As a publisher, Barron's has long been at the forefront of educational books, resources, and supplements across the spectrum of subjects and disciplines. Among their most popular and helpful are the books in theBarron's Foreign Language Guides series, which cover many languages and many aspects of language study.

So far, we only carry the501 Verbs books. Each book is fairly different from the others since each language is unique, so there isn't a single format, but the idea is to get students used to conjugations, and therefore better able to communicate and understand the language being learned.

All books in this series contain 501 verbs fully conjugated and listed in alphabetical order. For the most part, languages written using different characters appear in their native form, notable exceptions being Far Eastern Oriental languages like Japanese. Some of the newer editions include CD-ROMs offering a number of reinforcement exercises with answers.

You won't be able to learn a language from scratch using these guides, but you will greatly increase your verb fluency. Throughout each book there are example sentences so users can see the verbs used in context. An "Essential 55 Verbs" feature draws attention to common and other important verbs used often in conversation and writing.

We highly recommend this handy volumes for anyone seriously wanting to learn a language, whether for conversational, academic, or reading/writing purposes. By looking at such an essential part of speech as verbs, the501 Books will increase students' abilities and confidence, as well as breaking down the complexity of language into manageable bits of information.

As other books in theBarron's Foreign Language Guides family of publications are made known to us, we'll grow this section; for now, the501 Verbs books are by far the most helpful we've seen. Be advised that younger students will probably become easily frustrated by the content—we recommend them for older or more advanced students.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he is a husband and father, teaches adult Sunday school in his Presbyterian congregation, and likes weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur.Read more of his reviews here.