Tag: language

A Practical Guide to Spanish: Learning Simplified by Zakary Kerr Review

On By authoranthonyavinablogIn reviews1 Comment

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own. 

Author Zakary Kerr shares with readers a simplified and easier way of getting started on the path to having conversational fluency in Spanish in the book “A Practical Guide to Spanish: Learning Simplified”.

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The Synopsis

Concise, relatable, and contextual, with self study techniques for your independent learning!

Spanish simplified! If you’ve tried learning Spanish before or if you’re a total beginner, this book is for you. In my own experience, I’ve found many of the answers to my questions needlessly complex or simply lacking. I wrote this for you to be just what you need for a strong start in this rich and beautiful language. This concise guide comes with explanations and exercises for all you need to reach conversational fluency and explorative literacy in Spanish!

This book was written for you if you’re sick of these things:

  • Not enough material at the earliest stages of learning
  • Overly complex grammarian answers
  • Overly broad or simple answers
  • Scouring the web, forums, and social media, for just the right explanation
  • A lack of recommendations for further material


I understand and sympathize with how difficult it can be to get started in a new language. I’ve also met enough people with the same questions and frustrations and perhaps you’re in a similar spot. Break common misconceptions around learning, go through the basic parts of speech and grammar structures, learn how to immerse with recommendations for material, and round it off with a few graded reading exercises and more written just for you in this brief guide to the big, wide world of Spanish!

The Review

This was such an engaging and motivating read. The practicality and simplicity with which the author crafted this book allowed the reader to not only understand the lessons the author was teaching but to put these lessons into use with ease. The balance the author found in explaining and translating each word or phrase with the personal anecdotes that went with the author’s own experiences made this a very personable read as well.

The heart of this book was the ease and frequency with which readers will be able to turn to this book. Often, some educational or practical lessons found in books can be too wordy and overcomplicate the basics and necessary lessons a person needs about a particular subject. The author did a great job of pushing past this, allowing each chapter and lesson to speak for itself and to enable readers to go out and practice these lessons, all while bringing them back to freshen up on these lessons whenever they need to. This allowed a certain level of interactivity between the reader and the author’s lessons. 

The Verdict

Fast-paced, educational, and motivating author Zakary Kerr’s “A Practical Guide to Spanish: Learning Simplified “ is a must-read book for anyone looking to explore the Spanish language conversationally. The lessons found within, including the use of acute accents on certain phrases that change the meanings of the words used and so much more, allowed the reader to gain more insight into this beautiful language and find a means of communicating with more people in this world. If you haven’t yet, be sure to grab your copy today!

Rating: 10/10

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About the Author

Zakary Kerr is the founder of Little House Publishing and the creative force behind Language Haus, a unique educational initiative dedicated to making language learning accessible and enjoyable for adults and children alike. With a passion for linguistic education and a deep understanding of the challenges faced by language learners, Zakary has developed the Language Haus Master Suite, a comprehensive series of educational resources designed to guide learners from beginner to advanced levels.

The first Language Haus Master Suite, focused on Spanish, combines a concise, practical guide, graded readers, children’s books, and engaging multimedia content. Zakary’s approach emphasizes real-world application, cultural understanding, and a structured yet flexible learning process. His materials are crafted to help learners independently achieve fluency in their target language while enjoying the journey.

Zakary continues to expand Language Haus with new language offerings, aiming to foster a global community of enthusiastic language learners.

Know Your Shit by Gary Marinin Review

On By authoranthonyavinablogIn reviewsLeave a comment

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

Prepare to laugh and educate yourself as readers are transported on an expletive journey through author Gary Marinin’s “Know Your Shit”, a unique language humor non-fiction read!

The Synopsis

Know Your Shit is a complete guide to everything you want to know about the word (and probably a lot you didn’t). It uses pop culture and personal anecdotes to explain every possible use of “shit” in North American English to provide humor to native speakers and a practical guide for ESL/EFL. It also explores the psychology of swearing in general, the history of it being accepted in the mainstream and the battles it took to get there, and some etymology where possible. 

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The Review

The author did such a fantastic job of balancing out the humor and wit of the subject matter with thought-provoking work on eliminating the stigma surrounding expletive language as a whole. The author writes in a way that blends very researched and clinical viewpoints on the study of language as a whole, and humor that keeps the utterance of these words light and hilarious at the same time.

What stood out to me was not only the history and study of language as a whole that this book took readers into, but the way the author delved into well-known or popular phrases or sayings that incorporates “shit” was so funny and interesting to read. As someone who has always believed and felt that words hold much more power and weight than people give them credit for, it was so great to see a book that challenges the negativity that so many people associate with a term and focuses instead on the intention behind the words being said.

The Verdict

A hilarious, entertaining, and memorable read, author Gary Marinin’s “Know Your Shit” is a must-read, non-fiction, and humor book. Insightful and engaging, the author does a marvelous job of both humoring the reader and creating an interesting topic of disunion that highlights the amount of research that went into this read. Even the study of this word’s uses within a North American and Canadian setting (with the promise of other regions in the future), made this a brilliant book. If you haven’t yet, be sure to grab your copy today!

Rating: 10/10

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About the Author

 Gary Marinin was born in Worcester, MA, and is a digital nomad and world traveler, having lived in Macedonia, Kosovo, and Mexico. He has a B.S. in sociology from Worcester State University where he got his first taste in writing through several independent study courses and internships. To further develop his writing and ideas, he took master classes from Margaret Atwood and Steve Martin and read several books on developing screenplays. He freelances on Medium and likes to write about topics that he’s passionate about, which vary from workers’ rights to women’s rights and everything in between. Know Your Shit is his debut book, but there are several others in the works ranging from psychology and linguistics to general humor about his cats.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marinin-b701663b/

https://www.facebook.com/TheShittionary