Transcript

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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