"You Gotta BE the Book"

Book excerpt: This award-winning book continues to resonate with teachers and inspire their teaching because it focuses on the joy of reading and how it can engage and even transform readers. In a time of next generation standards that emphasize higher-order strategies, text complexity, and the reading of nonfiction, “You Gotta BE the Book” continues to help teachers meet new challenges including those of increasing cultural diversity. At the core of Wilhelm’s foundational text is an in-depth account of what highly motivated adolescent readers actually do when they read, and how to help struggling readers take on those same stances and strategies. His work offers a robust model teachers can use to prepare students for the demands of disciplinary understanding and for literacy in the real world. The Third Edition includes new commentaries and tips for using visual techniques, drama and action strategies, think-aloud protocols, and symbolic story representation/reading manipulatives. Book Features: A data-driven theory of literature and literary reading as engagement.A case for undertaking teacher research with students.An approach for using drama and visual art to support readers’ comprehension. Guidance for assisting students in the use of higher-order strategies of reading (and writing) as required by next generation standards like the Common Core.Classroom interventions to help all students, especially reluctant ones, become successful readers. “This book points the way for us to cast our students as experts and collaborators in the educational enterprise.” —From the Foreword by Michael W. Smith, Temple University, College of Education “Simply put, it is a classic—timeless in its basic approach and yet full of relevant ideas and strategies for the era of Common Core.” —Deborah Appleman, Carleton College On the Second Edition: “This important book remains on the must-read list for literacy teachers working with adolescent learners.” —CHOICE “I hope this book is read and considered by all the stakeholders who can make a difference in education by following Wilhelm's lead of improving instruction to enhance students’ lives.” —Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy