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In the Strange, Strange Wood by Gail W. BellReview by: Donna S. DemianThe Reading Teacher, Vol. 26, No. 3 (Dec., 1972), pp. 321-322Published by: Wiley on behalf of the International Reading AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20193211 .
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Every chapter is rich in vivid description, conversation, and examples. Perhaps the greatest contribution of the book is its practicality. The author tells practically what was
done and how it was done. While the problems and solu
tions are limited to the particular situations described in
the book, all chapters contain several workable and achiev
able suggestions that could be used by teachers in other
schools attended by children from foreign speaking homes.
The book has warmth, compassion, understanding; it
sparkles with reality; it is colorful; withal it is education
ally sound.
And, oh yes, the unusual title! How come?
In the countries from which these children had migrated spinsterhood was unknown. They were deeply distressed
because their "Miss" was unmarried. Puzzled and unhappy,
they discussed the matter endlessly. To quote: "In all their young lives they had never met
or heard of an unmarried woman living alone. 'Nobody in
house?' they exclaimed, their eyes wide with pity, 'Only
you?' and were not comforted when she told them that she
had two lovely cats to keep her company. Little Sharifa came next day with an old brass curtain ring and pushed it on her finger. 'A Wedding Man,' she said firmly, 'is nicer
than cats, Miss/ "
In the Strange, Strange Wood, by Gail W. Bell; illustrated by McRay Magleby. Hardcover, 28 pages, $2.25, copyright 1972. Brigham Young University Press, Station One, Box
296, Provo, Utah 84601. Reviewed by Donna S. Demian,
Oxford, Ohio.
In the Strange, Strange Wood reflects the design of our times, that is, a combination of classical construction and
contemporary creativity. The classical construction is out
lined in the story of a little boy who lives in a house by the woods?that woods holding excitement which only he
discovers on a rainy day when no one will play with him. The contemporary creativity unfolds in the invention of new words for natural phenomena, such as the rumblot, the red spotted kangaree and the orange and green triple tree. The aliveness sparked by new words is extended into the colorful and original illustrations by McRay Magleby.
The blend of the classical and contemporary in this book forms a beautiful picture of the meaning of self-discovery. The little boy is led into such deep involvement in the woods that he actually becomes the centipede, a definite
advantage while escaping from a kangaree, and another
tribute to the unity of text and drawing. The involvement
of self-discovery is more than a picture one can gain from
this book. This "wood of words" could be a great stimulus
in both language and speech development. Children could
become these characters in a short playlet, in which the
animals create their own sounds. (I'm auditioning for the
part of the yellow feeper.) This experience could be ex
tended into creating further dialogue for all the characters, or writing a similar, yet new playlet.
In the Strange, Strange Wood is the first in a series that will concentrate on different sounds and rhythms. If a simi
Critically
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lar balance of constructionism and creativity can be main
tained in future volumes, this series could prove to be a
renewing breath in language development.
resources Basic Concepts in Reading Instruction?A Programmed
Approach, by Arnold Burron and Amos L. Claybaugh. Pa
perback, 129 pages, $2.95, copyright 1972. Charles E. Mer
rill Publishing Company, 1300 Alum Creek Drive, Colum bus, Ohio 43216. Reviewed by W. Dorsey Hammond, Oak
land University, Rochester, Michigan._
The authors of this programed text state that their purpose for writing the book was twofold: 1) To serve as a supple
ment to a professional text by presenting selected basic
concepts in the teaching of reading which can be used by a student as a preview or review of a wider discussion of
the topics initiated herein, and 2) To facilitate the begin ning student's identification, organization, and retention of
selected basic concepts in teaching of reading by eliciting his active participation in completing the programed les
sons.
To some extent the first purpose is met. The presentation of basic concepts is such that their use for preview or re
view could enhance a more indepth study of the topics. In
fulfillment of the second purpose, however, the authors
seem to have missed their goal. To their credit the authors have not made grandiose
claims about the book. The content is more superficial than
it need be and the programed instruction format lends
itself to this superficiality. The reader can "complete" the
book with a minimum of active involvement. As a general
rule, the answers required to get closure do not require the reader to think deeply about what is being read. The
answers consistently require such terms as: "individualized
instruction," "critical thinking," "individual," "method,"
"approaches," "skills," and so forth. The danger is that
the reader will pick up much jargon and "in terms" but
very little understanding of the concepts of reading. With
this level of activity there is also the danger of students
searching merely for correct words and therefore missing the value of these concepts. The less sophisticated student
may be lulled into a false sense of security by being able to bandy about terms with little understanding of their
meaning or application. We don't need to encourage more
of this type of thinking or behavior with students at either
the preservice or inservice level.
The lessons on "Informal Techniques of Assessment";
"The Informal Reading Inventory and The Cloze Test Pro
cedure" are a refreshing exception to the lack of opportu
nity for the reader to go beyond a literal recall level in
responding to the programed format. In these two lessons
the reader is required to interpret and apply basic concepts. For this reason the book could be an appropriate supple mental text for a class in reading diagnosis. However, it
does not include any treatment of miscue analysis, an im
portant aspect of reading diagnosis. The remaining lessons unfortunately are not as strong.
The Introduction, "Developing a Definition of Reading,"
322 The Reading Teacher December 1972
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