Best Nonfiction Books
from NCTE INBOX 11-23-04

Look to the Orbis Pictus Award to find the best nonfiction titles for your students. See "Choosing the Best in Nonfiction: The Orbis Pictus Award Winners" (E-M-S) from the November 2004 Language Arts for details on this year's winners. For additional suggestions on using nonfiction in your classes, read "Some Teens Prefer the Real Thing: The Case for Young Adult Nonfiction" from the January 2001 English Journal.

Best Graphic Novels
Check out "Show, Don't Tell: Graphic Novels in the Classroom" (M-S-C) from the November 2004 English Journal for details on the genre in addition to great graphic novels and related teaching strategies. Spiegelman’s Maus is perhaps one of the most well-known examples of the genre. Read "Confronting Stereotypes: Maus in Crown Heights" (C) for one college teacher's perspective on the challenges of teaching the work.

Best Professional Books
Read the newly announced 2004 AESA Critics' Choice Selection, Language Ideologies: Critical Perspectives on the Official English Movement, Volume 1: Education and the Social Implications of Official Language (G), published by NCTE. Be sure to check out the book's sample chapter on English-only initiatives in the United States.

Take a look at the winner of the CEE Richard A. Meade Award, announced this week at NCTE's 2004 Convention. Based on the author's career of teaching experience and experimentation, reading and thinking, The Literature Workshop: Teaching Texts and Their Readers (C) by Sheridan Blau, available as an NCTE Selects title, places students at the center of a meaning-making process through an intellectually rigorous system.

More Resources on the Best Books
The Notable Books in English Language Arts (E-M-S) from the Children's Literature Assembly provides a yearly list of the best publications for children. Bill's Best Books is a monthly feature of the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents (ALAN) Web site (E-M-S). Check each month for new features!

For published booklists, consider the following NCTE titles: Kaleidoscope: A Multicultural Booklist for Grades K–8, 4th Edition; Books for You: An Annotated Booklist for Senior High, 14th Edition; and Your Reading: An Annotated Booklist for Middle School and Junior High, 11th Edition.

NOTE: Free access to journal articles mentioned in this Inbox is provided for 21 days. After this free access period expires, articles are available to journal subscribers only. This Inbox Idea was published 11-23-2004.

Initials in annotations indicate academic level of the resource (E=Elementary, M=Middle, S=Secondary, C=College, G=General).