Accessing the Classics

Help readers improve reading skills while stimulating their appreciation and increasing their understanding of great literature. Using a scaffolding approach, this guide leads readers from simple and engaging reads to more challenging texts, and simultaneously cultivates their interest and skills. An invaluable resource for middle and high school, ABE and ESL educators, as well as for readers' advisors.

All readers-even those still learning to speak English-can enjoy the delights and benefits of great literature with the help of this motivational and practical book guide. Rosow takes you on a journey through the history of Western literature, beginning with ancient myths and moving to medieval tales and classics of the Renaissance, Romantic Movement, and Modernism. Along the way, she shows you how to give readers easy access to some of the best literature of all time. Scores of collections focus on such ancient and enduring stories as Gilgamesh, Beowulf, the tales of Chaucer; historical masterpieces of William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens; and stellar names of more recent times, such as Virginia Woolf, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, and J.R.R. Tolkien. Each carefully selected collection lists an assortment of titles, ranging in reading level and arranged progressively from simple renditions, such as picture book re-tellings, through more advanced selections and readings where audio versions and simpler formatting support the reader, and on to the most challenging reads. Author profiles and narrative, as well as detailed descriptions of each title provide further insights into the story lines and features of the books; while building a scaffold of reading experience and knowledge to help readers better understand the texts. For example, the Mark Twain collection begins with a brief biographical sketch of the author, followed by descriptions of two illustrated books about the author and two readers' theatre skits based on his work. A collection of Twain's short stories is recommended next, and then several illustrated versions of his novels, and an illustrated edition of Twain's memoir, Life on the Mississippi, which is supported by an audiotape version. Each recommended title is rated as start here, next read, support here, or challenging read; and related reads, and audio and video versions are listed when appropriate. The author also notes author and student favorites, titles with exceptional illustrations, and other features of interest. Focus is on authors and titles of the Western canon that are generally lu2768 le in library collections. Because some of the titles cited are older editions, this is a valuable collection development tool in libraries; as well as an essential resource for readers' advisors, Adult Basic Education, and English as Second Language educators, and young adult educators and librarians. Young adult and adult or Grades 9 and up.

Auteur

La Vergne Rosow is founder of the experimental Beaumont Literacy Program in California and an adjunct teacher education faculty member at the University of Southern California. Author of In Forsaken Hands: How Theory Empowers Literacy (Heinemann, 1995) and Light 'n Lively Reads for ESL, Adult, and Teen Readers: A Thematic Bibliography (Libraries Unlimited, 1996), she has studied adult literacy issues in the United States, China, New Zealand, and Australia.