Carianne Bernadowski

Literature circles have been popular for some time and this book concentrates on historical fiction. For each book, a few activities are recommended along with lots of discussion questions and some resources. The titles are well chosen and recent. For example, The Boy in the Striped Pagamas is another heart-wrenching Holocaust story with a good film to back it up. While we like the probing questions, it would seem that in this world now of the Internet and technology that literature circles could become much more exciting as well as rigorous if the kids were allowed and encouraged to digitally curate around the novel in a “room” where the novel would be cut up into pieces and small groups or individuals probe the meanings of the setting, the Hocaust in general, the camp in question, the stereotypes of the book, the deeper meaning of the tragedy on history since the terrible event. Not only could the discussion advance but so much more critical thinking, curation, creativity, learning how to learn skills, and creativity could be developed simultaneously. Such a book would make an excellent Book2Cloud edition for a group who were reading the novel either in paper or as an ebook available from the school or public library. This book is a good one, but it lacks the vision to really push the teacher librarian and the classroom teacher into the world of social media construction that the kids would flourish in. When will we see titles that include all kinds of mashups that deep understanding through information and tech tools and in a collaborative environment. Volunteer to write that book or digital guide.… (meer)

Recently there has been some significant interest in the professional world dealing with secondary students and book clubbing/reading. This book offers some interesting ideas about how to engage secondary readers in historical fiction areas. In Part 1 there are templates that can be used with a variety of books and who make excellent discussion starters. In Part 2 there is a collection of thoughts about how to "do" a literature circle with certain titles that may be of interest to secondary age students. The selection of the titles and authors is diverse and interesting unto itself. It wouldn't be hard to substitute one that you prefer to do for one of these, however. Covering many areas in history, these templates align with current state and national standards, and are about popular areas that many history lessons teach. More for the novice to this type of teaching than the expert, it draws ideas that lend themselves to interdisciplinary lessons. It would benefit from having more information about technological connections that can be made using these scenarios in history, but that is another book. Recommended.… (meer)

It is unfortunate that this book was not delayed until the release of the Common Core Standards for Language Arts. The authors include references to AASL Standards and NCTE standards, but not the standards that almost every state is beginning to face. The idea behind this slim volume is the direct teaching of reading strategies. We would prefer an approach the responds to the Common Core standards but in such a way that the joy of reading and reading as its own reward are the central focus of the efforts to teach reading. With the new emphasis on informational texts and complex texts, we are sure that both classroom teachers and teacher librarians will need to guide and coach readers, but we are also fearful that the skill, drill, and “kill” methods that direct teaching and more direct teaching seem to flower into, will not be as helpful as recommended (See the What Works column in the October issue of Teacher Librarian). So, while there are a number of useful strategies discussed in this volume, we would pass this one by in anticipation of a more useful guide to the Common Core Standards.… (meer)