Steam-powered machines, anachronistic technology, clockwork automatons, gas-filled airships, tentacled monsters, fob watches, and top hats--these are all elements of steampunk. Steampunk is both speculative fiction that imagines technology evolved from steam-powered cogs and gears--instead of from electricity and computers--and a movement that…

This book presents 16 original scripts that have been adapted from classic works of literature for use for readers theatre with young adults and ESL (English as a Second Language) students. Adaptations of the following works are included: "Little Women" (Louisa May Alcott); episodes from "Don Quixote" (Miguel de Cervantes; "The Necklace" (Guy de…

Reviews the 1990 conference on children's classics that was sponsored by Drexel University and the Free Library of Philadelphia. Highlights include summaries of and excerpts from papers by author and illustrator Wendy Watson and Anita Lobel, and information on the recipient of the 1990 Drexel Citation, author and illustrator Carolyn Croll. (LRW)

This study identified distinguished children's books read by students attending two elementary schools in Honolulu, Hawaii, and analyzed the effect of reading ability on children's choice of reading material. Average reading scores on the Stanford Achievement Test (SAT) were above the norm for students attending one school and at or below the norm…

Getting teens to read, much less enjoy classic literary fiction is an on-going challenge for educators and librarians. However, Holly Koelling--author, YA librarian, and "booktalker extraordinaire"--offers a variety of techniques for rising to that challenge and successfully selecting, presenting, and connecting teens with great literature in the…

Describes method of presenting theme booktalks to high school students to appeal to their various reading levels and interests. Excerpts from various forms of adult classics and young adult literature illustrate a technique to link the works by themes pertinent to teenage readers. (CD)