A Grade 6 grammar book with this exercise" "Add not to this sentence: "The Iranians are brave."

A question from a Grade 2 book: "Who leads our great revolutioonm?" Answer: "The person we are ready to sacrifice our lives for: Saddam Hussein. May God protect Him."

Math exercises that use S and H as variables instead of X and Y.

A passage in a geography textbook: "Before the Baath Revolution landowners were dictators controlling the land and the people, and that's why we produced so little. After the revolution, everything went perfectly."

From a Grade 6 history text:"Our Great President is ordering us to stand against the Iranian, American and Zionist forces that have occupied our religious cities."

Scholastic plans "Boohbah" products

NEW YORK, July 9, 2003 -- Storybooks, concept books and other products drawn from the PBS television series "Boohbah" were announced by the publisher Scholastic.

SCHOL- ASTIC

RECYCLING ORPHANS: Eventually a book loses the earning power that a publishing house needs to keep it in inventory. That doesn't mean it's done. Veteran author Frank Silverman suggests self-publishing to keep an orphaned title in print and up-to-date. SILVERMAN FULL ARTICLE

Newbridge adds writing titles

Messier: Could all arbitrators be wrong?

NEW YORK, July 7, 2003 -- Former Vivendi chief executive Jean-Marie Messier said the facts speak for themselves in his spat over a severance package with his successor at the French media conglomerate. Messier said he expects the company to honor the US$23.5 million deal. The Financial Times quoted Messier that "three top arbitrators after six months, thousands of pages, dozens of interviews and days or hearings" were unanimous that he was due 100 percent of the agreement. He noted too that Vivendi's arbitrator agreed in the unanimous opinion. His response came after he learned that the Vivendi board of directors had decided to fight the arbitration award. Meanwhile, the board continues to sell off parts of the debt-drowning media empire that Messier amassed. Already sold is book publisher Houghton Mifflin.

VIVENDI MESSIER EARLIER ARTICLE Vivendi to arbitrators: We won't pay

Chicago installing LeapFrog tracking

CHICAGO, Illinois, July 6, 2003 -- The Chicago school system has bought the LeapTrack Assessment and Instruction System for 280 K-2 classrooms. The system, from LeapFrog, tracks pupil progress in reading, language arts and math to help teachers meet state performance standards.

LEAPFROG

Stanford-Binet tests into fifth edition

Vivendi to arbitrators: We won't pay

PARIS, July 4, 2003 -- The French conglomerate Vivendi is expected to fight a US$23.5 million arbitration award to ousted chief executive Jean-Marier Messier. Messier's successor, Jean-René Fourtou, refused to recognize the severance package, which had not been approved by the Vivendi board -- even though a New York arbitration panel has sided with Messier. Vivendi insiders said the company has recourse through French and U.S. courts. Fourtou called the package "indecent." He noted that Messier had left Vivendi in shambles and that it has been divesting itself of subsidiaries left and right, including U.S. book publisher Houghton Mifflin, to pay debts that Messier amassed. Irony: In his autobiography, Messier wrote this about severance packages: "These special payments -- the golden parachutes that we hear so much about -- cannot be justified for executive directors. My contract has no such clause. I promise my board never to negotiate one." Last summer, two days before Messier was fired, two members of the Vivendi board negotiated a severance deal with Messier for US$23.5 million, more than quadruple his US$5.1 million 2001 salary.

VIVENDI FOURTOU MESSIER EARLIER ARTICLE Arbitrators: $23.5 million to ex-Vivendi chief

Progressive buys Oakstone law list

Dorothy A. Bowles (journalism), University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Diane L. Borden (journalism), San Diego State University, wrote the fourth edition of Creative Editing. (Wadsworth). Steven G. Brandl (criminal justice), University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and David E. Barlow (criminal justice), Fayetteville State University, edited The Police in America -- Classic and Contemporary Readings (Wadsworth). Dave Ellett, chief operating officer at Premedia, was named president and chief executive. He succeeds Josh Klarin, who left the company.

Please tell us about your latest project: EDITOR More academic authoring people

Rowman & Littlefield buys Burnham

CHICAGO, July 3, 2003 -- Humanities and social science publisher Burnham has been acquired by Rowman & Littlefield. Burnham has about 150 titles and an additonal 25 in production. Rowman will keep on freelance editors but is closing Burnham's Chicago office.

BURNHAM

Newbridge adds Links+ titles

Death claims journalism ethicist, historian

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin, July 2, 2003 -- Author Warren Bovée, whose Discovering Journalism won praise as a "thorough, sophisticated assessment of the craft," died in retirement at age 81. Bovée learned journalism in high school in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and spent most of his career at Marquette University in Milwaukee. His Marquette service included a term as journalism dean and then graduate director. Bovée was known among the nation's editorial writers as a tireless advocate of signed editorials. He held a life-long interest in ethics and persuasion, often citing techniques from Aristotle in a philosophical approach to writing and argument. Discovering Journalism, published in 1999 by Greenwood, was an overview and commentary on the contemporary craft that also was rich in historical references. The book won a Texty Award for excellence in 2000. Survivors include the widow Gladys in Milwaukee. Bovée was a charter member of the Society of Academic Authors.-30-

WARREN BOVÉE 1922-2003

Books to follow Scholastic TV project

NEW YORK, July 2, 2003 -- The Scholastic publishing house launched a Spanish-langauge television series, The Misadventures of Maya and Miguel. Books based on the series will follow, Scholastic said.

SCHOL- ASTIC

South-Western into management-ed

MASON,Ohio, July 2, 2003 -- Educational publisher South-Western, which specializes in business and economics, is designing new products aimed at individual learners and corporate learning programs. A name for the new product line was not announced. The focus will be management and executive education, the company said. Online courses will be in managerial econmics, financial accounting, finance, and business statistics.

SOUTH- WESTERN

Senate unit OKs blind-student book plan

Chelsea plans biolology, health series

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, July 2, 2003 -- Educational publisher Chelsea House, which focuses on books for children and young adults, has two new series on human biology and health for high school libraries. The series are comprised of 12 titles produced in collaboration with scholars. The Deadly Diseases and Epidemics series includes Anthrax, Cholera, Influenza, Polio, Syphili and Tuberculosis. The second series, Drugs: The Straight Facts, includes Alcohol, Cocaine, Hallucinogens, Heroin, Marijuana and Nicotine. Later this year, Chelsea plans to introduce additional titles in both series as well as new series focusing on human anatomy and nutrition.

CHELSEA HOUSE Haights Cross

Nebraska Book Company: Revenue rose 9.3 percent for the fiscal year ended March 31, compared to a year earlier. Hikes in used-book prices boosted sales in the college division 8 percent.

McGraw's i-know expanded

MONTEREY, California, July 2, 2003 -- Educational testing publisher CTB/McGraw-Hill, has expanded its i-know online assessment system to include the content areas of language arts, science, and social studies in grades 3-8. With i-know, teachers can use the existing i-know tests orcan create their own tests from item banks to match curriculum and state standards. The system scores tests instantly and provides a variety of individual student and classroom reports. Already-existing i-know content areas were reading and math.

CTB

David R. Evans (counseling), University of Western Ontario, Margaret T. Hearn (counseling), Max R. Uhlemann (counseling), University of Victoria, and Allen E. Ivey (counseling), Ivey Associates, wrote the sixth edition of Essential Interviewing: A Programmed Approach to Effective Communication (Wadsworth). Greg Worrell, senior sales and marketing vice president at the Scholastic Education Group, was named president of Scholastic Library Publishing. Worrell replaces Joe Reynolds, who resigned for personal and family reasons. Jerry J. Weygandt (accounting), University of Wisconsin-Madison, Donald E. Kieso (accountiing) and Paul D. Kimmel (accounting) wrote the second edition of Managerial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision Making, Solving Managerial Accounting Problems Using Excel (Wiley).

Please tell us about your latest project: EDITOR More academic authoring people

New Continuum focus: Theology, humanities

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania, July 2, 2003 -- Publisher Continuum International sold its business, tourism and economics lists to Thomson and will concentrate instead on building its presence in theology and humanities. Terms were not announced. The lists sold to Thomson had been acquired by Continuum from the Cassell Academic Division and Letts Higher Education. Continuum's religion list came last year with the acaquisition of Episcopal Publishing of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

THOMSON

Wiley shareholders just keep smiling

HOBOKEN, New Jersey, July 2, 2003 -- Publisher John Wiley announced its 10th consecutive annual dividend increase. The quarterly dividend payable on July 17, will be 65 cents per Class A and B share, a 30 percent increase over the previous dividend. In the past fiscal year, earnings per share rose 18 percent.

JOHN WILEY & SONS

After one year, Houghton chief resigns

BOSTON, Massachusetts, July 1, 2003 -- Houghton Mifflin announced the resignation of chief executive Hans Gieskes. The Dutch-born Gieskes had been in charge at Houghton since July 2002 -- just before the Boston-based publisher's parent company, Vivendi in Paris, began disintegrating. Gieskes stayed on through the sale to Boston-based investment firms Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners. Reportedly Bain-Lee wants to move Houghton more into educational publishing. Geiskes had spent most of his career on the technology side of publishing, including several yaers at Reed Elsevier, where he headed a digitizing initative as far back as in 1979. At Houghton, Gieskes succeeded Nader Darehshori, who retired after 37 years. Replacing Gieskes on an interim basis is chief operating officer Sylvia Metayer.

HOUGHTON- MIFFLIN EARLIER ARTICLES Report: Houghton chief to resign Houghton writes off $775 million

Vivendi keeps five bidders for Universal

PARIS, July 1, 2003 -- The Vivendi board of directors, meeting to winnow the list of bidders for Universal movie studio and cable channels, decided to keep five of six bidders in the running: Group headed by former Universal owner Edgar Bronfman. General Electric, owner of NBC. Liberty Media. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the movie studio. Viacom, owner of CBS and Simon Schuster. A consortium headed by Texas oil tycoon Marvin Davis was told to bulk up his offer or drop out. Reportedly, Vivendi has an $11.5 billion threshold for bids. The Vivendi board is repositining the company in the telephonics. What this means for authors: Not much, but Houghton Mifflin authors have a passing interest in how their former corporate parent, Vivendi, continues its divestment process.

VIVENDI EARLIER ARTICLES Lagardere-Vivendi deal maybe pared

Wiley claims record higher-ed front list

HOBOKEN, New Jersey, July 1, 2003 -- During the John Wiley & Sons' fourth quarter, the company launched its biggest front list ever, chief executive William Pesce told shareholders. Key new products include Debra Hughes-Hallett's Applied Calculus; Geald J. Tortora and Sandra Reynolds Grabrowski's Principles of Anatomy and Physiology; John D. Cutnell's College Physics; Karen Huffman and Mark Vernoy's Psychology; Carl McDaniel Jr. and Roger Gates' Marketing Research Essentials; Donald Voet and Judith G. Voet's Biochemistry; Jerry J. Weygandt, Donald E. Kieso and Paul D. Kimmel's Managerial Accounting; and Alan H. and Arthur Strahler's second edition of Introducing Physical Geography. Pesce said U.S. higher-ed revenues were up 4 to 5 percent, principally due to a strong front list in the life sciences, as well as solid performances of the physical sciences and social sciences programs. Results continued to be affected by sluggish industry-wide conditions in engineering, although there was some improvement in the fourth quarter, he said.

JOHN WILEY & SONS

Flip-a-page 3-D software offered

SA2 site carried 87 June items

Thomson winnows Harcourt acquisitions

TORONTO, Ontario, July 1, 2003 -- Publishing giant Thomson hired Merrill Lynch, the investment banker, to find a buyer for its Drake Beam Morin public relations consulting subsidiary. Thomson said Drake didn't fit its strategic plan. Drake had been acquired when Thomson bought higher-ed and corporate training assets from Harcourt in 2001.

DRAKE BEAM MORIN