School Library Journal Review

K-Gr 5-As high-stakes testing on reading skills increases so does the need for support materials. This is an excellent resource to meet that need, offering strategies for understanding and decoding different types of writing. How a Book Is Made features an adolescent host who takes young viewers to visit an author (Liz Rosenberg), editor, illustrator (Chris Soentpiet), and printer. It shows the steps in book creation and the contributions each party makes. The rest of the series is presented in a radio show format. The four young hosts work on a program that teaches specific reading skills. Students are taught to consider the purpose for their reading, recognize genres, understand text organization, and name specific text elements. Basic reading strategies-preview, questioning, predicting, rereading, retelling, summarizing and visualizing-are all introduced. Viewers learn to use tools such as Venn diagrams, webs, and KWL charts to organize information. In Reading Aloud, the multiethnic cast urges students to consider purpose, audience, speed, pauses (punctuation), dynamics, and vocabulary skills. Methods of improving oral reading are discussed. Decoding is the theme of Identifying Letters and Sounds. Vowel and consonant sounds are explained, and blending and vowel-sound patterns are explored. Identifying Words shows ways to increase vocabulary and comprehension. Reading Comprehension presents young viewers with strategies to increase their understanding of what they read. There are humorous repeating features involving a spaceship and an Indiana Jones wannabe. Each production includes a taste of a piece of classic literature-The Jungle Book, The Wizard of Oz, or The Walrus and the Carpenter, for example. There is some overlap between the presentations. Key concepts are reinforced, reviewed, and shown in use. The DVD includes English and Spanish language tracks, discussion questions, and activities. These clear, well-organized productions will happily find a home in all elementary school libraries.-Teresa Bateman, Brigadoon Elementary School, Federal Way, WA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.