Why are books disappearing from English classrooms? In a society dominated by two-dimensional electronic images, outcomes-based curricula and standards tests, some departments of education no longer require the teaching of longer literary forms. In "Read This: Why Books Matter," teachers, parents, poets, and writers boldly analyze the forces erasing literature from the English classroom, and passionately testify to the irreplaceable role of books in education and in life. "Read This: Why Books Matter" includes reflections by David Bergen, Neil Besner, John Ralston Saul, Margaret Sweatman, Catherine Hunter, Sheldon Oberman, and Deborah Schnitzer, poetry by Jan Horner and Melanie Cameron, and illustrations by cartoonist Bob Haverluck.
