Writing about literature can present many challenges to students. With those challenges in mind, Xiao Wang has written Writing About Literature: English Composition, which offers a wide range of tools that can guide students to success as readers, writers, and thinkers. Because of the importance of critical reading as part of the process of writing about literature, the text includes activities that can guide students when they first encounter a work of literature. Writing is a powerful tool for engaging in diverse ways of thinking—analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and application. These are skills that will serve students well not only in the academic arena of life but also in the professional, civic, and personal arenas. These skills enrich our learning as well as our lives more generally.The text also offers approaches to examining the features of literature such as poetic devices, figures of speech, imagery, and structure. She engages students in diverse forms literature, including fiction, poetry, and drama. Further, the author has selected pieces of literature that are interesting and thought-provoking. They will generate lively conversations in class. Writing About Literature also includes helpful examples that show students how others have crafted the kinds of writing that teachers are asking them to produce.
