Parental Involvement
Children and Trauma: A Parent’s Guide to Helping Children Heal, by Cynthia Monahon (Lexington Books, 866 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10022; 222 pp., $19.95 cloth). Teaches parents about the effects of trauma, offers “a blueprint for restoring a child’s sense of safety,’' and describes the warning signs that a child needs professional help.
Developing Home-School Partnerships: From Concepts to Practice, by Susan McAllister Swap (Teachers College Press, 1234 Amsterdam Ave., New York, N.Y. 10027; 212 pp., $17.95 paper). Provides an overview of, and practical suggestions for, educators who wish to strengthen ties with their students’ parents.
New Directions in Parental Involvement, by Norm Fruchter, Anne Galletta, & J. Lynne White (Academy for Educational Development, 1255 23rd St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037; 125 pp., $12.95 paper). Examines the range of parent-involvement programs across the country over the past decade, describing 18 initiatives encouraging greater parental roles and responsibilities in the education process.
Positive Power for Families, by Anne & Gary Wakenhut (Creative Learning Consultants, 1610 Brook Lynn Dr., Beavercreek, Ohio 45432; 61 pp., $8.95 plus $3 shipping, paper). A parenting book that looks at discipline in a positive way, using humor to present what the authors say is a workable system for achieving harmony in a family.
Special Education
The A.D.A. Mandate for Social Change, ed. by Paul Wehman (Paul H. Brooks Publishing, P.O. Box 10624, Baltimore, Md. 21285-0624; 284 pp., $32 paper). Analyzes the Americans with Disabilities Act and its implications for more effective service to disabled citizens in areas such as quality of life, family empowerment, reasonable accommodation, and integrated employment.
Education and Disability in Cross-Cultural Perspective, ed. by Susan Jeanne Peters (Garland Publishing, 717 Fifth Ave., Ste. 2500, New York, N.Y. 10022; 326 pp., $49 cloth). Argues that cultural values and expectations play a dominant role in understanding the structure and function of special education, and gives the reader a cross-cultural framework for looking at the field.
Strategies for Teaching Students with Mild to Severe Mental Retardation, ed. by Robert A. Gable & Steven F. Warren (Paul H. Brookes Publishing, P.O. Box 10624, Baltimore, Md. 21285-0624; 336 pp., $32 paper). Describes instructional methods which have been effective in research settings, such as small-group instruction, and provides strategies for their implementation in the classroom.
Transporting Students with Disabilities, by S. James Rosenfeld & Linda F. Bluth (Edlaw Inc., P.O. Box 59105, Potomac, Md. 20859-9105; 225 pp., $55 paper). Explains federal legal requirements related to transporting students with disabilities and includes a glossary of special education terms and a listing of related associations and publications.
Curriculum
Breaking Away From the Textbook: A New Approach to Teaching American History, 2nd ed., by Shelly Kintisch & Wilma Cordero (Technomic Publishing, 851 New Holland Ave., P.O. Box 3535, Lancaster, Pa. 17604; 281 pp., $29 paper). Covers specific time periods in U.S. history, giving ideas for projects, classroom activities, and thought-provoking assignments.
Codes & Ciphers, by Christina Ashton (Betterway Books, 1507 Dana Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio 45207; 110pp., $7.95 paper). Analyzes for young people methods of sending, and breaking, secret messages; explains and illustrates several coded languages, including some used during World War II.
Fires in the Eyes of Youth: The Humanities in American Education, by Randolph Jennings, with an introduction by Judith RÀenyi (Occasional Press, 558 Lincoln Ave., St. Paul, Minn. 55102-2815; 156 pp., $13 paper, including shipping costs). Documents the projects and lessons from a decade of work by the Collaboratives for Humanities and Arts Teaching, or CHART, a network of projects across the country established by The Rockefeller Foundation to foster improvements in the way teachers and students learn and work together.
Kits, Games, and Manipulatives for the Elementary School Classroom: A Sourcebook, by Andrea Hoffman & Ann Glannon (Garland Publishing, 717 Fifth Ave., Ste. 2500, New York, N.Y. 10022; 629 pp., $94 cloth). Provides 1,500 entries describing hands-on teaching materials; includes details on grade-level suitability, price range, and contact information.
The Laughing Classroom: Everyone’s Guide to Teaching with Humor and Play, by Diane Loomans & Karen Kolberg (H. J. Kramer Inc., P.O. Box 1082 Tiburon, Calif. 94920; 228 pp., $14.95, paper). The authors of popular workshops on the power of laughter and play give parents, educators, and trainers “hands-on techniques’’ for teaching with humor; includes a foreword by the entertainer Steve Allen.
Social Issues
Are You Politically Correct? Debating America’s Cultural Standards, edited by Francis J. Beckwith & Michael E. Bauman (Prometheus Books, 700 E. Amherst St., Buffalo, N.Y. 14215; 266 pp., $15.95 paper). Essays spanning the political spectrum, from far left to far right, on such topics as academic freedom of expression, the politics of multiculturalism, and diversity versus quotas.
Confronting the Nation’s Urban Crisis: From Watts (1965) to South Central Los Angeles (1992) (The Urban Institute, 2100 M St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037; 26 pp., $10 paper). Report on urban reform recommends addressing urban problems within the context of an overall domestic policy stressing human investment, job creation, and the breaking down of income and race barriers within the inner city.
Kids, Crack, and the Community: Reclaiming Drug-Exposed Infants and Children, ed. by Barbara Barrett Hicks & Gregory A. Wilson (National Educational Service, 1610 W. Third St., P.O. Box 8, Bloomington, Ind. 47402; 163 pp., $16.95 plus $2 shipping, paper). Discusses the impact of cocaine use by expectant mothers on their children’s development, and suggests methods for mobilizing community resources to combat the crack epidemic and aid its victims.
New Opportunities: Civil Rights at a Crossroads, ed. by Susan M. Liss & William L. Taylor (Citizens Commission on Civil Rights, 2000 M St., N.W., Ste. 400, Washington, D.C. 20036, 200 pp., $20 paper). Includes the commission’s recommendations on civil rights, and a series of working papers prepared by civil-rights and public-interest-group leaders.
