The story was filled with factual accuracy, while fictional, and vividly rich with images and characters that she and her father could picture with accurate detail. Romano tells us how Mariana finished the story with a young member of the family holding a roughly cut, wooden pony, and how when she gently finished the tale as he was in tears Villanueva, Victor. Bootstraps: From an American Academic of Color. Urbana, Ill: National Council of Teachers of English. 1993. Print. This book an unusual book: at one level it is autobiographical, detailing the life of an American of Puerto Rican extraction from his childhood in New York City to an academic post at a university. At another level, Villanueva ponders his experiences in light of the history of

William. On Writing Well, 25th Anniversary: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction. New York, NY: Harper Collins. 2001. Print. This book is as engaging as it is instructive. it's so easy to read and understand, you can't help but improve. It spells out everything that's wrong most people's writing, then provides simple solutions. The book is billed for writers of nonfiction, but its benefits extend to all writers. Zinsser discusses the various methods of good writing. He first emphasizes unity, and then moves to what I consider the most useful section of the book -- a chapter titled "Bits and Pieces." As its name suggests, this chapter comprises all the miscellaneous writing errors noticed by the author. And instead of using "25 columns of type" as Fowler does in his Modern English Usage, Zinsser explains the difference between that and which in a single page. Each section in "Bits and Pieces" is short, but that makes the chapter more useful because it doesn't take too long to read. Zinsser explains each method with grace and…