READERS THEATRE IN THE ELEMENTARY CLASSROOM: A TEACHER'S GUIDE Herb and Lois Walker North Vancouver (B.C.), Take Part Productions, 1990. 123pp, paper, $19.95, ISBN 0-9691088-5-0 Distributed by Take Part Productions Ltd., Box 86756 North Vancouver, B.C. V7L 4L3. CIP Professional Reviewed by Joan Hewer. Volume 20 Number 2 1992 March Reading program dragging? Is there a hole in your whole language? Being nagged by guilt for not giving creative drama its fair share? Take heart! Help is nigh! Read on. I confess, before the arrival of this guide, 1 had not heard the term "readers theatre." I began to wonder if it was too new ... or was 1 too old. The first few pages put me at ease. Of course I had heard of it, had even used it many times, under the guise of "shared reading," "choral reading," "round-robin reading," "creative writing," "creative impromptu drama" and so on. In other words, it is nothing so new, merely newly packaged, easier to implement, and adapted to correlate with whole language and the co­operative, active-learning classroom. This guide is excellent. Written by Canadian authors, publishers and TV personalities Herb and Lois Walker (whose award-winning show 'Take Part" can be seen on YTV), it is spiral bound, clearly written and very "user friendly." The activities span the Kindergarten to grade 8 levels, and the steps to get you going and keep you going are precisely outlined. It even provides examples of the sorts of phrases teachers should use to give the positive reinforcement required to encourage the desired growth and confidence. Ideas are included for co­operative learning, ESL, Primary grades, staging dramas with older students, and so on. The activities encompass all areas of language in the modern classroom. The guide ends with a good list of other sources of scripts, whole language help and so forth. This might be just the shot in the arm your language program needs! Recommended for any teacher dealing with language at the elementary level. Joan Hewer, J. Douglas Hogarth Public School, Fergus, Ont.

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