What Else Should I Read?, Vol. 2

In answer to the perennial question "What else should I read?", these innovative resources go beyond linear listings of suggestions to help students find books through a variety of directions, including subject, author, and genre. Each guide contains approximately 30 displayable bookwebs that can be used as posters, with reproducible bookmarks that list related titles and fit into pockets on the posters. Each web leads users to 8 to 14 related topics that have lists of relevant books with their authors and brief LC descriptions. Detailed author, title, and subject indexes make further exploration easy. Hundreds of the best fiction books for young readers, titles commonly found in school library collections, are covered in the webs. The visual, nonlinear features of these books make them unique and user-friendly tools for educators and students alike. Perfect for the bulletin board, the bookwebs are a great way to stimulate reading!

In answer to the perennial question "What else should I read?", these innovative resources go beyond linear listings of suggestions to help students find books through a variety of directions, including subject, author, and genre. Each guide contains approximately 30 displayable bookwebs that can be used as posters, with reproducible bookmarks that list related titles and fit into pockets on the posters. Each web leads users to 8 to 14 related topics that have lists of relevant books with their authors and brief LC descriptions. Detailed author, title, and subject indexes make further exploration easy. Hundreds of the best fiction books for young readers, titles commonly found in school library collections, are covered in the webs. The visual, nonlinear features of these books make them unique and user-friendly tools for educators and students alike. Perfect for the bulletin board, the bookwebs are a great way to stimulate reading!

School Library Journal

Berman highlights 30 children's literature titles for grades three and up, and links them, via thematic webs, to about 500 others. Each title doubles as a reproducible bulletin board, with webbed titles printed as bookmarks. While busy librarians and teachers will welcome such timesavers, this book is not without drawbacks. Age-level designations are not listed for each book, so teachers unfamiliar with, say, Richard Peck's Don't Look and It Won't Hurt (Dell, 1992) or Linda Crew's Nekomah Creek (Dell, 1993) won't know whether to recommend them to a fourth or an eighth grader. Beverly Cleary's Ramona the Brave (Morrow, 1975), typically a middle elementary book, is listed on the same web as Avi's Nothing but the Truth (Orchard, 1991), a definite young adult choice. A more helpful title, at least for older students, is Pam Spencer's What Do Young Adults Read Next?, which provides a browsable format, nine types of indexes, and helpful features such as annotations, awards, and review sources for each of 1,500 YA titles.-Leigh Ann Jones, Carroll Middle School, Southlake, TX

MATT BERMAN, a teacher at Metairie Grammar school, is a freelance writer, children's book columnist for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, and a regular contributor to Kirkus Reviews. He also teaches children's literature at University of New Orleans, Louisiana.