Light 'n Lively Reads for ESL, Adult, and Teen Readers: A Thematic Bibliography
Light 'n Lively Readsis chock-full of the substantive experience of its author as a teacher of reading and English as a second language. Rosow, "a lifelong advocate for adult literacy," has years of experience helping reluctant readers find good books. She shares these finds with us in this annotated bibliography.Books are arranged in 17 different thematic units, such as arts, sports, parenting, sickness/death/dying, racism/bigotry/tolerance, science, and biographies. Each section is then broken down into first readers and picture books, thin books, challenging books, book chapters and "strong passages," newspaper and magazine articles, and suggested activities related to the topic. Titles range fromThe Diary of Anne FrankandThe Story of Ferdinandto many 1994 books. Two chapters list books that will be helpful in preparing for the GED and the U.S. citizenship test. The lengthy annotations summarize the theme of the book or article and suggest why it is useful for these special audiences. One of the book's strengths is the indexes: author/title/illustrator and subject.The introduction propounds the author's philosophy of education, "learner centered and learner empowering," and she is a strong advocate of reading aloud. This is a useful contribution for any reading teacher or librarian in a school or public library setting who works with new readers or those learning English.