Telling stories from secondary and college English classrooms, this book explores the new possibilities for teaching and learning generated by bringing together reader-response and cultural-studies approaches. The book connects William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, and other canonical figures to multicultural writers, popular culture,…

This book contains eight selections of literature for children in Grades 3-5, books which focus on themes of friendship and family. Ranging from picture books to novels, these selections are rich with possibilities for exploring topics such as loyalty, empathy, conflict, courage, fairness, responsibility, and diversity. Each selection features the…

Noting that academic failure begins early and that the focus of school reform should be at the elementary level, this book describes the Basic School, an idea based on best practice in elementary education. A Basic School pushes school reform back to the first years of formal education; gives priority to language and suggests a coherent core of…