Susan B. Steffel

Teaching is an ongoing learning process. Readers committed to improving their effectiveness in the use of class time will find practical ways to improve their practice. In a conversational style, co-authors Anna J. Small Roseboro and Susan B. Steffel share successful strategies based on their decades of experience in diverse settings. Woven into the methods, materials, and management strategies for teaching reading are the contributions of eighteen others from across the nation with experience teaching adult students in a range of courses, settings, cities, and states. Readers will gain insight to “engage, empower, and elevate” themselves as educators as they meet the varied needs of their students.

Teaching is an ongoing learning process. Readers committed to improving their effectiveness in the use of class time will find practical ways to improve their practice. In a conversational style, co-authors Anna J. Small Roseboro and Susan B. Steffel share successful strategies based on their decades of experience in diverse settings. Woven into the methods, materials, and management strategies for teaching reading are the contributions of eighteen others from across the nation with experience teaching adult students in a range of courses, settings, cities, and states. Readers will gain insight to “engage, empower, and elevate” themselves as educators as they meet the varied needs of their students.

Fantasy conjures up images of witches, fairies, dark woods, magic wands and spells, time travel, ghosts, and dragons. Each of us defines fantasy in a personal way, based on our life stories, experiences, hopes, dreams, and fears. Fantasy Literature for Children and Young Adults, helps teachers and students of literature to develop their own understandings of this broad genre in order to evaluate and promote the joy of fantasy in their classrooms. An excellent teaching tool, the discussions are organized around three categories of fantasy literature, including fairy/folktale; mixed fantasy (which includes journey, transformation, talking animal, and magic); and heroic-ethical; and they are supported by well-chosen examples of representative authors, critics, and theorists. With the assumption that the reader has no special knowledge of fantasy literature but has some previous exposure to the study of literature for children and young adults, this book focuses on reviewing texts that illustrate particular types of fantasy literature. The authors have an extensive knowledge of both classic and contemporary children's and YA titles, and they offer many insightful observations and details that make a book a particularly good classroom choice. Literature allows us to discuss controversial issues without making judgments; it allows us the opportunity to "experience" another time and space by providing a new lens through which to view; and it offers us a multitude of ways to come to appreciate and embrace the world of fantasy. Fantasy Literature for Children and Young Adults will help teachers and other readers to deepen their knowledge, appreciation, and pedagogical understandings of fantasy literature.