Finding text books for the upper school English classroom is not an easy task – few offer a complete course of study which can be followed progressively to build an understanding of a text area. Reading Stories is one in a line of texts from Chalkface press which fills such a need.
The book provides an anthology of short stories suitable for mid and upper level high school and into college or university study. The questions and exercises which accompany the stories endeavor to build an understanding of the ways texts are written to invite the construction of meaning.
The stories offered include “The Good Corn”, by H. E. Bates, Ray Bradbury’s “The Whole Town’s Sleeping” and “A Jury of Her Peers”, by Susan Glaspell. With two stories studied in each of five chapters, students are exposed to a range of styles and structures.
The text attempts to guide students to an awareness of the ways expectations can influence the reading of a story, how and why these readings can differ from a writer’s intentions, how cultural and social assumptions can affect the reading and writing of stories, and more.
Reading Stories, by Bronwyn Mellor, Marnie O’Neill and Annette Patterson
Chalkface Press