalition of Distinguished Language Centers. It was known by many as  " the little yellow book." Over time, it became dated. Over time the publishing rights migrated to MSI Press LLC (long story for another time). Over time, the original authors ("language chefs") retired (and, in some cases, alas, died).  What to do with the book rights became a question, especially with the

  Today's book back story provides inside information about  One Simple Text.. . (Shaw & Brown).  From the publisher -  Betty Shaw and Dave Brown brought to the press a great story. One of tragedy that through patient fortitude, medical skill, and great faith turned into triumph. Of a life almost lost because of one simple text while driving. The what and who of that text I will leave readers to discover. A story that had propelled the author and the protagonist of the story, her daughter, to Oprah Winfrey's TV show. They had, however, not yet written a book. (Advice here: if you have the opportunity for world-class publicity, get your book done in advance; it is so  helpful for book promotion to have the publicity come after the book and not afterward.) They needed some help in refining the story into a book that works. That is where MSI Press came in. We do this all the time with first-time authors. We help turn their wonderful but seemingly unmanageable stories into wann

Back Story  of  365 Teachers Secrets for Parents: Fun Ways to Help Your Elementary Child Succeed in School  by Cindy McKinley Alder & Patti Trombly Nearly 30 years ago, I met Patti in the back row of a grad school classroom at Eastern Michigan University.  Our professor had us begin the class by writing out a “Bliss List”: all the things that made us happy.  When we compared lists, we were shocked to see they were almost identical! We were both due to have our first babies in a few months, both elementary school teachers, both working on a Masters in Reading, and both had a weakness for soft pretzels. We didn’t know it at the time, but that day sparked a decades-long friendship. Throughout the years, Patti taught upper elementary, and I taught the lower grades.  We met weekly with our four kids and, of course, always ended up talking about teaching and how eager the parents were to find ways to help their kids at home.  I eventually decided to stay home with my kids more and became

This Sunday, we begin a new Sunday feature: the story behind our books. We will take these one at a time, on Sundays. So, if you like knowing the unknown and little known, come on by on Sundays. This Sunday the book chosen to kick off our series is Task-Based Instruction by Leaver and Willis. This book was published by Georgetown University Press and appears among the affiliated books of MSI Press by virtue of having been co-authored by an MSI Press author (me - Leaver). At the time of the writing of this book, much was available about task-based instruction (TBI) in the English as a Second Language (ESL) field, of which the greatest amount appeared to have been written by Jane Willis of the UK, often together with her husband. For Foreign Language Education/Second Language Acquisition (L2), however, only a small generically oriented spiral-bound sample of essentially one task was available, written by Michael Long, then at the University of Hawaii.  In consulting and in administerin

  Today's book back story is about the book, Joshuanism, by Michael Vito Tosto. From the publisher: This is one of our more unusual book sagas and author journeys. When Michael came to us, he was enthusiastic about what he thought was a calling from God to reshape Christianity along lines similar to the practices of the early Christians. We found his book to be well researched and presenting an interesting view. Here is what he wrote at the time: Knowing God can sometimes be the most difficult thing we as humans can do. Many obstacles stand in our way: societal distractions, the expectations of others, temptations, even ourselves. However, have you ever considered that the very religion you practice can be the greatest obstacle? Is it possible that the institutions, conventions, and accepted norms of your religion are so fraught with baggage, human distortion, and misconceptions that your religious pursuits are actually hurting you rather than helping you? If the answer is "ye

  Dr. Elizabeth Mahlou, author of Blest Atheist , her conversion story (abbreviated here ), says she had two goals in the writing of this book. One, perhaps obvious, to any reader was to continue her conversion story after the immediate first weeks. The second, not obvious to any reader not in her personal circle, was the telling of a true story of evil, one that greatly disturbed her and some of her closest friends and one that was played out on a deeply spiritual level that is seldom discussed because many, if not most, people do not encounter such things, or if they do, do not recognize the spiritual warfare going on.  Elizabeth changed all the names and other details, such as location, professions, and organizations involved in this spiritual battle, which forms the hidden core and major prompt for this book--something the casual reader, or even perhaps the more intuitive reader, would notice. For those involved in the warfare, however, it did not matter that names were changed. Th

  Today's book back story is about Diana Keathley's book, GodSway . From the author --  GodSway: My Anecdotes with God as a book has had its own journey. Obviously, the interactions with God were special when they happened. I treasured them in my heart even as a child. They continued to happen the more I pursued Him, and I cherished each encounter. The idea of a book didn’t cross my mind, however, until one year when I was prepping my Spanish Immersion 4 th - graders for Spring testing. They were confusing the word anecdote with antidote. To illustrate the difference I used a short true story from my own life about when my family had a house fire. [No spoiler alerts here. You’ll have to read the book to find out what happened!] At the end of the story, the children were quiet. One wide-eyed girl expressed what they were all thinking. “ Ms. Keathley, did that really happen?!” In the middle of my matter-of-fact answer that yes, it was all quite true, I felt that nudge from the S

  Today's book back story is about The Subversive Utopia by Dr. Yasir Sakr. From the publisher: In early 2006, through a mutual friend, while living in Jordan, the owners of MSI Press (at that time, not yet an incorporated business) met a young professor of architecture, Dr. Yasir Sakr, at his home where his young son, Abdelrahim, was present. Abdelrahim was about five years old and pretty much the same as 5-year-olds everywhere.  Yasir had a book idea, based on his dissertation. The topic was to share research he had accomplished on the National Jewish architectural style in Jerusalem and the influence of Louis Kahn, an American architect born in Estonia when that country was part of Russia and transported to the US when his parents emigrated and whose design for the Hurva Synagogue, while never adopted did influence subsequent design for the synagogue and other sacred buildings.  The typesetting of the book was a challenge, fitting immense drawings into small book pages, especia