Book Review: Listening In: Children Talk about Books (and Other Things), Newkirk and McLure

By: Cynthia Lewis
Publication: The Quarterly, Vol. 16, No. 2
Date: Spring/Summer 1994

Summary: Cynthia Lewis reviews Listening In: Children Talk about Books (and Other things) by Thomas Newkirk and Patricia McLure, the story of Newkirk's weekly visits to McLure's first and second grade classroom to observe and listen as students discussed books. In McLure's class, stories were not used merely in the service of comprehension, but seen as central to the collaborative work of the learners. Newkirk learns that off-topic conversation, student talk that does not relate directly to the texts under discussion, is nevertheless a critical component of children's literary response and social development.

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