Discusses the use of young adult books in teaching high school and college-level German, particularly "Damals war es Friedrich" and "Brandstiftung." The didactic intentions of these books are to inform younger adults about the Nazi periods of the past and the Neo-nazi resurgence of the present, encourage them to confront the issues, and to take a…

Argues for inclusion of more written input in first-year programs, and describes an experimental reading collection of children's books accompanied by guided tasks. The description includes results of a post-year survey that explored student perceptions of the cultural and linguistic benefits of working with children's books in a reading lab.…