Reviews

Praise for MEM FOX
"Fox writes with a light touch, going straight to the heart of preschool concerns with affection and wit."-The New York Times Book Review
"Mem Fox has a wonderful ability to zero in on the feelings of both children and adults."
-Bookselling This Week
Praise for
RADICAL REFLECTIONS
"A funny, furious, persuasive book."-The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"A superb writer, [Fox] constructs an excellent case, and surely any child would like to be a member of her reading/writing class."
-Library Journal

Beginning with copious suggestions and ideas for preparing and presenting the scripts, Fredericks then provides directions for staging, using props, delivery, and post presentations. Scripts are presented in five parts and cover the land and early people of North America, the beginnings of a new nation, changes in the 19th century, new directions of the 20th century, and the recent challenges of the 20th and 21st centuries. A list of possible extensions to continue the historical lesson through research and discussion follows each script. Dialogue is simple yet engaging enough for students. Most scripts involve anywhere from 4 to 10 characters. Students should find American history more meaningful through fun and active participation in historical events, becoming major characters of history, and developing the ability to communicate through storytelling via readers theatre.-Susan Shaver, Hemingford Public Schools, NE Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Two books for adults pay tribute to children's books and to the artists and writers who create them. In Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever, bestselling picture book author Mem Fox extols the benefits of reading to preschoolers even newborns and gives suggestions for helping children learn to read by themselves. Line drawings by Judy Horacek inject some levity. (Sept.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.