BOOKS AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW:

(contact the Editor if you wish to review any of these books

for publication, we will send you our copy for you to keep)

* Not in Alpha Oder

1) Sanchez, M.E. (2005). “Shakin’ up: Intercultural connections in Puerto Rican, African American, and Chicano narratives and culture (1965-1995). Austin: University of Texas Press.

2) Aladjem, D. K. & Borman, K. M. (Eds.). (2006). Examining comprehensive school reform. Washington, D.C.: The Urban Institute Press.

3) Gaitan, C. D. (2004). Involving Latino families in schools: Raising student achievement through home-school partnerships. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.

4) Christina Chavez (2007). Five Generations of a Mexican American Family in Los Angeles: The Fuentes Story. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

5) Altbach, Philip G. and Balan, Jorge (Eds.) (2007).  World Class Worldwide: Transforming Research Universities in Asia and Latin America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

6) MacDonald, Victoria-Maria (Ed.) (2004). Latino Education in the United States, A Narrated History From 1513-2000. New York: Palgrave/Macmillan.

7) Rivera, K. M., & Huerta-Macias, A. H. (Eds.) (2007). Adult biliteracy: Sociocultural and programmatic responses. New York/London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates/Routledge.

8) Cuban, L. (2008). Frogs into Princes: Writings on School Reform (Multicultural Education (Paper) (Paperback) New York & London: Teachers College Press.

9) Thayer-Bacon, B. (2008). Beyond Liberal Democracy in Schools: Power of Pluralism (Hardcover) New York & London: Teachers College Press.

10) Williams, Boyce C. (ed.) (2008). Preparing Effective Teachers of Reading: Putting Research Findings to Work for Student Learning (Paperback) New York: Peter Lang Publishing.

                                       GENERAL GUIDELINES:

                   Some questions to keep in mind:

1. What is the book’s argument?
2. Does the book do what it says it is going to do?
3. Is the book a contribution to the field or discipline?

4. Does the book relate to a current debate or trend in the field and if so, how?

5. What is the theoretical lineage or school of thought out of which the book rises?

6. Is the book well-written?

7. What are the books terms and are they defined?

8. How accurate is the information (e.g., the footnotes, bibliography, dates)?

9. Are the illustrations helpful? If there are no illustrations, should there have been?

10. Who would benefit from reading this book?

11. How does the book compare to other books in the field?

12. If it is a textbook, what courses can it be used in and how clear is the book’s structure and examples?

It may be worthwhile to perform an on-line search to get a sense for the author’s history, research agenda, other books, university appointments, and so forth. This can provide you with useful context.

                 Basic Classic Write-up or Structure:

13. Title including complete bibliographic citation for the work (i.e., title in full, author, place, publisher, date of publication, edition statement, pages, special features [maps, color plates, etc.], price, and ISBN.

14. One paragraph identifying the thesis, and whether the author achieves the stated purpose of the book.

15. One or two paragraphs summarizing the book.

16. One paragraph on the book’s strengths.
17. One paragraph on the book’s weaknesses.

18. One paragraph on your assessment of the book’s strengths and weaknesses.