EMIL CICOGNA
Author, Educator
Emil Cicogna began teaching in the New York City Public school system and is still involved in education today as an instructor in the College of Education at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona. Cicogna works with student-teachers to help them develop strategies to reach their struggling students in every level of K-12 education. His first book, A Sign of the Times, was originally used to help his high school students who were reading below grade level and had never before read an entire book. Their enthusiastic response inspired him to become a published author.
A SIGN OF THE TIMES -
Book 1 in the 3-Part Series.
“I believe ignorance in the long run will prove far more expensive.” Newly arrived schoolteacher, Leanna Pallas, is committed to bringing education to a rural Pennsylvania town in 1885. Not everyone living there values education as much as Miss Pallas. The Collier family have been blacksmiths for generations. Now they must decide if they should send their teenage son Joshua to school, or train him to work in the family business. Threatened with impending poverty, the family must realize that the world they knew has changed, and so must their plans for the future.
Written to accompany A Sign of the Times, this STUDY GUIDE provides a useful teaching tool that goes through individual chapters and include: a list of objectives, suggestions for historical curriculum, lesson prompts, student research prompts, characterizations, themes, key vocabulary words, and critical thinking questions.
RACHEL
Book 2 in A Sign of the Times Trilogy.
Rachel explores the continuing story of the Collier family, moving into the 20th Century with the inclusion of the telephone and the automobile becoming part of their daily lives. In this sequel to A Sign of the Times, the lesson of teaching history through literature helps students relive the years leading up to World War I when the technology of weapons and war machines suddenly showed the world the power and terror the Industrial Revolution had created. When Rachel gets married and starts a family, she believes that her life is complete. After her husband is sent away to the Great War in Europe, her life—and the lives of millions of other people on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean—becomes a test to see if she can survive this dangerous new world.
In this STUDY GUIDE for Rachel, (Book 2 in A Sign of the Times Trilogy), Cicogna has created a tool for educators that provides objective, historical curriculum (with live links), vocabulary, language arts connections, follow-up discussion questions, critical thinking questions, and extended learning suggestions for each chapter.
THE HAMMER & THE ANVIL
Book 3 in A Sign of the Times Trilogy.
What a Finish to the Sign of the Times Trilogy!
As America celebrated after the Great War, the contrast of Prohibition being enacted and women gaining the right to vote set the stage for the new lifestyles that became the Roaring Twenties. Newspapers became big business and were the information source for people in all parts of the country and the world.
In this climactic conclusion, The Hammer and the Anvil weaves historical events with the story of the Collier and Standlin families, who realize their very survival is threatened when unscrupulous industrialists and corrupt politicians try to buy the Mercerville News—by any means possible.
“The Sign of the Times Trilogy is a wonderful story that teaches the history of the late 1800s and early 1900s. The characters are strong, and the story is full of historically accurate events, while enthralling the reader in a family’s struggle between new and old ways.
Dr. Shawna Martino, College of Education, Grand Canyon University.
“As a parent, I read A Sign of the Times with our oldest son, and it was a wonderful way of integrating history and literature. I went on to read the rest of the trilogy, evoking laughter and tears, and I felt inspired by these characters. It was nice to see how each book, including Rachel and the Hammer and the Anvil, continued the story of their lives, and the accompanying study guides serve as valuable tools, aiding students in relating to the content, enhancing comprehension, and acquiring historical knowledge as an additional benefit.”
Dr. Crystal McCabe, Ph. D., Grand Canyon University
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In this STUDY GUIDE for The Hammer and the Anvil, (Book 3 in A Sign of the Times Trilogy), Cicogna has created a tool for educators that provides objective, historical curriculum (with live links), vocabulary, language arts connections, follow-up discussion questions, critical thinking questions, and extended learning suggestions for each chapter.
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All 4 One
“If you all wish for the same thing at the same time your wish will come true.”
“How do you know it will come true?”
“God told me, and He told me to tell you.”
Eight-year-old Veronica tells her grandmother to make a wish that she and her friends can share. Grandma Sarah tells her friends about Veronica’s message from God, and against all hope and better judgment, the four old women attend church that evening and make a wish to be young once more. Twenty-one years old for twenty-four hours. When their wish is granted, they set out to have more than just another party—they embark on a twenty-four-hour odyssey to find redemption from the haunting memories all of them have come to feel they were too old to escape.
Going Long
The year is 1980 and Henry Spivack hatches a plot to manipulate the Gold Market, coercing a group of brokers and several people in his own company to carry out his illegal plan of buying big, then selling all out.
When Spivack adds a series of bribes, and even a murder to his plan, he believes the perfect coup has been accomplished, reaping millions for all involved. Or will it?
Revenge, complicity, drugs, misguided love, and out-of-control ambition...all factors that may ruin even the most perfect scheme.
A Special Project by Emil
with a note from Flint Hills Publishing President Thea Rademacher
"After reading Reyna Bradford’s book In My Hands, Stories of the Land and Animals I Love but Can’t See, and then meeting her in person, Emil was inspired to create this e-book study guide to accompany Reyna’s book.
I’m fortunate to work with both of these authors - two intelligent, hard-working people that in different ways, seek the same goal: sharing inspirational stories and information that will make the world a better place.
A useful teaching tool, the study guide goes through individual chapters and includes objectives, student research prompts, characterizations, themes, key vocabulary words, and critical thinking questions. Emil designed the Guide as a tool for parents and children to work through together, to check the website links for additional content, and to go over the vocabulary words in the context of Reyna’s book."