Exploring Books with Gifted Children (review)

The aims of the authors of this book are so worthy that one hesitates to unleash the full force or criticism against their means. It is a good idea to throw out basal readers and teachers' manuals and teach reading from "real books" instead: a good idea for teachers not only of the gifted but also of the more "average." It is a good idea to encourage varied responses, exchange of ideas, and open-ended questions. It is a good idea for children to demonstrate and consolidate their responses to books by creative and critical writing of their own. It seems to this reviewer, however, that for gifted children (especially) to derive the most profit from their encounters—however wisely structured—with books, they ought to be given the best books. The authors of Exploring Books with Gifted Children have not done the hard work of finding out the best. Statements like "the choices are endless" avoid the difficult and useful task of telling us just what books Polette and Hamlin would choose. Surely the number of excellent books for the gifted is finite. The quotations and "activities" proposed do not do justice to the literary qualities of those books included here that can be considered literature. Few questions deal with matters of style or structure, for instance, and several take the reader right away from the book (e.g. for Byars' The Summer of the Swans: "You are a swan. Describe how it feels." Or for Yolen's The Emperor and the Kite: "We are told to have our teeth checked every six months. If they are in good condition, isn't this a waste of money?" Or for Viorst's Rosie and Michael: "What is the nicest thing you've ever done for a friend?"). The authors' suggestions for "follow-up activities," relating books to "life situations," or using them as "springboards" etc., may be useful for classroom teachers, but have little to do with books or literary experiences.

There are many typographical errors in the book, and some errors of fact (perhaps the most egregious is the misquotation of Benjamin Franklin's "We must all hang together . . .," followed by its misattribution—to Abraham Lincoln). The authors' style has nothing to recommend it; some of the information about authors is out of date, and there are a few errors of English usage (e.g. "cannot help but"). Despite the authors' astounding assertion that "plot has little appeal to the fluent, gifted reader" their summaries and suggested questions are heavily plot-dependent. There are sections covering several works by a given author (Lloyd Alexander, the Cleavers, Lois Lenski, Judith Viorst, Zilpha Keatley Snyder) and a section briefly annotating 28 picturebooks recommended for pre-school to grade 1—an altogether less imaginative and demanding list than those for the same age in Baskin and Harris (see above.)

The Appendices contain unannotated lists of "selection aids," books on the gifted, and titles for primary and intermediate grade students. The latter lists are in many respects excellent, but some (not all) books discussed in the text reappear on them, taking up space that could be given to some of the more striking omissions. In short, for those interested in children's literature, rather than those teaching children with books, Baskin and Harris's book is essential reading, and Polette and Hamlin's offers little.