2004 INTERNATIONAL READING ASSOCIATION (pp.

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REVIEWS
Books for adolescents

Professional materials

Classroom materials

Briefly noted

Books for adolescents

James Blasingame
doi:10.1598/JAAL.48.4.7

Blasingame teaches at Arizona State University. Books for review in this column should be sent to James Blasingame, English Education, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Arizona State University, PO Box 870302, Tempe, AZ 852870302, USA. Comments about the column may be sent by e-mail to james.blasingame@asu.edu.

In this months column we feature Janet Tashjians sequel to the very popular young adult novel The Gospel According to Larry (2001, Henry Holt; reviewed in the April 2002 column), and converse with her about that book, Vote for Larry. Larry, whose real name is Josh Swenson, runs for the presidency of the United States against John Kerry and George Bush. When you read about his platform, you may wish he were actually on the ticket. Weve been looking at an innovative series of books and materials from Townsend Press, the Bluford Series. Reviews of some of the early books in the series have appeared in various issues of Volumes 46 and 47 of the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. Refer to the indexes for more information. These high-interest novels are set among the students at fictitious Bluford High School in California, named for the first African American astronaut. Neal Lester reviews the Bluford Series teachers guide in this issues Professional Materials column (see p. 354) and James Blasingame reviews the latest offering in the series, Brothers in Arms, by the author of some of the other Bluford novels, Paul Langan (this time coauthoring with Ben Alirez). The story follows 16-year-old Martin Luna as he transfers to Bluford from Zamora High after a gang-related

shooting results in the death of his younger brother. Martin has problems, many not of his own making, and he will meet people at Bluford who can help or harm him. High school sophomore Jasmine Lester weighs in on The Beast by Walter Dean Myers. Its the story of Anthony Witherspoon (a.k.a. Spoon), an inner-city teenager who navigates the strong currents of life in his old neighborhood after he has become a successful student-athlete at an exclusive boarding school. In a similar story, a young protagonist is transplanted from a dangerous environment into a privileged one where he struggles to maintain his loyalties. Please welcome new reviewer Rhea Spears as she reviews Brother Hood, the latest offering from successful young adult author Janet McDonald. Veteran reviewer Heather Hoyt takes a look at a poetry collection edited by Paul Janeczko, Blushing: Expressions of Love in Poems & Letters. Its an honest look at the many sides and side effects of love and romance. New reviewer Colleen Pearson joins us with her review of Nobody Was Here; 7th Grade in the Life of Me, Penelope, a chronicle of the disillusioning experiences of Penelope B. Schwartzbaum, who finds life in middle school rife with ugliness and confusion.

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Penelopes life is not as hard as that of Heidi Klenk, however, who relates her experiences in Escape to West Berlin, at the height of the Cold War. We welcome new reviewer Cortney Milanovich as she takes a look at Heidis dangerous flight. We hope you enjoy our reviews.

sons why Gabi does drugs, but these events are not main events in the story. The book is slow moving and a little boring, but it does get the message across.
Walter Dean Myers. 2003. New York: Scholastic Press. 170 pp. ISBN 0-439-368413. US$11.87.

The Beast
Reviewed by Jasmine Lester, Desert Vista High School, Phoenix, Arizona, USA.

Walter Dean Myerss The Beast focuses on 17year-old Anthony Spoon Witherspoons transition from the streets of Harlem to an exclusive Connecticut boarding school. At first it manifests in the sudden change of environment: the loss of the Harlem streets and the loss of familiar friends. Then its seen in the change in Spoon too. After spending months at the school, Spoon is looking forward to returning home to Harlem on his break. When he arrives, however, things are not the same. Everything has changed, from the friends he used to hang out with to his girlfriend, Gabi. He realizes his interest in her is dwindling as her once lively personality becomes tired and sad because her mother is sick. When he has a run-in with Chanelle, a girl from the prep school, over the break, hes almost sure his interest in Gabi is not what it used to be. Myers uses Spoons relationship with Gabi to represent his feelings for his home in Harlem, where he would not have much of a chance of going to a good college. Chanelle, on the other hand, represents the school and the potential benefits it holds such as the possibility of obtaining a scholarship to college. The book is centered on Spoons actions that sometimes lead him closer to home and sometimes farther away. When he finds Gabi high on drugs in a house with other people who are high, he describes them as being prey for the beast. The way Myers develops the beast, it is the force pulling Spoon away from the safety of his life. Overall, The Beast is an OK book. It has small parts that may spark teens interest and make them eager to read more such as the rea-

Vote for Larry

Reviewed by James Blasingame, Department of English, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA.

Jacket photograph CSA Plastock/Photonica. Jacket design by David Caplan from Vote for Larry by Janet Tashjian. Used by permission of the publisher, Henry Holt.

As good as The Gospel According to Larry (2001, Henry Holt) was, Janet Tashjian really hits full stride (a dead sprint, actually) with Vote for Larry; consider the first book to be the appetizer and the sequel to be the main course. What starts out as a sort of wacky Walt Disneyish what if the kids were in charge? story starts making the kinds of political points that would make Michael Moore envious and the founding fathers nod in agreement. Vote for Larrys idealism, its contagion, and the way the campaign is attacked by the powers that be are reminiscent of the old Jimmy Stewart movie Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and will have the reader in the same sort of cheering-outloud emotional state by the books powerful finale. Idealism and hope turn to disillusionment and disappointment, but in the end, optimism and hope for a better world return. In The Gospel According to Larry, Larry (real name Josh Swenson), the quintessential nerdish everyman, maintains an anonymous website on which he delivers sermons about the evils of materialism and its consequences in our consumer economy. When political activist/rock star Bono and U2 perform at Larry-Fest and millions

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of people jump on the Larry bandwagon, Josh is overwhelmed and dying to let Beth, the friend he has secretly loved all his life, know that he, Josh, and the new cult hero, Larry, are one and the same. (Can you say, Clark Kent and Lois Lane? Or maybe Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson.) After Josh is outed as Larry by the obsessed investigative reporter Betagold, he finds that Beth is not so much impressed as angry and that his new role in a celebrity-obsessed society is not very much fun. The first book ends in Josh/Larrys pseudocide (in which you fake your own death but leave some room for doubt). After a period of roaming the country with fake identities and a fugitive lifestyle, Josh is found out by Beth, who kidnaps him and brings him home to face the music, but also to exploit his Larry celebrity status by having him run for state representative and fight the good fight for some good causes. Thats not enough for Josh/ Larry, who decides to run for president and actually gets the 28th Amendment to the Constitution passed, lowering the presidential age requirement from 35 to 18. Where the first book took on rampant consumerism and the manipulation of the public mind by advertising, the second book turns a cynical eye on what lies even deeper, the power wielded by corporations and how it plays out in manipulation of the U.S. political system. Many chapters begin with a page of the sticky notes with which Josh plasters his wall as he organizes his thoughts about whats wrong with America and how to fix it: 40% of U.S. homeless men are veterans, 40% of the American workforce earn wages below the poverty level, Enron had 881 offshore subsidiaries paying no taxes (p. 120). These arent curious statistics about the warped buying trends of American suburbanites with too much discretionary income; these are frightening facts about the warped relationship between the American people and their government. Not only is Joshs attempt to address this in a grassroots movement that mobilizes the huge voting block between 18 and 24 admirable, but Tashjian

also makes us believe its within the realm of possibility. If people in that age bracket can be motivated to take back control of their own government, then why not people of all ages? As Josh says,
Only 39 percent of registered voters bothered to vote in the 2002 midterm elections [thats not 39% of Americans 18 and older but 39% of registered voters]; about half17 percentvoted Republican. The media called the event a mandate of the people. Since when is 17 percent a mandate of anything? This small percentage of the American population decided who now controls our House and Senate.... News flashdecisions are made by the people who show up! (pp. 9293)

Along the way sobering events take place, resembling events from past presidential campaigns and reminding the reader that the grasp the two parties have on the U.S. political system is exceeded only by the grasp that corporations (and their money) have on the parties. Like Ralph Nader, Josh is not allowed into debates that would give him national publicity, but when he does get the support of both the Reform and Green Parties, his new percentage of support mandates his participation. When Josh soundly defeats John Kerry and George Bush in the one and only debate (taped, not live, and held in an empty auditorium), technical difficulties prevent the taped program from airing. Leave it to Joshs campaign manager and stepfather, the former corporate adman turned hippie house painter, Peter, to tape the whole thing secretly and turn the tape over to CNN. All in all this is a great book and great reading for a presidential election year. The lack of graphic violence or explicit sex makes it suitable for an all-class read, too. Who knows, maybe someone in your English class will be the one to get a petition going for a 28th Amendment!
Janet Tashjian. 2004. New York: Henry Holt. 224 pp. ISBN 0-8050-7201-2. US$16.95.

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Nobody Was Here; 7th Grade in the Life of Me, Penelope

Reviewed by Colleen Pearson, Arizona State University College of Education, Tempe, Arizona, USA.

In 1981 Penelope Schwartzbaum begins seventh grade at Elston Preparatory School and is immediately overwhelmed. The workload is heavy, the teachers are openly trying to weed out students, and suddenly her friends are all talking about college. It seems like everything is different than it was in elementary school, even if most of the people are the same. Penelope is confused about the social changes happening around her, including her new feeling that she and her best friend, Stacy, dont seem to fit anymore. The more popular girls pressure Penelope and others who attended Elston Elementary together to sign a pledge saying they will not befriend any of the students who have come from other elementary schools. Before Penelope makes up her mind, Stacy decides for the two of them. Issues at home compound Penelopes troubles with friends and school when she suspects that her mother is having an affair. Penelope has a difficult time concentrating in her classes, she gets farther behind, and, as if that isnt enough, the school administrators have found out about the pledge against the new kids and are demanding that students come forward or face consequences. Penelopes behavior gets stranger, and she begins to act out. Soon, graffiti begins to show up all over the school making statements against the pledge and also about some of Penelopes friends. The girls in her group want to find out who is going against them. Penelope watches as the group of girls cruelly gang up on Tillie, one of their own, when they find out she has confessed to the administration about the pledge. The girls are convinced Tillie must also be the graffiti artist. Penelope feels terrible but cannot stop herself from participating in the confrontation. Eventually, Penelope gets caught and suspended for being the graffiti artist when she

writes Penelope B. Schwartzbaum was here on her desk during an algebra test she is failing. During her week of suspension she finally comes out of her fog and begins to be honest with herself about how shes been feeling. When she returns to school she develops a deeper friendship with Cass, a smart and creative new kid, and Tillie, the girl who had been wrongly accused of writing Penelopes graffiti. With two new friends with whom she feels safe and comfortable, she begins to come out of her shell and explore who she wants to be. She also finds out that, while her parents marriage isnt perfect, her mother is not having an affair. The writer effectively creates an increasingly distant and unhappy perspective as Penelope disappears farther and farther inside herself. Upper elementary and middle school students, especially females, would identify well with the pressure to fit in while also trying to have their own voice and learn who they are. The characters are well developed, and the 1980s New York City setting adds subtle flavor to the story. Overall, the book is intelligently written and successfully serves an audience of sixth to eighth graders, primarily females.
Alison Pollet. 2004. New York: Orchard Press. 218 pp. ISBN 0-439-58394-2. US$15.95.

Blushing: Expressions of Love in Poems & Letters

Reviewed by Heather M. Hoyt, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA.

This collection of love poems and letters introduces adolescent readers to the complexities of love. The title, Blushing, indicates the first flush of love, when we realize someone has changed our lives; however, editor Paul B. Janeczko wants readers to discover the realities beyond that moment. Janeczkos book presents not only the glories of love but also shades of frustration, fond memories, and the deepening of relationships. The selections are organized according to the following stages: the beginning of love, being in love, feeling alone in love, the end of love, and

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I N T E R V I E W W I T H J A N E T TA S H J I A N
James Blasingame corresponded with Janet Tashjian by e-mail about her latest book, Vote for Larry. James: In both of the Larry books you open and close with you, Janet Tashjian, the author, meeting with Larry, your protagonist, as if he were real (Im not saying he isnt, by the way), which is a neat trick for helping the reader into the story. How did you come upon that technique? Do you and Larry truly meet somehow in your psyche? How much of Larry is you? Janet: I like to push the narrative envelope with each of my books. Im interested in the form as well as the content of a novel. With Gospel (2001, Henry Holt), I knew I wanted to use several postmodern techniques, mainly blurring the line between fiction and nonfiction. So I put myself in the book, then other real people like Bono. Both books were so much fun to write. Larry is one of my favorite characters to hang out with. We are a lot alikevery hyperactive and hyperfocusedbut I cant hold a candle to his idealism and discipline!

James: You people your books with a lot of socially conscious characters: Bono and U2; the whole mass of people at Larry-Fest; Janine (who impresses Larry when they first meet in the used record store where she refuses to talk on Mondays to combat the barrage of words that assault us each day); Beth and Simon, who have a whole three-ring binder of accomplishments; and the new Peter, who wears an earring and paints houses instead of working in advertising. So many of your characters refuse to live the unexamined life. Do you typically hang out with people who try to live their lives with intention rather than living according to the whims of the powers that be, overt or covert? Janet: Most of the people I know live their lives with great intention and purpose. They are all very active in politics and social change; two of my friends and I made an ad for moveon.org that came in runnerup in their Internet ad campaign. It might be because we grew up in the 1960s or it might be that were witnessing another wave of activism. Most of the teens I know are also politically active; theyre much more interesting kids than those concerned only with their own lives.

James: Right now we are looking forward to the presidential election in November of 2004 as you answer these questions in July. This interview will be published in December, right after the election. Are you brave enough to predict any change in the percentage of young people who vote this time around? Janet: My fingers are crossed for this election; I cant remember a time when there was more at stake. Im also very hopeful that more teens will vote. Theres been a huge push this year from Rock the Vote to Declare Yourself to Citizen Change. After the last election, its imperative that everyone who can vote, does.

James: One important plot premise in both books is the idea that a person shouldnt be owned by his or her possessions, so Josh/Larry proposes getting your worldly possessions down to 75. How many possessions do you have? Janet: I dont know how many possessions I have, but its more than 75. That being said, Ive been an antimaterialist for years. I dont own a lot of stuff and I hate going shopping (except for books or music). Im embarrassed by our consumer culture; its so bereft of any kind of meaning. I love that so many kids are fighting branding in their schools and refusing to be treated as a consumer first, a human second. We have so much more to offer the world than our spending power.

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I N T E R V I E W W I T H J A N E T TA S H J I A N ( c o n t i n u e d )
James: When Beth and Simon fling their challenge at Larry and he is considering getting back into the changing-the-world business, Larry wonders, Was this my destiny, my vocation? Or was I just trying to impress a girl? (pp. 3031). This is a funny line, but it also seems to represent how teenagers vacillate between idealism and practicality. Is this something you have experienced/observed firsthand? Janet: I think we all vacillate between idealism and pragmatism. Everyone wants the world to be a better place; the difficult part is doing something about it. Im always interested in the opposing forces at work in people; we all have ulterior motives. As a novelist, its fun to explore them through a characters choices.

James: How do you address such serious issues and yet do it in such a humorous way? Janet: I like to deal with serious subjects in my novelsconsumerism, dating violence, special needs, votingbut without humor, theyd just be didactic, not entertaining. Tucking those issues into an interesting storyline with strong characters makes for much more enjoyable reading. Im big on humor in the books I read, too; I love black comedies and satire. I devoured [Kurt] Vonnegut growing up. Funny is big for me. And sitting at my desk alone, making myself laugh? It is, hands down, the best part of the job.

James: Beth and Joshs love strays away from the platonic in the second book. What did that decision involve? (On your part, not theirs.) Janet: When I did school visits for Gospel, everyone wanted to know about Josh and Beths relationship. Many readers considered the book a love story. I knew Beth would figure prominently in the sequel, and after all the interest in their relationship, I decided to take it to the next level. (Besides, after all those years of being in love, I thought Josh deserved a break.) But I had to throw in Janine, too; I didnt want to make it too easy for him.

James: Any advice for young writers? Janet: Yes, write every day, even for a few minutes. Write what matters to you, not what you have to do for school. Find other people who like to write and form a group that will give you deadlines (bring five pages next Monday) and feedback (only constructive and gentle criticism allowed). Read good books and study what the writer was trying to achieve. And dont give up! As I tell Larry in Gospel, The best person to tell your story is you. Its a line I stand behind completely.

remembering love. Each stage opens with a love letter and follows with a variety of poems, classic and contemporary. Young readers are invited to share the intense feelings triggered by love in its various manifestations. The poetry of men and women from different historical periods and nationalities illustrates the shared human responses to love, regardless of ones time and place. The classic voices

of William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, and Ben Jonson blend with the later voices of John Keats, Sir Walter Scott, and Thomas Hardy. Famous women like Anne Bradstreet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and Emily Dickinson add womens perspectives to the collection. More recent poets, such as Maya Angelou, Pablo Neruda, and Naomi Shihab Nye, enrich the book with their individual voices. The mystic voice of Rumi

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is also heard, contributing to the spiritual aspect of love. Janeczkos introduction presents his reasons for selecting and organizing the poems, providing a map for each of the sections. He emphasizes the importance of exploring the nuances and stages of love in order to understand how it affects our daily lives. By drawing selections from different time periods and cultures, Janeczko illustrates that love is part of all human communities; by reading love literature, we can reflect on other peoples experiences in order to understand our own. Blushing is an accessible and enjoyable collection of love poems and letters for adolescent readers, ages 12 and up. Readers will be drawn to the passionate emotions voiced in each of the sections, while learning the ways in which love adds both fulfillment and frustration to our lives. This balanced approach is useful, as it shows young readers that they are not alone in these experiences. While the collection contains a range of poets, most are mainstream English and American male writers. However, the familiarity of these mainstream names may be an added attraction for some readers. If young men can get past the feminine pink cover, they will enjoy it as much as young women readers.
Paul B. Janeczko (Ed.). 2004. New York: Orchard Books. 98 pp. ISBN 0-439-53056-3. US$15.95.

As the novel opens, younger gangster wannabes are hanging out with Frankie, a 19year-old deeply in trouble in many ways. When a suspicious vehicle pulls up, Martin suspects the ensuing shooting has probably been precipitated by something Frankie did to someone else. Tragically, Huero, Martins elementary-age brother who idolizes him, sees the car first and rides his bike directly into the danger zone in an attempt to warn Martin. Huero gets the bullet probably meant for Frankie. Mrs. Luna is devastated, but she is also determined that she wont lose her remaining son. Although he isnt particularly attached to his present high school, Zamora High, Martin doesnt want to move, but when he comes home from a night of gang initiation to find their apartment empty, he relents. Martin is in trouble from his first day at Bluford High in their new neighborhood. He refuses to take the taunts and insults (physical as well as verbal) thrown at him by tough guy, star athlete, and school darling Steve Morris and finds the majority of people are on Steves side. The school authorities regard Martin as the new troublemaker, a gang member from a bad neighborhood, and refuse to consider that Steve Morris may be the problem. Sometimes it only takes one or two people believing in someone to turn that persons whole life around. For Martin these people turn out to be a strong-willed young woman named Vicky and a teacher named Mr. Mitchell. The answer to Martins problems are not simple, but the strength to solve them resides in his own heart and soul. The novels ending is somewhat surprising. In two separate climactic points, Martin takes an unpredictable stance that the reader will find admirable. The Bluford Series typically presents young people in tough situations and follows them as they solve their own problems. Brothers in Arms is no different. Many readers will recognize the troubles that Martin faces as the same ones they face or that people they know face, and they will appreciate how the book treats these problems with respect.

Brothers in Arms
Reviewed by James Blasingame, Department of English, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA.

In the latest offering from the Bluford Series, Paul Langan and his coauthor, Ben Alirez, send another new student to Bluford, but this time from just across town. When his little brother is killed by mistake in a drive-by shooting, Martin Luna and his mother move to escape from the dangerous lifestyle Martin has adopted. Living in a rough neighborhood, with no father figure, Martin has looked to gang life for what is missing, and indeed his circle of friends call themselves a family.

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Teachers who are interested in this series of books should take a look at the Townsend Press website, www.townsendpress.com, for some remarkable deals on books and resources, especially if you have a rather small budget for buying paperback novels. You may find you can do more than you imagined.
Paul Langan and Ben Alirez. 2004. West Berlin, NJ: Townsend Press. 152 pp. ISBN 1-59194-017-6. US$4.95 (US$1.00 for teachers and libraries).

dents at Fletcher who were raised with more privileges. To make matters worse, Nates brother and his gangsta friends have not followed the same academic path: Conversely, they make their living from the streets. This threatens to thwart Nates success at Fletcher and his future. Focusing on issues to which all readers whether teenage or adultcan relate, Janet McDonalds tersely written story will have the reader pulling for the 16-year-old protagonist from the very beginning. Everyone can recall a time when friends, family, or classmates have chosen alternate paths. Also, the reader will revisit times in his or her life when there were struggles with a sense of belonging and the challenges associated with branching out to reach his or her potential, even if it means turning away from that which is familiar. In addition, McDonald shows personal growth in her characters, but she does this while the adults watch and learn from the periphery. Brother Hood uses all the personal, family, relationship, and cultural issues to teach compassion, understanding, and tolerance. Although Janet McDonald drops clues as to the possible outcome, she leaves readers with an ending that meets their needs and expectations.
Janet McDonald. 2004. New York: Frances Foster Books, an imprint of Farrar Straus Giroux. 176 pp. ISBN 0-374-30995-7. US$16.00.

Brother Hood
Reviewed by Rhea Spears, English Department, Chandler High School, Chandler, Arizona, USA.

When students walk into my classroom at the beginning of the school year, I often know nothing about the baggage they bring with them. It may involve personal, family, relationship, or cultural issues; it may be a combination of problems with which these teenagers are dealing. Well-known young adult author Janet McDonald exhibits a good understanding of exactly that kind of baggage in her novel Brother Hood, about a teenager who finds himself in the middle of several issues in two different locations. During the week, Nathaniel Nate Whitely sports a dress shirt, dress slacks, and a blazer with the crest of Fletcher School, a prestigious preparatory school in upstate New York. On his occasional visits to his Harlem home, he quickly changes into baggy jeans, a bomber jacket, and a do-rag underneath a slightly askew cap. The disparity between the two sets of clothes extends to the vastly different cultures of which Nate is challenged to be a part. When Nate was in seventh grade, he was selected by a Columbia University program that offered academically gifted public school children the opportunity to attend a private preparatory school. Growing up in Harlem, Nate and his brother Eli were raised to look out for their family, their friends, and their neighborhood. Because of the pride Nate holds for his community, he is forced to defend his background to his fellow stu-

Escape to West Berlin

Reviewed by Cortney Milanovich, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA.

As a high school teacher whose students are separated from their family and friends for long periods of time, I am finding it easier to relate to my students feelings after reading Escape to West Berlin. Many of my students live in the United States temporarily in order that their lives be better than those of their family in Mexico or other developing countries and can draw interesting parallels between their lives and the life of Heidi Klenk. Heidi, just turned 13, is experiencing a range of emotions because of her familys impending choice about defecting to West Berlin during the

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early 1960s. Students who experience crossing U.S. borders, leaving friends, loved ones, and family members behind in search of a better life, will definitely be able to relate to Heidis plight. As the story opens, Heidi attempts to talk her parents into letting her travel alone to her grandparents collective farm that is five hours outside of Berlin. Because of her age and the impending birth of her sibling, her parents deny her request while at the same time talking in hushed tones about things with which they do not want to burden Heidi. Heidis curiosity is piqued when she overhears parts of their hushed conversations until her parents finally break the news that they are planning their escape to West Berlin so that they can have a better life in a capitalist society. Their explanations of and feelings about their government-controlled situation are realistic and help the reader to feel the frustration, dread, loss, and exhilaration of their flight. Heidi loves her home in East Berlin and wants desperately to be treated like the teenager she is becoming but struggles internally with her desire to grow up and to be carefree in a Cold Wartorn

world. Heidi has to overcome her fears of leaving behind her beloved friends and valuables in addition to her recently acquired fear of the waterin order to escape to West Berlin. Maurine F. Dahlberg provides a sympathetic character with whom students will easily identify and describes events that teachers can correlate to problems of the past and present. Heidis emotions are true, believable, and complex, allowing readers to put themselves in her place as a 13year-old leaving behind everything she knows and loves so that she and her family can have a better life. By the end of the book, the reader feels an enormous sense of pride for Heidis accomplishments as well as a sense of hope about her future, knowing that she will never take her life for granted and that she will be able to share her story with her newborn sibling. Dahlberg leaves the reader with a sense that mourning for and burying the past are just as important as watching the future grow from its seeds.
Maurine F. Dahlberg. 2004. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux. 179 pp. ISBN 0-374-30959-0. US$16.00.

Professional materials

doi:10.1598/JAAL.48.4.8

Materials for review should be sent to Rebecca Stewart, Reviews Editor, at the International Reading Association, 800 Barksdale Road, Newark, DE 19711-3269, USA.

Teachers Guide to the Bluford Series

Reviewed by Neal A. Lester, Department of English, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA.

All good teachers continually seek new and different ways to enhance their classroom instruction, ways to make their teaching more exciting to them

and learning more exciting for their students. Assuming that teachers are clear about what to teach and about the what, who, where, when, and why dimensions of those texts, others suggestions on how to present texts and ideas within texts are almost always welcome. Particularly in cases of texts that deal with sophisticated, complicated, real-life issues such as race, class, gender, sexuality, and violence, for instance, veteran teachers might

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turn to Eliza A. Comodromoss Teachers Guide to the Bluford Series. Comodromoss Guide covers the first 7 of the 10 young adult novels that constitute the Bluford [High School] Series: Anne Schraffs five novels, Lost and Found, A Matter of Trust, Secrets in the Shadows, Someone to Love Me, and Until We Meet Again; and Paul Langans two novels, The Bully and The Gun. A second guide is forthcoming to cover Langans three new books, Blood Is Thicker, Summer of Secrets, and, with Ben Alirez, Brothers in Arms (reviewed in this months Books for Adolescents column). The guide is a valuable resource for secondary school educators integrating any or all of these texts with their middle and high school literature curriculum. Just as the novels themselves are accessible and easy to read, Comodromoss Guide is accessible and easy to use. Its four-part organizationIntroduction: To the Teacher, Writing Skills Handouts, Activities to Accompany Each Book, and Answers to the Activitiesis sensible and clear. Section I reminds teachers that the most important goal of reading these booksand by extension, any bookis to get students to read and to enjoy what they read. Even if they are not the strongest writers or the most skilled critical thinkers, students can realize the pleasure and excitement of reading. This section also encourages teachers to use ideas as directly presented or to choose and modify the suggested activities and exercises as they see fit for their own personal instruction. Section II provides substantial direction in getting students to focus on writing and critical thinking as natural and rewarding extensions of reading, not just with these books but with any literature text. Beginning with exercises that give students practice in picking out main and supporting ideas in single paragraphs, the section ultimately guides students toward thinking and writing about ideas in the longer traditional fiveparagraph essay. All of the components of good writing about ideas in any text are emphasized and explained through appropriate handouts and exercisesidentifying topic sentences and perti-

nent supporting ideas, organizing ideas within and between paragraphs, providing transitions within and between ideas and paragraphs, writing introductions and conclusions, revising and rewriting, and proofreading. Certainly, this section on writing as process and product will serve any instructor in classes where students engage in essay writing across the curriculum. The third section focuses specifically on the content of the seven young adult novels. Accompanying each novel are clear and concise summaries of plots and basic character identifications, details that are fundamental to any student discussion and subsequent writing about the books. Each book comes with vocabularybuilding and reading comprehension exercises, passage identifications, short and long essay assignments, and suggestions for small-group activities. The broad range and diversity of activitieswriting letters to characters about issues or relationships in the books, writing reviews of the books, sending postcards as a character to another character, completing character or idea diagramsare sure to move students beyond plot-centered thinking and writing and to engage them in deeper critical thinking and analysis. Because even the most seasoned teachers forget minute textual details and answers to their own questions as they focus on the larger picture of presenting texts comprehensively, the fourth section of the Guide is a handy Answers Key to the short answer and discussion questions. The benefits of using this guide are many. Including such varied activities will ensure meaningful thinking, talking, and writing about the ideas in these novels and other literature texts. The range of activities will encourage group idea exchanges and allow for individual students creative expression, all working to encourage students to enjoy what they read. One concern about the Guide for some instructors of advanced literature students might be the somewhat restrictive paradigm of the fiveparagraph essay with its three supporting points

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of development. While this model offers a frame and security for beginning and timid writers, it may well hinder the creative energies of and unduly frustrate those young writers and thinkers who know that ideas need not be mechanically limited to this structure. For young writers, it may also create a false and inadequate sense of what constitutes a well-developed argument and a well-developed essay. It is interesting, though not surprising, that the guide itself seems sanitized of the social issues presented in the novels. None of the discussion or writing activities deal with the issues of sexuality, violence, and race that make these novels interesting and relevant to young adult readers. For instance, even though the covers of all seven books present images of African American characters, there is nothing about race or culture in any of the activities. In fact, there seems an effort to erase race from the text as indicated by the second line of the Introduction: To the Teacher, The novels focus on the lives of a group of urban high school students and their families. While there is mention of the African American astronaut, Guion Bluford, for whom the high school in the novels and the book series itself is named, nothing clarifies that the main characters in the novels are African American. Certainly nothing about the success of reading or teaching these books is predicated upon focusing only on the characters ethnicity; however, instructors and students need not shy away from acknowledging and discussing African American cultural influences in speech, language, and character names, for example. Cultural specificity need not lead to stereotyping or essentializing and can serve as an indication that honesty about difference and others experiences can better help all readers understand what poet Maya Angelou has articulated about human difference: that we are all more alike than we are unalike. Putting the books within age-appropriate social contexts need not be offensive to students or risky for teachers. Rather, honest discussions about the sometimes sensitive issues of race, class, gender, sexuality, and vio-

lence would reinforce the relevance of these books to students own real-life experiences.
Eliza A. Comodromos. 2001. West Berlin, NJ: Townsend Press. 264 pp. ISBN 0-944210-10-4. US$3.00

Literacy in America: Historic Journey and Contemporary Solutions

Reviewed by Joseph E. Zimmer, St. Bonaventure University, St. Bonaventure, New York, USA. Coeditor of the History of Reading News, the newsletter of the History of Reading Special Interest Group of the International Reading Association.

Literacy in America is a social history of literacy instruction in America from 1620 to the present by Edward Gordon and Elaine Gordon. The scope of the book is very large, but the authors did an admirable job breaking down 400 years into reasonable and logical parts. These parts were further segmented into chapters that examined what was happening in literacy instruction regionally. For example, Part I: Literacy and Religion in Colonial America (16201789) is broken into three chapters, the first dealing with New England, the second with the Middle Colonies, and the third with the Southern Colonies. With this organization, readers can not only see the general types of literacy instruction available in the colonies, but they can also see regional differences in the value of literacy instruction. The strength of Part I of the text is in how it completely contextualizes public schooling for the readers. As I was reading this section, I was reminded that literacy instruction has a long history prior to the advent of public schooling in the United States and that public schooling is a relatively recent phenomenon. For the New England Puritans and many other early colonists, literacy was crucial for religious purposes, and parents were obligated to educate their children in literacy, sometimes by colonial laws. To illustrate the importance of literacy in Colonial America, the end of chapter 1 states, One day each year, most

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Americans gather around the family table to remember the Pilgrims and give them thanks for Americas bounty. Perhaps we should also thank them for planting and nurturing the first important sprouts of American literacy (p. 29). Part II: Literacy in the Young Republic (17901860) presents some brief and very touching biographies of beloved literacy educators who taught in Dame schools and early common schools. Building on the knowledge they gained from self-education rooted in reading the works of European educators, these teachers are depicted as entrepreneurs who frequently moved from town to town setting up schools and teaching children seasonally. Moving west, Part III: Literacy and the Frontier Experience (17901900) depicts the heroic teachers who set up one-room schools in the Midwest and traveled from family to family in the West to provide literacy education. One of the most impressive parts of the book is Part IV: Literacy Outside the Mainstream (16201900), which provides a well-documented history of literacy among Native Americans and African Americans in the colonies and in the young nation as a whole. This section provides firsthand accounts and brief biographies of people who struggled against incredible odds to develop literacy among these populations. While still well documented, the weakest section of the book is Part V: Literacy in the Modern Age (1870), which seems to have been added to the end of the book to connect the history in previous parts to the modern age. I believe the authors do a good job of tracing the development of the concept of functional literacy, but this section of the text seems a bit rushed. The book ends with a statement of the need for improved education in upper level literacy skills to meet the demands of the modern workplace.

Overall, I was impressed with this book. The first four parts are extremely accessible to the novice historian of literacy, yet documented enough, especially with primary sources, to entertain even seasoned literacy history fans. One of the powers of this social history is that readers can get a glimpse, no matter how fleeting and brief, of what daily life may have been like in a Dame school or in a one-room school. Toward the middle of the book there is a very touching story about a frontier schoolteacher in a one-room school who wrote in her diary that she had volunteered to bathe and dress the body of one of her students who had died in a diphtheria epidemic (p. 151). Stories such as these really put modern teaching difficulties into stark perspective. One of the clear messages of the text is the need to remember the primary role of parents in the literacy education of their children. Until very recently, in historical terms, parents were considered responsible for the literacy of their children. The authors justifiably imply throughout the text that public schooling has reduced the responsibilities of parents as literacy teachers. Social histories like the example in this book introduce us to previously unheralded heroes of ordinary teaching who took the works of Rousseau, Pestalozzi, and Lancaster and applied them to students in colonial and frontier America. Its very important for novice teachers to read the stories not only of the giants who came before them but also of the thousands of beloved teachers who paved the way for later literacy educators in the United States. I would recommend this text for all college professors of literacy, as a text for any course dealing with the history of reading and literacy, and entirelyor in excerptfor beginning teachers.
Edward E. Gordon and Elaine H. Gordon. 2003. New York: Praeger. 330 pp. ISBN 0-275-97864-8. US$24.95.

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Classroom materials
Jeanne McGlinn
doi:10.1598/JAAL.48.4.9

Materials for review should be sent to Jeanne McGlinn, University of North CarolinaAsheville, One University Heights, Asheville, NC 28804, USA. Comments about the column may be sent to jmcglinn@unca.edu.

Differentiated Instruction in the English Classroom: Content, Process, Product and Assessment
Reviewed by Barbara K. Strassman, The College of New Jersey, Ewing, New Jersey, USA.

It [differentiated instruction] should focus teaching and learning around commonly accepted and tested goals and objectivesthe requirements of high-stakes testing. In addition, differentiated instruction has the power to unite levels of readiness, interests, and learning profiles with appropriate yet individualized and differentiated content, process, product, and/or assessment to foster student success on these goals, these tests, and in all learning. (p. 39)

Your schools curriculum states that students will read classic texts such as A Separate Peace by John Knowles (2003, Scribner). As you pull out your file on this novel, you can already hear the moans and groans from your third- and fifth-period classes. Before even opening the book, most of the students will complain that it is awful and most will dislike the thought of writing an essay, even though you give a choice of topics. How will you ever engage your studentsamong whom you have three students with disabilities as well as four ESL students who have just been added to your roster? Differentiated Instruction in the English Classroom: Content, Process, Product and Assessment by Barbara King-Shaver and Alyce Hunter addresses exactly these concerns. The book provides an excellent operational definition of differentiated instruction as well as many examples from the middle and high school level English curricula. The authors do not shy away from the issues teachers face such as grading, state-mandated tests, and classroom management. Through specific examples King-Shaver and Hunter clearly demonstrate that differentiated instruction has the potential to reach all learners.

The first part of the book answers basic questions about differentiated instruction such as what it is and how it works in an English class. Each chapter is supported with examples from the authors school districts curriculum, giving the reader models of how to differentiate the content (what students are to learn), the process (how students will learn that content), and the product (how students will demonstrate that they have learned). For example, a class might be studying Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl (1993, Bantam) for which each student is required to independently do a report on the book. While all students are working on the same content and by the same process, the product can be individualized to engage and motivate each student, thereby enabling every learner to show mastery of the content. Thus, the reports on Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl could range from a written paper giving a historical analysis of the book to an oral presentation of poetry created by children in the concentration camps. In the second part of the book the authors list popular teaching strategies such as flexible grouping, learning contracts, or literature circles. Each strategy is annotated, showing how it could

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be put into practice in middle or high school English classes that employ differentiated instruction. For example, the authors use the jigsaw strategy in the study of Shakespeares Hamlet. In this case, the class is divided into teams to discuss the characters in the play. Team members are assigned to expert or breakout groups, each of which is asked to study a different character in the play. Students are assigned to expert groups based on their capability, motivation, or experience. The most advanced expert group is given the most challenging character, Hamlet. While the expert groups are all doing the same assignment, a character study, the work or content is differentiated because some characters are more easily studied than others. When the teams reconvene, members present the character explored in their respective expert groups. In this activity, all students in the class engage in the same process and product while given content commensurate with their individual abilities. The authors also provide several case studies of how teachers use a differentiated approach in units as diverse as Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet and Chinua Achebes Things Fall Apart (Anchor, 1994). Teachers can create a studentcentered classroom in which student differences and needs are clearly identified and lessons are planned based on individual readiness, interests, and learning styles (p. 25) by looking at issues of how to manage the curriculum content goals, planning and record keeping, diversification of teachinglearning strategies, and individualization of assignments. In the case study on Arthur Millers The Crucible (Penguin, 2003), one teacher set up six learning stations to differentiate the processes by which her students would study the play and the products they would use to demonstrate their knowledge. All students had to complete three designated stations and then choose

one additional station. The stations varied from writing a poem or paragraph using specified vocabulary from the play to assuming the persona of one of the plays characters when writing a letter to explain his or her actions. The authors relate differentiated instruction to broad educational philosophies, theories, and practices. Teachers will be able to see how differentiation is not a teaching formula but rather a philosophy about the teachinglearning process that invites creativity and respects the diversity of the individuals (both students and teachers) who make up the societies living in respective classes. Differentiated instruction, like Gardners theory of multiple intelligences, constructivist activities, balanced literacy practices, or a brain-based perspective charge[s] and challenge[s] the teacher to find and adapt content, process, product, and assessment to fit the unique and diverse needs of each learner. Employing differentiation strategies and activities helps teachers answer this charge and challenge (p. 129). For example, in the case study of The Crucible, learning stations enabled students to link the play to their respective knowledge bases, interests, and learning styles. Such structures acknowledge that meaning and learning are unique due to individual student variables and are keys to a brain-based learning approach. This short book is a primer on differentiated instruction as well as an in-depth discussion on how to implement differentiation in English classes. English teachers, as well as all teachers seeking to more actively engage their students in learning, will find this book useful as they work to enable all learners to achieve their maximum potential.
Barbara King-Shaver and Alyce Hunter. 2003. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. 136 pp. ISBN 0-32500577-X. US$13.60.

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