This is a first year textbook for elementary Hebrew courses with 62 chapters. The book is divided into seven parts. Part I deals with the alphabet and phonetics of Hebrew. This is further divided into four chapters. Part II introduces nouns, adjectives, prepositions, and the basics of the verb. This part is divided into fifteen chapters. Part III is a summary of the Hebrew verb system in seven chapters. Part IV explains the Qal stem in detail in sixteen chapters. Part V introduces students to the derived stems in nine chapters. Part VI works on more advanced issues in ten chapters. Finally, Part VII provides appendixes including: Hebrew-English vocabulary; English-Hebrew vocabulary; proper names; glossary of Hebrew grammatical terms; answer key; paradigms and derived stem vowel patterns.

The book is user-friendly. The footers make for easy reference. For example, the student is able to locate any chapter and the subject matter of the chapter easily by reference to the right page footer. The left page footer tells the student what part of the book they are working in. Each chapter is laid out clearly. The introduction and explanation of new and difficult concepts show skill and understanding of the problems students face. Each lesson provides a variety of exercises appropriate to the lesson for the student to work through. Lists of vocabulary are laid out well and can all be found in the appendixes in Part VII. In order to facilitate the learning of vocabulary Garrett uses what he calls ‘diglot weaves’: this is the use of an English text interspersed with newly acquired Hebrew expressions. The English text provides a clue to the meaning of the Hebrew expression. The Hebrew to English translation exercises help to build confidence in the very thing for which students study Hebrew. It would, however, be helpful if Garrett had suggested that the student put the words on vocabulary cards. Some words in the vocabulary list are not that common. Being more selective in the selection of vocabulary is more realistic and encouraging to the student. To begin with the translation exercises are made up of very short exercises. Later, they are based more on biblical texts. The book has parsing exercises that are difficult, but important for revision and for learning new concepts. It also instils a good habit for later study. Lessons also provide clear guidance in reading real texts. There is a very helpful lesson on basic issues in textual criticism. The modern way of defining the Hebrew stem is preferred. Instead of a verb being pe-nun verb, it is categorised I-nun. Having been taught the old system, I found the more modern one difficult to teach, but it does make the learning process easier for the student. The paradigms at the end of the lesson are very well laid out and helpful. However, these only cover verbal paradigms and it would be useful to also have noun paradigms.

Overall, this is a book I would recommend for teaching. To what extent it or any book on the market can be a standard text depends on how much time is being given to Hebrew. I would recommend this book for students who are working on Hebrew on their own. I would hesitate to use this as a textbook for intensive learning of a lesson everyday for one semester. Yet I would still make use of it for helpful instruction and exercises.