Writing in the Elementary Classroom: a Reconsideration.

J. Evans, Ed. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2001. 227 pp. $22.50. Writing in the Elementary Classroom takes readers beyond the basics of teaching writing by offering practical, research-based guidance that even experienced teachers can appreciate. The introduction begins with a summary of writing as a process and touches on different genres of writing. The text is divided into four sections: Supporting the Young Writer, Different Ways Into Fiction and Poetry, Nonfiction Issues, and Getting Ready for Publication.

In Part I, one author focuses on helping preschoolers explore writing, including information about how to set up the learning environment, the importance of the child's own name, and the teacher's and parents' roles. Another author illustrates the use of nursery rhymes, jingles, songs, and poems as a framework for children's beginning writing. This informative section also includes suggestions for helping children read and write by using letter-onset / rime analogies, and for encouraging bilingual children's writing.

Part II highlights writing as a response to literature and poetry, including several question frameworks that lead children into being meaning makers as they analyze what they write about. Also discussed are topics such as using picture books as models for writing, learning how computers can enhance the writing process, and understanding how gender influences how children's reading shapes their writing.

Using writing frames to develop nonfiction writing, helping young children learn how to take notes from nonfiction, and learning how to write from notes and graphic organizers are addressed in a very practical, user-friendly way in Part III.

Part IV provides insight into why punctuation is difficult for children to understand and suggests ways to teach punctuation from a child's perspective. Methods of teaching spelling and grammar that are understandable to children also are included in this last section.

Elementary teachers (even preschool and kindergarten teachers) who already understand the basics of teaching writing but want to deal with some of the nitty-gritty issues and difficulties they have encountered will find this book very useful. The only difficulty in applying many of the suggestions directly in a classroom would be that some of the picture books and novels used as examples are not published in the United States and might be difficult to track down. Overall, however, the clear explanations and examples make this book very practical. Reviewed by Cathy J. Morton, kindergarten teacher, Syracuse, UT