Mooney, Margaret E. (2004)
A Book is a Present: Selecting Text for Intentional Teaching.
Katonah, NY: Richard C. Owen Publishers.
How can a teacher determine the suitability of a reading text for their students? What are the factors that influence the readability of a particular book? What supports can a teacher provide to insure that all students benefit from required readings? All these questions focus on the importance of text selection and utilization within the classroom and constitute the focus of this book by Margaret E. Mooney. Mooney’s interest here is in helping teachers take an in-depth look at the books they use in the classroom; specifically the text of the books, the illustrations of the books, the overall design of the books and how each of these factors influence student learning. Along with knowing the books, teachers must know their students and their reading abilities, says Mooney. Together, these two sets of knowledge, allow classroom teachers to effectively instruct students through texts, both fictional and informational.
A native of New Zealand, Mooney now travels between there and the state of Washington, working with teachers to develop their skills of text selection and classroom utilization. Long a strong proponent of guided reading, Mooney, in this text, takes teachers one step further and asks them to discover the individual texts they use in the classroom and learn how to analyze and utilize the texts for maximum benefit to each student. Mooney recognizes that each person brings unique insights and understandings to text, but she provides general principles teachers can work with in analyzing texts. She also examines how teachers can ascertain the motives and desires of authors and illustrators and how both words and illustrations direct the interaction between student and text.
Mooney considers good books a present, as indicated by the title, and begins her book by suggesting ways teachers can evaluate a book, both its content and its format. She calls Part 1, “Finding the Present,” which looks at how books are leveled, how books are categorized, how to link books to student abilities and how books and readers interact.
All of the following, according to Mooney, are important components in book evaluation and selection: cover, title page, table of contents, content, form, language, style, illustrative material, typography. Through the ten short chapters in part 1, Mooney explores these areas closely, helping teachers understand why each is important and the role they play in supporting student success in reading.
In Part 2, “Using the Present,” Mooney moves to the area of application. Through the use of specific examples, she examines how to use texts effectively in reading instruction, linking text features to student preferences and abilities. For examples, in Chapter 12, “The Hungry Sea Star—Encouraging Inferential Reading of Text and Illustration, Mooney explores how the book The Hungry Sea Star supports inferential reading through its text and illustrations. This chapter includes pictures from the book with leading questions for the readers that allow them to discover how to use the text to encourage inferential reading. Chapter 13 looks at the story Dear Red Riding Hood and explores the idea, as noted in the subtitle, “There is More to a Good Text than the First Reading.” The remainder of the book examines three other texts: The Birds at My Barn, Minibeasts, and A Storyteller’s Story, and the reading skills they support. Two of these titles are actually included in shrink-wrap with Mooney’s book: The Birds at My Barn, a fictional story and Minibeasts, a small informational magazine.
Mooney’s text challenges elementary teachers to move beyond just knowing about a book to really examining a book’s content, both the words and drawings on the pages. She asks teachers to reflectively consider the material they are using in their classrooms and to thoughtfully understand how this material is designed and how this design impacts reading instruction. A Book is a Present offers teachers a useful tool for growing in the choices they make when teaching students to read. The book is easy-to-read and attractively organized; supporting the concepts presented in the text. It includes both a bibliography and index.
Pages: 149
Price: $26.95
ISBN: 1-57274-672-6
Reviewed by Stephanie DeLano Davis, Spring Arbor University, Spring Arbor, MI
