Emphasizing the need to develop higher-level thinking skills and critical discussion with intermediate and middle school struggling readers, Williams uses quality children's literature as a springboard to help readers: understand and use descriptive vocabulary and figurative language, make personal connections with text, create and solve text related mathematical problems, promote an active, engaged discussion and critical analysis of the story and the important issues raised in text, extend meaning through research and writing, art, and drama. To help teachers match student to text, literature selections are categorized according to interest (e.g., mystery, sports, humor, identity/solving problems), genre, and include reading level, interest level, and number of pages. Discussion questions and extension activities_specific to over 100 children's literature selections_provide opportunities for students to ask questions, discuss and use descriptive language, make predictions and inferences, evaluate story elements, and critically reflect on character perspectives and social issues raised in the text. All questions are appropriate for individual work, special education classrooms, general education and inclusion classrooms, and help teachers facilitate literature discussion groups, book club discussion and response writing, self-regulated reading, guided reading, and whole class discussions.
About the Author: Nancy S. Williams is a professor in the School of Education at DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois. She teaches courses in reading and children's literature, and supervises remediation practica in reading and learning disabilities. She has been an art instructor, reading specialist, and learning disabilities resource room teacher in public elementary and secondary schools, and has worked as a learning specialist and cognitive rehabilitation therapist in a hospital setting. She served as program coordinator in a collaborative university-school partnership program preparing career change individuals as teachers and served two years as associate dean in the School of Education. She has published articles about university-school partnerships, literacy, coauthored a book about developing literacy skills through trade books in clinical and classroom settings, and authored a resource book for teachers and another one for parents about how to select and use quality children's literature for students with reading difficulties.