Offers four reviews of readable and user-friendly handbooks or dictionaries of English usage, and ideas for their use in teaching. Includes handmade as well as published handbooks. (PRA)

Reviews two books by Susan Miller: "Rescuing the Subject: A Critical Introduction to Rhetoric and the Writer" (1989) and "Textual Carnivals: The Politics of Composition" (1991). Notes how she rereads dominant histories of rhetoric and writing instruction, argues for a theory of textuality, and illustrates how attention to…

Reviews "Author's Insights" (edited by Don Gallo) in which 12 distinguished writers of young-adult books have their say about how literature and writing ought to be taught in secondary schools. (SR)

Reviews 25 books, written by award winning authors, intended for secondary school students. (PRA)

Reviews a new book on using writing to teach literature in which the author is equally devoted to reader-response criticism and the close reading of texts. Summarizes the three extended sections of the book: "Teaching Connection and Perception,""Teaching Critical Distance," and "Sequencing Critical Inquiry." (KEH)

Discusses using software along with a "textset" of two books related by theme and topic. Describes two examples that use the software's topic or theme to introduce students to a pair of books. Shows how connections between the software and the books become the impetus for off-line and on-line writing activities. (PRA)

Reviews Linda Cleary's "From the Other Side of the Desk: Students Speak Out about Writing." Discusses outer and inner voices, writing problems, evaluation, analysis and exposition, and signs of hope. (PRA)

Discusses three books that can be helpful to teachers in demonstrating the connections between thinking and writing with journals, thus offering good models for "thinking journals." Notes that these books cover a wide range: beginning journal writers, professional journal writers, and the journal writer in all people. (SR)

Evaluates four textbooks recommended by junior high and high school teachers for teaching writing and literature: "Enjoying Literature" (published by Macmillan, 1985); "Exposition: Critical Writing and Thinking" (Robert J. Gula); "Situational Writing" (Gene Krupa); and "Double Exposure: Composing through Writing…

Reports the views of several experienced composition teachers regarding composition textbooks in general and their use in computer course sections specifically. (MM)

Reviews four professional references and two books for instructional materials to help teachers use stories more effectively in the classroom. (MG)

Reviews professional references and instructional materials that focus on language arts instruction. (MM)

Describes and evaluates three software programs for elementary level language arts: (1) "The Princess and the Pea," which connects the fairy tale with the modern world; (2) "PreWrite, Level 1," which helps students identify and develop writing topics; and (3) "Dinosaur Days," a creative graphics and publishing program with speech capabilities. (MM)

Discusses seven recent high-quality professional publications that focus on the process approach to the teaching of writing and that discuss it from differing angles. (SR)

Details the creative writing software program called "Kid Works 2" and claims that it is a solid and useful means of inspiring and fostering creative writing among young students. (HB)