You Can't Read This

May 15, 2006
Gr. 7-10. Ross, an arts reporter for Toronto's " Globe and Mail "newspaper, offers a unique historical survey based around a broadly interpreted theme: the power of reading. The chronologically arranged chapters touch on censorship, literacy, and the influence of political texts. Later chapters introduce Roman poet Lucan's works, which criticized the emperors' abuses of power; the development of the printing press and of Braille; defiant female authors in eleventh-century Japan; "sanitized" editions of Shakespeare; African American hero Frederick Douglass; and secret schools where girls were taught to read in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. The focus is too wide; the narrative, anecdotal format may deter report writers; and the included source notes don't separate dramatized fiction from fact. Still, the accounts are fascinating, and Ross is an accomplished storyteller who brings history right into the present. Scattered black-and-white photos and art illustrate this timely, powerful text that teachers across the curriculum may want to share aloud, chapter by chapter.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)