Product Description

This second edition of the popular Literature Teacher's Book of Lists has been thoroughly revised and contains updated information and exciting new lists. This unique information source and time-saver for literature teachers includes 254 useful lists for developing instructional materials and planning lessons for middle school, secondary, and college students. Some of the lists supply teacher background; others are reproducibles for student use; many give new twists to studied topics.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #567102 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 576 pages

Review
"The Literature Teacher's Book of Lists is one of the first resources I turn to when beginning any literature unit. It is well organized, comprehensive and extensively cross-referenced--in short, indispensable!"
--Dee Brtt, library media specialist, Valley Schools, Boulder, Colorado

"What better resource for teachers for ESOL than The Literature Teacher's Book of Lists for making language acquisition both stimulating and enjoyable."
--Joseph P. Glendenning, bilingual educator, Eastern Massachusetts Literacy Council, Inc.

"Judie Strouf's encyclopedic Literature Teacher's Book of Lists is truly amazing! I recommend it enthusiastically to all my students--especially those who are prospective teachers."
--Michael Flachmann, professor of English, California State University, Bakersfield and 1995 Carnegie Foundation United States Professor of the Year

"Nobody but erudite Judie Strouf could write a more comprehensive, clear cut, concise reference guide. A treasure and a must for all teachers and those who love to read."
--Ethel Neidoff, president, The Sun City West Writers Group

"This quality resource of literature, especially for young adults, is beneficial for anyone not strictly educators. Parents, and even students, might use Ms. Strouf's book in selecting appropriate reading materials. During this stage in education when reading at grade level is a serious problem, this reference would greatly assist anyone in need of such information."
--Cheri Zangmeister, English and reading teacher, Southern High School, Louisville, Kentucky

"Yes! This second edition has been updated and strongly detailed! A masterful compilation forming a vital link between knowledge and enjoyment."
--Walter C. Kluz, an avid reader of quality literature, Sun City, Arizona

From the Back Cover
The Literature Teacher's Book of Lists

Second Edition, Grades 6–12

This second edition of the popular Literature Teacher's Book of Lists has been thoroughly revised and contains updated information and exciting new lists. This unique information source and time-saver for literature teachers includes 254 useful lists for developing instructional materials and planning lessons for middle school, secondary, and college students. Some of the lists supply teacher background; others are reproducibles for student use and many give new twists to studied topics.

For quick access and easy use, the lists are printed in a full-page, lay-flat format, cross-referenced throughout, and organized into nine distinct sections:

• I. LITERATURE . . . AN INTRODUCTION includes 15 lists covering the main types of literature such as Nobel Prize Winners, Quotations from Literature, and Literary Characters Based on Real People.
• II. BOOKS . . . FOR ALL AGES provides 18 lists, ranging from Newbery Medal Winners and Bestsellers for Young Adults to Puzzles and Brainteasers.
• III. GENRES . . . FOR EVERY TASTE offers 50 lists relating to Classics Writers, Comics, Adventure, and Science Fiction Masters.
• IV. POETRY . . . REFLECTION OF THE SOUL contains 32 lists of poets and types of poetry such as Poets Laureate of England and the United States, Classical Poets, and Haiku.
• V. DRAMA . . . THEREBY HANGS A TALE features 15 lists from Master American Dramatists and Elements of Drama to Best American Movies of All Time.
• VI. THEMES . . . UNDER ONE UMBRELLA contains 39 thematic lists encompassing Existentialism, Heroes and Heroines, and Transcendentalists.
• VII. MORE THEMES . . . YOUNG ADULT CONCERNS includes 14 lists of topics ranging from Courage to Drugs and Alcohol to War and Disaster.
• VIII. LITERARY PERIODS . . . INTO ONE ERA & OUT OF THE OTHER furnishes 20 lists of background information such as Classicism, English Literature Periods, and Major American Writers by Literary Periods.
• IX. POTPOURRI . . . WEIRD, WHIMSICAL & WORTHWHILE presents 29 captivating, off-beat lists such as Book Terminology, Library of Congress Classification System, and Careers for People Interested in Literature.
• X. STUDENT ACTIVITIES . . . AND TEACHER TIPS contains 22 lists including Book Reporting, Finding Good Books, and Teacher and Student References.

The Literature Teacher's Book of Lists, Second Edition offers a handy source of excellent examples, key words, teachable content, and teaching ideas. It not only saves you time but will help instill in your students a genuine appreciation for the world of literature.

About the Author
Judie Strouf has spent 27 years as a teacher of language arts, literature, creative writing, and drama. She is the author of numerous successful books, including Hooked on Language Arts! (Jossey-Bass, 1990) and The Literature Teacher's Book of Lists (Jossey-Bass, 1993). Now retired, she lives in Sun City West, Arizona.

Customer Reviews

Literature:A Starting Point
Americans seem fascinated by a top ten list of any category, so it is no surprise that someone has put together a top ten list for literature. Jodie Strouf in her THE LITERATURE TEACHER'S BOOK OF LISTS has attempted to encapsulate the broad swath of human endeavour that we call literature. Though the title suggests that the target audience is limited to teachers of literature, clearly anyone with even a modicum of interest in things literary can benefit. Strouf's chapter headings tell a great deal about how she organizes the rather bulky spectrum that most well-educated readers already know. Typical headers include (1) Literature: An Introduction (2)Books For All Ages (3)Genres For All Tastes (4)Poetry (5)Drama (6)Themes (7) Literary Periods (8)Potpourri (9) Endings & References. The value of Strouf's text is considerable in that many general readers would like to have a handy one page reference that gives a plot summary of a dozen words or less for all of Shakespeare's plays. Or perhaps you might need to know which famous works have been banned as being overly salacious (The 1969 version of the AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY puts in a surprise appearance). Or even which novels have physical disabilities as an underlying theme.

As I read this list of lists, I could see that there is nearly an infinity of uses for it. A high school teacher might use it to plan a curriculum of guided reading. A college teacher could photocopy relevant categories of minutiae that correspond with an undergraduate course in Lit 101. The well-educated layman could even derive pleasure in finding a tidy order in the disorder of written ideas that stretches back to antiquity. There are not many reference books that one could read as opposed to look up some arcane point. THE LITERATURE TEACHER'S BOOK OF LISTS is one such treasured example.

Worthwhile and interesting but buyer beware!
I don't teach literature and am not am not an academic, but a reasonably well-read individual could a.) take issue with many of these lists, and b.) find errors in the book. So caveat emptor. For example:

1. The Trojan Horse is listed on pg. 17 as being covered in The Iliad and The Aeneid. So far as I recollect, there is zero mention of the Trojan Horse incident in the Iliad. That, fellow readers, comes briefly in the Odyssey, and yes... much, much later, in the Aeneid.

2. Incorrect info, probably typos, on the Androcles and the Lion fable.

3. Explaining Deconstructionism as 'reaction against the structuralism amd its anti-humanistic, ostentatious over-analysis of literature as a basis for judging its value". Thanks, now explain what the heck that means.

4. Page 44 list of Major Literary Critics excludes H.L. Mencken and Harold Bloom and Malcolm Cowley? Come on.

5. Page 93. Eliot's Four Quartets is classified as an 'epic'? So is Brecht's play, Mother Courage? Epic?

6. Page 123. Yet again, the literati can't figure out that Fitzgerald's second novel is just The Beautiful and Damned, not "and THE Damned." Typo? Come on. Know your stuff. On Page 130 a Jean Auel novel is mistitled too.

7. Speaking of Fitzgerald, he's listed as an American Novel Master (he published 4 novels) but not as an American Short Story Master (he published over 150 short stories). He was better known for his short stories. By the way, where is Don DeLillo? Not on American novel masters at all!

8. Western Masters: Zane Grey and Louis L'Amour and Larry McMurtry are in there, but not Cormac McCarthy?

9. And a crowning complaint... Major Poets from Other Lands is the category. Nowhere listed is GOETHE!!! The greatest or among the top 3 greatest European, if not Western or World poets ever!!! Arthur Rimbaud, the 19 year old Frenchman, author of a couple score poems is there. Holderlin and Heine are there for pete's sake. No Goethe? Its hard to the lists seriously after an oversight of that magnitude.

Other than all that. On balance, its a great way to spend time if you love literature. Cool lists. For teachers, its good I suppose. Just realize some errors and oversights...some small, some HUGE.

great for LA teachers and SLP's
I am a speech-language pathologist. I treat language disorders and this is a great reference book.