The Simon & Schuster Short Prose Reader

By M. Serra Goethals and robert-w-funk

This book combines creative, up-to-date writing instruction using short, high-interest readings that provide ideas for writing, suggest ways to approach a topic, and show how to organize and present information. Topics include: active reading, the reading-writing connection, narration and description, example and illustration, definition and explanation, classification and division, comparison and contrast, process and direction, cause and effect, and argument and persuasion. For anyone interested in improving their writing skills.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0130974218
• ISBN13: 9780130974211
• Release Date: June 2003
• Publisher: Prentice Hall
• Length: 380 Pages
• Weight: 1.01 lbs.

Customer Reviews

dipping your toes into writing

The text brings back fond memories of essay writing in school. All the timeless advice about how to write a concise article is here. Exemplified by passages from a wide variety of short stories, some of which must surely get any reader's interest. The main idea seems to be to transition the student from being a passive reader to becoming a writer. Part of this involves training the student to read a passage more analytically. With some purpose in mind. There are many exercises. Some are quite short, involving just writing a sentence or few about a topic. To gently get the student into the act of writing, without having her churn out an entire essay off the bat.

love this book

With selections from writers as varied as Asimov and Dave Barry, this book has something for everyone. I used it as a writing text to teach my eighth grader at home. It has excellent writing prompts, grammar and punctuation lessons, pre-reading hints, vocabulary, and great questions about each prose selection to point out HOW the writer achieved the effect he/she wanted. I highly recommend this for homeschoolers and others who just enjoy good writing.