"Nancy N. Boyles' That's a Great Answer: Teaching Literature Response to K-3, ELL, and Struggling Readers offers readers an interesting title, useful organization, and valuable information to assist the teacher in eliciting critical thinking responses from students. For the K-3 classroom teacher of ELL students who are often struggling to find meaning in text, the book presents many wonderful ways to work toward this worthy goal.

A strong element of this book is its clear organization. Boyles considered that all states are accountable to the National Assessment of Educational Progress. She chose that organization's framework to organize the book's broad objectives: forming general understanding, developing an interpretation, making reader/text connections, and examining content and structure. By including these particular objectives, Broyles shows awareness of the needs of today's teacher of struggling or ELL early readers. For example, Boyles includes identification of a lesson a character learned in a story. This is a simple thing to do for young students. Teaching a lesson, discussing its implications, and inviting students to apply the lesson or moral to their lives can all be accomplished in a short amount of time. Teachers check for understanding as this process is carried out. Broyles demonstrates her expertise through sensitivity to the challenges that today's teachers of struggling readers and ELL students face.

One of the most useful portions of the book is a rubric for assessing student oral and written response to comprehension questions. This rubric indicates beginning, developing, or accomplished levels with respect to accuracy, organization, thoroughness, and fluency. Boyles rightly includes these barometers of development, as these are indispensable skills for the student population the author seeks to serve. These emphasis areas are highly important for the savvy teacher to gauge progress in her students. The rubric is quick-to-use. It is a user-friendly tool to guide the on-going evaluation of student response to any piece of literature used in the classroom.

Another strength of this book is inclusion of abundant templates and tips for assisting the student in his effort to respond appropriately to text. The templates are easy to understand and lead directly to discussion and production of written samples. Template samples elicit student responses by asking such questions as: What would be another good title for this story? Or How did ________ solve her/his problem in the story? Template questionnaires include fill-in-the-blank forms with questions applicable to a variety of reading circumstances. The author also provides reading selection lists of popular children's books that may be used with each exercise. In other words, much of the work of searching for the right book to match desired skill development lessons has already been accomplished!

The author was successful in her attempt to impart valuable information for use by teachers of ELLs and struggling readers. As the student makeup of classrooms is increasingly diverse and the occurrence of struggling readers is almost universal, this book is a valuable resource for teachers who appreciate having a "quick-reference" to useful graphic organizer exercise pages. This impressive inventory of appropriate exercises may be copied for classroom use. This is one of the biggest benefits of the book. Teachers are prompted to ask: "How am I doing when I participate in a discussion?" and "What does a great book discussion look like in a classroom?" For Broyles, teacher introspection equals important teacher preparation for teaching literature response.

The table of contents is clear and focused. Part I of the book, entitled Getting to Great Answers, offers ideas for teachers about great objectives, book choices, and excellent instruction, productive discussion, and encouraging excellent answers. Part II includes tips and exercise templates for meeting reading-comprehension objectives. The size and font of the text is pleasant and appropriately easy on the eyes. Teachers can save time and work by choosing applicable examples from this book for use with students. A compact disc inside the book cover makes it convenient for teachers to make copies of exercises for classroom use. This is a big "plus."

Any primary grade teacher who desires to introduce students, even struggling readers, to ways to respond to text that empower them from the earliest stages of reading comprehension development would benefit greatly from Boyles' book."
-Reviewed by Barry Johnson, doctoral student, Texas A&M University-Kingsville , for Education Book Reviews