Patricia L. Roberts

Do you want to teach values as a teacher or teacher-librarian. If the answer is yes, then Roberts has assembled a large bibliography of materials for you, complete with suggested activities that cover the values of acceptance, empathy, friendship, good deeds, honesty, morals, pride in heritage, respect for older people, responsibility, and self-respect. Under each of these topics, Roberts suggests a book title; gives a summary pointing to the value embedded; and provides activities, discussions, and writing prompts for the students. While the suggestions for use are uneven, the best part of the book is the book list. After reading the suggested activities, adaptations will probably come to mind. In reading these activities, it occurs to me that there is no such thing as a valueless discussion. Inevitably, kids want to talk about the dark side of the force versus the force itself or the need to feel sorry for the Baudelaire twins who are suffering through unfortunate events. And can we read a dead dog story with a straight face and say nothing? So where do you stand? Do you have good titles for reading and discussion on whatever timeless issues you love to discuss or have students write about? The answer to that question will determine whether you purchase this book. (Scarecrow Press, 2005. 200 pp. $44.00. 0-8108-5057-5.)

Bottom line: Recommended for the bibliography over the suggested activities. David Loertscher

John T.Gillespie

Gillespie has been producing major bibliographies for so many years that it will be difficult to find anyone to surpass his output. His latest effort is one that has collected the major bibliographic tools of both children’s and young adult literature. Here are the chapter titles that provide the major sections within the book: “General Background Sources and History”; “Retrospective Bibliographies”; “Current American Reviewing Tools”; “Bibliographies of Curriculum-Related Subjects”; “Multicultural Sources”; “Literary Awards and Prizes”; “Guides to Writing, Using, and Promoting Literature”; “Biographies of Authors and Illustrators”; “Professional Organizations, Agencies, Publishers, and Booksellers”; and “Special Collections and Resources.” Within each section, entries are arranged alphabetically by author and grouped by country so that the work is international. Each entry has a full bibliographic citation and a descriptive annotation. At the end, there are name, title, and subject indexes. Who needs such a bibliography? Certainly professors of children’s or young adult literature, large libraries that want to have a full array of bibliographies to maintain research collections, and practitioners who pride themselves on having a vast knowledge of the subject. This book is one of the essential tools needed to build a comprehensive collection. (Libraries Unlimited, 2005. 404 pp. $55.00. 1-56308-949-1.)

Bottom line: Recommended for specialized collections and experts. David Loertscher

Gail Bush

Often we wish we could have attended a conference but were prevented from doing so because of schedules or costs. In today’s world, more and more conferences are being podcast, video streamed, or sold as audio recordings. At the AASL Fall Forum in 2004, three major speakers offered their best advice on the characteristics of a great reading program that is built by both teachers and teacher-librarians collaboratively. In her book, Bush summarizes the entire conference. Skillfully, her summaries cover the big ideas in just in enough depth that listeners—those who attended the conference and those who did not—can grasp the important points. After an introduction to the conference, Bush summarizes Peter Afflerbach’s presentation on collaborative strategies for the elementary reading program. This is followed by a summary of Donna Ogle’s presentation on collaboration for the secondary reading program. Then, Stephen Krashen’s unique advice is summarized from his presentation on a collaborative independent reading program. These summaries are followed by additional summaries of units of instruction developed at the conference where reading is an essential element of the learning design. Bush also provides short chapters that introduce the conference and summarize its content. All in all, this brief work provides a glimpse into good thinking about the position of the library program as a foundational element in reading. (American Association of School Librarians, 2005. 56 pp. $20.00. 0-8389-8358-8.)

Bottom line: Highly recommended as one way to participate in an important event. David Loertscher