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SULLIVAN, Michael. Serving Boys Through Readers? Advisory. 152p. (ALA Readers? Advisory Series). bibliog. index. CIP. ALA. 2010. pap. $48. ISBN 978-0-8389-1022-1. LC 2009026841. TUCCILLO, Diane P. Teen-Centered Library Service: Putting Youth Participation into Practice. 259p. (Libraries Unlimited Professional Guides for Young Adult Libraries Series). illus. photos. appendix. bibliog. index. notes. Web sites. CIP. Libraries Unlimited. 2009. pap. $45. ISBN 978-1-59158-765-1. LC 2009045692. WEBBER, Carlisle K. Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning Teen Literature: A Guide to Reading Interests. 131p. (Genreflecting Advisory Series). appendix. further reading. notes. Web sites. CIP. Libraries Unlimited. 2010. Tr $45. ISBN 978-1-59158-506-0. LC 2010002577.
COX, Carole. Shakespeare Kids: Performing His Plays, Speaking His Words. 126p. illus. photos. appendix. index. Web sites. CIP. Libraries Unlimited/Teacher Ideas. 2009. pap. $30. ISBN 978-1-59158-838-2. LC 2009041731.
From Bruce Coville?s beautifully crafted prose retellings to the recently published ?Shakespeare Explained? series (Marshall Cavendish), a plethora of books attempt to make the Bard?s stories and language accessible to elementary and middle school students. Cox?s work, however, takes a different focus, offering a practical guide for performing Shakespeare?s plays, albeit in condensed form, without changing his poetic dialogue. Based on her own experiences, Cox gears her work to ?teachers of students in grades 3-8, librarians, or adults leading recreational programs,? providing precise, detailed instructions on all facets of youth-oriented Shakespearean play production. Her topics cover the criteria for choosing a play (including summaries of her top 10 choices), ?how-to? information on condensing the chosen title, casting methods, tips on staging and scheduling, practical technical ideas, and performance ?do?s,? including creating publicity and developing community support. The text is clear and concise, if rather repetitive and stylistically prosaic, and her message is straightforward: ?Keep the focus on the children.? Average-quality black-and-white photos capture specific moments that illustrate the performers? enthusiasm. The appendix includes the author?s condensation of Macbeth, her most popular script. While curriculum tie-ins such as those found in Pauline Nelson and Todd Daubert?s Starting with Shakespeare (Teacher Ideas, 2000) are both valuable and useful, this manual goes one step further, insisting, as does Hamlet himself, that ?the play?s the thing.? For neophyte directors who agree, Cox?s effort is sure to be a welcome guide to bringing Shakespeare to the elementary stage.?Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, formerly at LaSalle Academy, Providence, RI
This volume was created to give a general direction when helping most boys select books. The author does give an overview in the first two chapters of why boys read what they do, which can be found in his earlier volumes, Connecting Boys with Books (2003 & 2009, both ALA). But, if you think you didn?t need advice on how to do a readers? advisory interview for a boy, think again. Sullivan challenges us to throw out our preconceived notions about how to conduct such an interview. Methods of performing indirect readers? advisory with parents and teachers are included. The excellent booktalks for elementary, middle school, and high school boys alone make this a worthwhile purchase. The author also includes titles to suggest in place of a book a boy did not like or would not read, and a list that will be helpful for those caught in a rut. For example, if you?re asked for sports, and your first thought is Matt Christopher, try Mike Lupica. Divided by age group, there are equally great suggestions in each category.?Renee McGrath, Nassau Library System, Uniondale, NY
This book?s subtitle nicely sums up its aim: offering guidelines to YA librarians for getting teens to play a part in their libraries. The author believes that library involvement is vitally important in creating resilient teens who are able to ?overcome adversity and challenges.? The book begins with a description of this philosophy and places it into context within the history of YA librarianship. Each chapter then deals with specifics: teen advisory groups, writing and performance ideas, ways to meld teens and technology, ideas for community outreach, ways to combine teen and adult library groups, ideas to involve teens who are only around for limited time, and a chapter on assessing your YA participation. Tuccillo writes clearly, but drily, livening up only when citing examples. Thankfully, the book is filled with them. The pages are broken up with text boxes of letters from librarians who share success stories. There are also many forms, fliers, and brochures reproduced from various libraries. While some of the advice seems obvious and dated (hang up fliers to recruit teens, be sure to use MySpace and Facebook), the wealth of successful examples is handy to pull ideas from. This material was covered in a chapter of Connecting Young Adults and Libraries (Neal-Schuman), but the author greatly expands upon it here. This well-organized title is aimed at public librarians and might also be useful to show administrators how important YA services are to the library as a whole.?Geri Diorio, The Ridgefield Library, CT
This slim volume will be a welcome guide for librarians who want to diversify their collections with current materials or who need readers? advisory assistance for their patrons. The titles are divided into six broad categories, and then subdivided into themes. For example, ?Coming of Age? includes ?GLBTQ Identity?; ?Coming Out?; ?First Love?; and ?Collections and Anthologies.? Each entry is annotated, with notations for awards, reading level, and sexual-identity appropriateness. The final chapter includes a discussion of collection development and the author?s core list of fiction and nonfiction. An appendix lists an eclectic assortment of organizations, blogs, booklists, awards, and books. There?s one problem with the overall thematic approach: while the author explains why she includes titles in a particular section, many of these distinctions are quite nuanced, and many of the books could have been included in several different themes. Overall, though, this is a useful addition.?Betty S. Evans, Missouri State University, Springfield
