A New Literature Companion for Teachers (3rd edition)

Lorraine McDonald

Children’s literature is in a golden age, with a never-before-seen range of forms, modes and styles. This is exciting for teachers, who understand the power of literature to inspire readers and writers in the classroom. This brand-new third edition of PETAA’s landmark text A new literature companion for teachers has been written to support and build teachers’ knowledge of how literature may be responded to, examined, interpreted, analysed, evaluated and created. Written in alignment with the latest version of the Australian Curriculum (v9) and including more than 80 mentor texts, this is a must-have for any initial teacher education (ITE) student or practising teacher library.

The book presents literary writing as both an art and a craft, and explores aspects of writers’ artistry. Throughout each chapter, this text highlights the reciprocity of the reading-writing relationship, highlighting close reading and developed writing teaching and learning opportunities for both teachers and students. There is a consistent focus on how language constructs meaning in texts.

This book is truly a companion, guiding teachers through the world of children’s fiction and non-fiction books, step-by-step through genre, language, vocabulary, text evaluation, examination, and creation. It opens up the world of children’s texts for teachers and offers them a map for guiding their students through the literary and non-fiction landscape.

Judge’s Comment

2023 saw a high standard of excellence in the entries submitted in the Teaching or Reference Resource Category. The winner of the Teaching or Reference Category is the outstanding, ‘A New Literature Companion for Teachers’ (3rd edition) by Lorraine McDonald. This resource book is unmatched in the market in its capacity to build teacher knowledge of how literature may be responded to, examined, interpreted, evaluated and created. Understanding and creating a wide range of texts is central to the study of English. ‘A New Literature Companion for Teachers’ is an easy to follow guide for teachers to learn about and utilise literary texts in the classroom. It includes the analysis of more than 80 mentor texts and delivers practical teaching assistance appropriate for beginning and experienced teachers alike. This text demonstrates for teachers how language constructs meaning in texts and moreover how language and text shape our understanding of ourselves as human beings and our world. ‘A New Literature Companion for Teachers’ is an excellent tool to deepen our understanding of how to teach English and literacy powerfully through the use of quality literature.