Monday, August 01, 2011

Books, Books and More Books: A Parent and Teacher’s Guide to Adolescent Literature


In 1994, I had the wonderful opportunity to being selected as Utah’s Christa McAuliffe Fellow. For that fellowship, I read 100 Middle Grade and Young Adult novels—I know, such hard work!—and prepared Discussion Guides for each of them. I also wrote chapters about ways to help teen readers improve their literacy skills, ideas for both classroom and home school teaching strategies, and ways to use books to increase literacy and provide a safe ground for discussing problems that teenagers often face. All of this work came together into one volume, which had limited release on a CD-ROM.

With the advent of e-publishing, specifically through Kindle, I am now happy to make this book more widely available to teachers, parents, librarians, or anyone who is interested in finding some great books to read. In case you don’t have a Kindle, let me remind you that a free Kindle app is available for your PC, iPhone, iTouch, iPad, Blackberry, or Android.

I’m currently working on making two additional sets of 100 Discussion Guides available in the next few weeks, and I’m starting to organize a third set for books published in 2010-2011. Check back at here for release dates and at Amazon to order.

In the meantime, here’s the Product Description for Volume 1.

Reluctant Readers. Individualized Instruction. Too many books and not enough time to read them all. What’s a teacher supposed to do? Where can a parent turn for help to find that perfect book for their teenage readers? Where can they find teaching strategies and books guaranteed to motivate students for a pattern of reading success?

At last those problems are solved. Award-winning author and educator, Lu Ann Brobst Staheli shares the methods she has used successfully for 30+ years in guiding students to become motivated readers, while bringing adults into the world of 100 books they can share with their teens.

In an easy-to-read format, each guide includes thought-provoking questions and extension activities sure to improve student engagement with reading, while making the job of finding just the right book a little easier for teachers and parents.

Includes 100 book guides by authors David Almond, Laurie Halse Anderson, Avi, Joan Bauer, Gary Blackwood, Meg Cabot, Orson Scott Card, Eoin Colfer, Caroline Cooney, Sharon Creech, Chris Crutcher, Christopher Paul Curtis, Paula Danzinger, Kate DiCamillo, Jack Gantos, Sharon Draper, Paul Fleischman, Margaret Peterson Haddix, Will Hobbs, Kimberly Willis Holt, Gail Carson Levine, Norma Fox Mazer, Carolyn Meyer, Walter Dean Meyers, Claudia Mills, Gary Paulsen, Richard Peck, Phillip Pullman, Ann Rinaldi, Louise Rennison, John H. Ritter, J.K. Rowling, Pamela Munoz Ryan, Louis Sachar, Lemony Snicket, Jerry Spinelli, Carol Lynch Williams, Virginia Euwer Wolff, Jacqueline Woodson, Lawrence Yep, plus many more.

 

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