McGuinness, Carmen &; Geoffrey McGuinness. How To Increase Your Child’s Verbal Intelligence: The Language Wise Method. Yale Univ. Mar. 2000. c.269p. permanent paper. LC 99-066923. ISBN 0-300-08318-1. $35; pap. ISBN 0-300-08320-3. $16.95. PSYCH
The McGuinnesses (Reading Reflex) observe that “language is that thing that most strongly connects us to our fellow man” and bemoan the dumbing down of American elementary education. While referencing an impressive number of studies and research projects, their discussion of the components of verbal intelligence is uneven. Each of the six chapters fails to achieve all of their stated objectives. Undefined terms like M-Factor and document literacy level clog the text, and many concepts that should have been explained by exposition are poorly illustrated by example. The book includes 38 improvement exercises, which seem like fun. While the book may enable six- to eight-plus-year-olds to become more “language wise” and to understand, judge, store, retrieve, and discuss what they think, hear, and read, it is debatable just how much of an organized method this constitutes. While parents would do fine with something like Harvey S. Wiener’s Talk with Your Child, now, regrettably, out of print, this is more appropriate for curriculum and teaching collections.
This review appeared in Library Journal 125.5, March 15, 2000 on page 113. That is far too long a time to be carrying around a book I didn’t even like much to begin with! The galley was recycled on January 17, 2012.
