About the Book
The Engaging Reader is a thematic reader designed to reach both traditional and non-traditional college students with varying language skills. Featuring a diverse selection of readings, the text reflects recent trends in education, promoting multiculturalism and the empowerment of the student as writer and reader. The text introduces students to a wide range of genres, including essays, letters, short stories, poems, current news articles, and other types of writing they will encounter in college and at work. The book emphasizes the connections between reading and writing throughout, offering instruction on active reading and use of a reading journal.
Table of Contents:
Introduction: The Joys of Reading and Writing.
Reading Anything.
American Library Association, Why Read?
Andrew Cain, Scribbling.
From Reading to Writing.
Ray Bradbury, The Impulse to Write.
Gail Godwin, A Diarist on Diarists.
Patricia Cornwell, In Cold Blood.
I. THE SELF.
Walt Whitman, Song of Myself.
Robert Grudin, A Dog.
Amy Tan, Scar.
Jack McClintock, Real Trouble Ahead.
George Moore, A Kitchen Maid.
Russell Baker, Growing Up.
Richard Rodriguez, The Achievement of Desire.
Alex Kotlowitz, There Are No Children Here.
Iulia Flynn Siler, Growing Up Poor—and Scared to Death.
II. THE ORDINARY WORLD: OTHER PEOPLE AND PLACES.
Michael Dobbs, The ABC's of the USA: Americana, Seen with European Eyes.
Richard Cohen, Glittering Alice and Sad Eleanor.
Louise Erdrich, Most-Decorated Hero.
William Least Heat-Moon, South by Southeast.
Sue Hubbell, On the Road: A City of the Mind.
Donald P. Baker, Graduation in the Mountains.
Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones), Young.
Aldo Leopold, Red Lanterns.
C.L. Rawlins, Deep in Truth's Country.
Courtland Milloy, Those Cocky Roaches.
III. DIVERSITY: VARIETIES OF SELF.
Elizabeth Bishop, The Fish.
Joan Ackerman-Blount, In New Mexico: A Family Lives in its Own World.
Claudia Tate, Audre Lorde.
George and Helen Waite Papashvily, Yes, Your Honesty.
Zora Neale Hurston, Work.
Lee Smith, The Face of Rural Poverty.
Claire Safran. Hidden Lessons: Do Little Boys Get a Better Education Than Little Girls?
Sara Pacher, The Restoration of Jimmy Carter.
Carolyn Heilbrun, Naming a New Rite of Passage.
Leslie Marmon Silko, The Man to Send Rain Clouds.
IV. HERITAGE: DIVERSITY OF CULTURE.
The Jicarella Apache, How the Apaches Got Clay.
Endesha Ida Mae Holland, Granny Midwives.
Margaret Spillane, From the Mississippi Delta.
Mark Holston, Rhythm Four Strings.
Portia K. Maultsby, African Cultural Traditions in the Blues.
Allan Bloom, Is Rock Music Rotting Our Kids' Minds?
Polingaysi Qoyawayma, No Turning Back.
Zlata Filipovic, Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo.
Zane Grey, At Kaidab Trading Post.
Carl Sandburg, Chicago.
V. CONTROVERSIES.
1. Poverty.
Grace Cangialosi, Wild Willie.
Michael Satchell, How People Survive on Leftovers.
Sara Rimer, At a Welfare Hotel, Mothers Find Support in Weekly Talks.
2. Preservation.
Carl Sagan, The Warming of the World.
Paul Quinnett, Enough of Roads.
Melody Ermachild Chavis, Street Trees.
Ed Malles, Hallowed Ground.
3. Civil Rights.
Booker T. Washington, Cast Down Your Bucket Where You Are: The Atlanta Exposition Address.
W.E.B. DuBois, Response to Mr. Washington.
Martin Luther King, Jr., I Have a Dream.
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., The Last Mill Picnic.
4. Dilemma: The Right to Die.
Roger Rosenblatt, The Quality of Mercy Killing.
Letters Responding to The Quality of Mercy Killing.
VI. TAKING CHANCES.
Scott Momaday, The End of My Childhood.
Jamaica Kincaid, A Walk to the Jetty.
Elinore Pruitt Stewart, The Arrival at Burnt Fork and Filing a Claim.
Jeff Lowe, On the Edge.
Dava Sobel, Marjory Stoneman Douglas: Still Fighting the Good Fight to Save the Everglades.
J. Anthony Lukas, When a Citizen Fights Back.
Stephen Hawking, Public Attitudes Towards Science.
The Preamble and Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the United States.
The Seneca Falls Resolutions.
Edith Wharton, A First Word.
WRITER'S GUIDE.
Writing a Summary of What You Read.
Garrison Keillor, How to Write a Personal Letter.
Sigal D'Avanzo, Dear Mom.
Writing a Letter to the Editor.
Looking Up Words in a Dictionary.
William J. Bennett, Go Ahead, Major in the Liberal Arts.
Finding a Topic to Write On.
A Library Search Strategy for the Topic “Global Warming.”
Robert M. Pirsig, How to Start.
Getting Started.
Backing Up What You Say.
How to Get from Source to Paper: With a Sample Documented Essay, “Funding Our Heritage.”
Richard J. Smith and Mark Gibbs, Navigating the Internet.
WordPerfect Corporation, Appendix D: Grammatik.
A Guide for Composition Revision.
Concluding: How to End What You Write.
Glossary of Terms.
Index.
Indicates new selections.
