The Power of Reading

The Power of Reading
Author: Stephen D. Krashen
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 214
Release: 2004-08-19
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0313053359

Continuing the case for free voluntary reading set out in the book's 1993 first edition, this new, updated, and much-looked-for second edition explores new research done on the topic in the last ten years as well as looking anew at some of the original research reviewed. Krashen also explores research surrounding the role of school and public libraries and the research indicating the necessity of a print-rich environment that provides light reading (comics, teen romances, magazines) as well as the best in literature to assist in educating children to read with understanding and in second language acquisition. He looks at the research surrounding reading incentive/rewards programs and specifically at the research on AR (Accelerated Reader) and other electronic reading products.

Power of Reading

Power of Reading
Author: Frank Furedi
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2015-10-08
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1472914783

Here is a natural companion to Christopher Booker's bestselling The Seven Basic Plots (Continuum) and John Gross's seminal study The Rise and Fall of the Man of Letters (Weidenfeld and Nicolson). The most eminent cultural and social historian Frank Furedi presents an eclectic and entirely original history of reading. The very act of reading and the choice of reading material endow individuals with an identity that possesses great symbolic significance. Already in ancient Rome, Cicero was busy drawing up a hierarchy of different types of readers. Since that time, people have been divided into a variety of categories- literates and illiterates, intensive and extensive readers, or vulgo and discreet readers. In the 19th Century, accomplished readers were praised as 'men of letters' while their moral opposites were described as 'unlettered'. Today distinctions are made between cultural and instrumental readers and scorn is communicated towards the infamous 'tabloid reader'. The purpose of this book is to explore the changing meanings attributed to the act of reading. Although it has an historical perspective, the book's focus is very much on the culture of reading that prevails in the 21st Century. There are numerous texts on the history of literacy (Hoggart), yet there is no publication devoted to the the history of readers and their relationship with wider culture and society. It is thus a fascinating insight into understanding the post-Gutenberg debates about literacy in a multimedia environment with such a strong emphasis on the absorption of information. Taking a cue from George Steiner, Furedi argues vigorously for the restoration of the art of reading- every bit as important as the art of writing.

Unseen Messages

Unseen Messages
Author: Pepper Winters
Publisher: Pepper Winters
Total Pages: 783
Release: 2017-01-27
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

From New York Times Bestseller, Pepper Winters, comes a USA Today Bestselling survival romance of epic proportions. “I didn’t know him. He was just a surly stranger sharing a flight with me. But in the end, he was my water, my air, my shelter, and my only chance at survival.” Estelle is tired from a career on the road and craves a tropical island getaway. Empty beaches, endless sunshine, and exotic delicacies is exactly what she needs to recharge. Galloway is running from a past that threatens to steal his freedom. A new start is exactly what he needs, far away from his mistakes. They board the same flight and they crash on the same island. Estelle is unharmed but Galloway is severely injured, and it falls to her to source water, find food, and build shelter, all while being nurse to a man who finds accepting help difficult. As Galloway’s injuries slowly heal and they still aren’t found, desire complicates their precarious existence. Months turn to years and as their desire grows, they’re forced to understand how fragile love truly is. They’re alone but at least they have each other. But what happens if one of them dies? From New York Times Bestseller Pepper Winters comes a timeless love story answering the question of what happens when everything is stripped away. STANDALONE ISLAND ROMANCE

Why Reading Books Still Matters

Why Reading Books Still Matters
Author: Martha C. Pennington
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 299
Release: 2017-08-29
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1351809067

Bringing together strands of public discourse about valuing personal achievement at the expense of social values and the impacts of global capitalism, mass media, and digital culture on the lives of children, this book challenges the potential of science and business to solve the world’s problems without a complementary emphasis on social values. The selection of literary works discussed illustrates the power of literature and human arts to instill such values and foster change. The book offers a valuable foundation for the field of literacy education by providing knowledge about the importance of language and literature that educators can use in their own teaching and advocacy work.

In the Blood

In the Blood
Author: Lisa Unger
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2014-01-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 145169119X

The New York Times bestselling author and International Thriller Writers “Best Novel” finalist Lisa Unger returns to the dark psychological suspense that made Beautiful Lies a bestseller around the world. Lana Granger lives a life of lies. She has told so many lies about where she comes from and who she is that the truth is like a cloudy nightmare she can’t quite recall. About to graduate from college and with her trust fund almost tapped out, she takes a job babysitting a troubled boy named Luke. Expelled from schools all over the country, the manipulative young Luke is accustomed to controlling the people in his life. But, in Lana, he may have met his match. Or has Lana met hers? When Lana’s closest friend, Beck, mysteriously disappears, Lana resumes her lying ways—to friends, to the police, to herself. The police have a lot of questions for Lana when the story about her where­abouts the night Beck disappeared doesn’t jibe with eyewitness accounts. Lana will do anything to hide the truth, but it might not be enough to keep her ominous secrets buried: someone else knows about Lana’s lies. And he’s dying to tell. Lisa Unger’s writing has been hailed as “sensational” (Publishers Weekly) and “sophisticated” (New York Daily News), with “gripping narrative and evocative, muscular prose” (Associated Press). Masterfully suspenseful, finely crafted, and written with a no-holds-barred raw power, In the Blood is Unger at her best.

Building Communities of Engaged Readers

Building Communities of Engaged Readers
Author: Teresa Cremin
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 254
Release: 2014-06-20
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1317678850

Reading for pleasure urgently requires a higher profile to raise attainment and increase children’s engagement as self-motivated and socially interactive readers. Building Communities of Engaged Readers highlights the concept of ‘Reading Teachers’ who are not only knowledgeable about texts for children, but are aware of their own reading identities and prepared to share their enthusiasm and understanding of what being a reader means. Sharing the processes of reading with young readers is an innovative approach to developing new generations of readers. Examining the interplay between the ‘will and the skill’ to read, the book distinctively details a reading for pleasure pedagogy and demonstrates that reader engagement is strongly influenced by relationships between children, teachers, families and communities. Importantly it provides compelling evidence that reciprocal reading communities in school encompass: a shared concept of what it means to be a reader in the 21st century; considerable teacher and child knowledge of children’s literature and other texts; pedagogic practices which acknowledge and develop diverse reader identities; spontaneous ‘inside-text talk’ on the part of all members; a shift in the focus of control and new social spaces that encourage choice and children’s rights as readers. Written by experts in the literacy field and illustrated throughout with examples from the project schools, it is essential reading for all those concerned with improving young people’s enjoyment of and attainment in reading.

The Enchanted Hour

The Enchanted Hour
Author: Meghan Cox Gurdon
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2019-01-15
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 0062562835

A Wall Street Journal writer’s conversation-changing look at how reading aloud makes adults and children smarter, happier, healthier, more successful and more closely attached, even as technology pulls in the other direction. A miraculous alchemy occurs when one person reads to another, transforming the simple stuff of a book, a voice, and a bit of time into complex and powerful fuel for the heart, brain, and imagination. Grounded in the latest neuroscience and behavioral research, and drawing widely from literature, The Enchanted Hour explains the dazzling cognitive and social-emotional benefits that await children, whatever their class, nationality or family background. But it’s not just about bedtime stories for little kids: Reading aloud consoles, uplifts and invigorates at every age, deepening the intellectual lives and emotional well-being of teenagers and adults, too. Meghan Cox Gurdon argues that this ancient practice is a fast-working antidote to the fractured attention spans, atomized families and unfulfilling ephemera of the tech era, helping to replenish what our devices are leaching away. For everyone, reading aloud engages the mind in complex narratives; for children, it’s an irreplaceable gift that builds vocabulary, fosters imagination, and kindles a lifelong appreciation of language, stories and pictures. Bringing together the latest scientific research, practical tips, and reading recommendations, The Enchanted Hour will both charm and galvanize, inspiring readers to share this invaluable, life-altering tradition with the people they love most.

Find Your Stride

Find Your Stride
Author: Emily Rudow
Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group
Total Pages: 401
Release: 2022-03-29
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 1632995204

A no-nonsense guide to finding your unique fitness program Have you struggled to stick with a nutrition or training plan long enough to see your desired results? Or perhaps you’ve devoted time and effort to your training but are frustrated because you’re not seeing the tangible changes you really want. If either scenario sounds familiar, then Find Your Stride is for you. In it, avid runner and fitness writer Emily Rudow explains why there’s no universal formula for fitness success—how trying to stick to a rigid plan, with no flexibility for individual needs, causes us to veer off our well-intentioned paths. Emily combines the latest research on nutrition, exercise science, and psychology with her personal, in-the-trenches experience, giving you the tools to transform your body and mind. Find Your Stride offers an unconventionally complete approach to fitness, covering mindset, nutrition, training, and sustainability, to help you: • Practice self-compassion and reframe fitness as a self-experiment • Discard the diet mentality and finally escape the vicious cycle of yo-yo dieting • Achieve your physique goals (build muscle and strength and/or lose fat) • Uncover intrinsic motivation to build a healthy routine over the long term As someone who, like the rest of us, has struggled to consistently stick to a fitness regimen, Emily is approachable for those of us at any fitness level who want to learn how to apply fitness concepts to our lives in a sustainable way. Find Your Stride will help you create a fitness plan that’s uniquely yours, so that you can feel good in your own skin, build confidence, and experience the high energy and happiness that come along with fitness being an integral part of your life.