The T&W Guide to Classic American Literature

The T&W Guide to Classic American Literature Edited by Christopher Edgar and Gary Lenhart, 293 pp. Grades: all ages $19.95 paperback In “The American Scholar,” Ralph Waldo Emerson called for a literature emerging from the particularities of the new nation, and a host of great 19th- and 20th-century American poets, fiction writers, and playwrights responded…

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Sweet Illusions: A Young Adult Novel

Sweet Illusions: A Young Adult Novel By Walter Dean Myers 146 pp. Grades: elementary school, middle school, high school $9.95 paperback Sweet Illusions is unusual. It can be used in two different ways. Students can read it as they read any narrative, or they can help to create the story. Walter Dean Myers, the well-known author…

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Structure & Surprise: Engaging Poetic Turns

Structure & Surprise: Engaging Poetic Turns By Michael Theune 243 pp. Grades: high school, university $19.95 paperback Structure & Surprise: Engaging Poetic Turns offers a road map for analyzing poetry through examination of poems’ structures, rather than their forms or genres. Michael Theune’s breakthrough concept encourages students, teachers, and writers to use structure as a tool…

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Sing the Sun Up: Creative Writing Ideas from African American Literature

Sing the Sun Up: Creative Writing Ideas from African American Literature Edited by Lorenzo Thomas 200 pp. Grades: all ages $16.95 paperback In Sing the Sun Up, 20 writers present new and exciting ways to motivate students to write imaginatively, inspired by African American poetry, prose, and drama. Teachers of English literature, creative writing, and Black…

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Secret Writing: Keys to the Mysteries of Reading and Writing

Secret Writing: Keys to the Mysteries of Reading and Writing By Peter Sears 180 pp. Grades: high school, university $14.95 paperback Secret Writing is a fascinating study of the nature of codes. Beginning with the word game Hangman, and proceeding to discuss Egyptian hieroglyphs, prehistoric cave paintings, military codes, the surprising sense of nonsense, and difficult…

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Poetry Everywhere: Teaching Poetry Writing in School and in the Community

Poetry Everywhere: Teaching Poetry Writing in School and in the Community By Jack Collom & Sheryl Noethe revised second edition 329 pp. Grades: all ages $19.95 paperback The dazzling new edition of this “tremendously valuable resource” (Kliatt) contains 65 writing exercises and more than 400 example poems. It also discusses how to integrate poetry writing into…

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Poetry Comics: An Animated Anthology

Poetry Comics: An Animated Anthology By Dave Morice 117 pp. Grades: all ages $17.95 paperback Dave Morice’s Poetry Comics offers literary mavens and students alike a look at the canon in a new and hilarious light. This anthology brings together such classics as Shakespeare’s sonnets, Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass,” and Emily Dickinson’s “Poem 303” with…

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Playmaking: Children Writing and Performing Their Own Plays

Playmaking: Children Writing and Performing Their Own Plays By Daniel Judah Sklar 184 pp. Grades: kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, high school $16.95 paperback Playmaking is an award-winning, step-by-step account of teaching children to write, direct, and perform their own plays—as staged readings, videotapes, radio plays, and full stage productions. An exciting guide for cultivating the…

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