Books published by publisher Octopus/Heinemann

Veteran teacher and author Colleen Cruz has seen it all and done it all in the writing classroom-and she's got something to admit: this is hard work. Real hard. In The Unstoppable Writing Teacher she takes on the common concerns, struggles, and roadblocks that we all face in writing instruction and helps us engage in the process of problem solving each one. From dealing with writing workshop skeptics to working with students both gifted and challenged, and of course combating that eternal barrier-lack of time-Colleen offers tried-and-true strategies to address and overcome obstacles. For the struggles unique to you, she includes a "Name Your Monster" section that helps you identify your own individual roadblocks and even offers sustainable support through her blog, colleencruz.com. "We can't solve all the problems we're faced with in writing instruction," Colleen promises, "but we can choose how to respond to them. And our responses will make all the difference." What makes you unstoppable, or what's stopping you? Connect with Colleen on her blog at www.colleencruz.com/blog.htm or on Twitter, #unstoppablewritingteacher.

Titles in the Pets’ Guides series teach young readers how to care responsibly for their chosen pet. However, in a unique spin, each book is written from the point of view of one of the animals themselves, thus also allowing the books to be used to teach perspective. In this book, Bunny the Rabbit reveals how readers should go about choosing a pet rabbit, what supplies they will need, how to make a new rabbit feel at home, and how to properly care for a pet rabbit, including feeding, exercising, and keeping a rabbit hutch clean. Text in the book is accompanied by clear, labeled photographs to further reinforce key concepts.

Titles in the Pets' Guides series teach young readers how to care responsibly for their chosen pet. However, in a unique spin, each book is written from the point of view of one of the animals themselves, thus also allowing the books to be used to teach perspective. In this book, Goldie the Goldfish reveals how readers should go about choosing a pet fish, what supplies they will need, how to make a new goldfish feel at home, and how to properly care for a pet goldfish, including feeding and keeping a goldfish tank clean. Text in the book is accompanied by clear, labeled photographs to further reinforce key concepts.

In this book, Beaky the Budgie reveals how readers should go about choosing a pet bird, what supplies they will need, how to make a new pet bird feel at home, and how to properly care for a pet bird, including feeding, exercising, and keeping a bird cage clean. Text is accompanied by clear, labeled photographs to further reinforce key concepts, and the use of an animal narrator also allows the book to be used to teach perspective.

"Reading and Writing Genre with Purpose in K-8 Classrooms adds a new dimension to genre studies that will engage students and re-invigorate teaching. The book sharpens our focus on student motivation, an essential yet often overlooked aspect of teaching. The authors offer an array of purposeful and creative ways to teach narrative, procedural, informational, dramatic, and persuasive texts, and bring us one step closer to the kinds of learner-centered instruction so necessary to succeed in a modern world." -Sharon Taberski, author of Comprehension from the Ground Up "Make room on your professional bookshelf for a much needed book! You'll learn how to explicitly teach genre features and coach students as you establish meaningful writing purposes that inspire students to read. Not only do the authors provide solid guidelines for teaching genre in writing and reading, but they also invite you into classrooms to see how teachers and students create environments that engage all learners. And for each genre, you'll find lists of books to teach reading and writing!" -Laura Robb, author of Teaching Middle School Writers "You can explicitly teach students what they need to know to comprehend and produce genres well while engaging students in captivating communicative experiences-in fact, you can do it better!" -Nell K. Duke, Samantha Caughlan, Mary M. Juzwik, and Nicole M. Martin Too many U.S. classrooms lack a colorful compelling context for reading and writing, resulting in flat, uninspired, formulaic writing by students. Reading and Writing Genre with Purpose in K-8 Classrooms is designed to help pre- and inservice teachers, literacy coaches, and reading specialists question status quo ways of working with language and texts, replace weaker practices with better ones, and change the way genre is taught. Drawing from theory and research that suggests students learn better and more deeply when learning is contextualized and genuinely motivated, the book presents five guiding principles for teaching genre. Emphasizing purposeful communication, it will guide you through teaching students to read, write, speak, and listen to different real-world genres that inspire and engage them. Nell K. Duke, Samantha Caughlan, Mary M. Juzwik, and Nicole M. Martin: identify commonly used assignments and practices for teaching genre that are fundamentally flawed and explain why offer inspiring alternative practices, grounded in research and illustrated in real projects in real classrooms show how the five guiding principles come to life in reading and writing projects across the whole K-8 grade span provide planning sheets and other tools and tips that will allow you to manage genre-with-purpose instruction in your classroom. This book is about teaching genre differently-with purpose. Reading and Writing Genre with Purpose in K-8 Classrooms will help you reinvigorate your teaching.

In this book, Squeak the Mouse reveals how readers should go about choosing pet rats or mice, what supplies they will need, how to make a new pet rat or mouse feel at home, and how to properly care for pet rats or mice, including feeding, exercising, and keeping cages clean. Text is accompanied by clear, labeled photographs to further reinforce key concepts, and the use of an animal narrator also allows the book to be used to teach perspective.

In this highly readable and provocative book, Thomas Newkirk explodes the long standing habit of opposing abstract argument with telling stories. Newkirk convincingly shows that effective argument is already a kind of narrative and is deeply "entwined with narrative." --Gerald Graff, former MLA President and author of Clueless in Academe Narrative is regularly considered a type of writing-often an "easy" one, appropriate for early grades but giving way to argument and analysis in later grades. This groundbreaking book challenges all that. It invites readers to imagine narrative as something more-as the primary way we understand our world and ourselves. "To deny the centrality of narrative is to deny our own nature," Newkirk explains. "We seek companionship of a narrator who maintains our attention, and perhaps affection. We are not made for objectivity and pure abstraction-for timelessness. We have 'literary minds" that respond to plot, character, and details in all kind of writing. As humans, we must tell stories." When we are engaged readers, we are following a story constructed by the author, regardless of the type of writing. To sustain a reading-in a novel, an opinion essay, or a research article- we need a "plot" that helps us comprehend specific information, or experience the significance of an argument. As Robert Frost reminds us, all good memorable writing is "dramatic." Minds Made for Stories is a needed corrective to the narrow and compartmentalized approaches often imposed on schools-approaches which are at odds with the way writing really works outside school walls.