First I found a reference book entitled, "American Civil War." From the table of contents, I chose Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. I listened to the article as I read, but the voice was monotonous and hard to follow. On the plus side, however, the article would be understandable for 7-12th graders of average reading ability. Difficult words were defined, and the captions easily guided the reader through the information. I was able to view a PDF, mail it to myself, and locate important information.
Next, I looked up "Huckleberry Finn." I was able to read and listen to articles concerning themes such as race and prejudice or the American dream. I read the first article, and it included a biography of Mark Twain, gave summaries of the chapters, and explained the theme. I would find this type of article helpful for myself to read before reading the book with students. It warned about language, the history of the banning of the book, and gave background information which would provide added interest. I don't know if I would refer my students there, since they might be tempted to rely on that summarization rather than reading the book for themselves.
Another area I searched was the religions section. I found it interesting that the Muslim/Islam section had it's own book, but Christianity was melded into another volume called "Religions of the World," which included "religions" such as Atheism and Agnosticism, Zen, and Confucianism. I found this disturbingly ironic in an American library system.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hi, Thunderpaws! Thanks for diving into Gale Virtual Reference Library. Glad you found some useful items here. I hope you'll take a moment to familiarize yourself with some of the other reference books Gale offers. This is a collection selected and purchase by the South Dakota State Library shortly after 9/11, when interest in Islam was high, and credible information was lacking. Because libraries needed this information and did not have it locally, this purchase decision was made, as well as the purchase of several volumes on terrorism. We hope Gale supplements what is already available in your library. Thanks for your comments.
ReplyDelete