Commando Classics: A Field Manual for Helping Teens Understand (and Maybe Even Enjoy) Classic Literature

Plumb asserts that many students hate reading the classics because they view them as irrelevant and inaccessible. Despite this roadblock, she has found a way to get at-risk teens to enjoy literature. Using the "commando" approach involves getting students hooked on the plot. This strategy allows her to get them interested in the story without immediately getting bogged down in teaching literary elements. Once she has them interested, she is then more successful at teaching the required elements. She makes the plot accessible to students through the use of supplemental materials such as graphic novels, picture books, television programs, movies, poems, songs, folklore and legends, websites, and biographies, to name a few. She developed text sets that encompass specific titles for supplemental materials built around a central literary work or theme. These themes are multicultural, gender-inclusive, and racially diverse. She discusses in detail how the materials are integrated into her units on mythology and folklore, American literature, British literature, and Shakespeare. Each chapter includes an "arsenal" that consists of the aforementioned text sets, assignments, graphic organizers, worksheets, guiding questions, writing prompts, and other materials, making this book equally useful for beginning or veteran teachers. Special attention is paid to school and public librarians in the "Commando Librarians" call-out sections, giving ideas for displays, programming, and collaboration. Similar to Sarah Herz's From Hinton to Hamlet (Greenwood, 2005), but more extensive it its coverage.—Wendy M. Scalfaro, G. Ray Bodley High School, Fulton, NY