Ages 3-7. The well-known fable of the tortoise and the hare is fetchingly told in this jovial collaboration by Lowell and Harris. Here, Tortoise is an aged granny decked out in flower-brimmed hat, lace-trimmed anklets, and white gloves. Hare sports a bandanna and a feather in his hat along with his cocky, sure-to-win attitude. The spectators represent many other native desert critters humorously dressed in western attire. As the competitors advance on the course, indigenous plants and lesser-known animals are inconspicuously identified. While Tortoise slowly, appreciatively, and deservedly munches her championship bouquet of spring flowers, the author seizes the opportunity to apply this well-known tale to contemporary concerns about the destruction of desert habitat. If the wild desert is preserved, Lowell concludes, "we will all be winners." Ellen Mandel
Review
The tortoise here is a bespectacled, parasol-toting marm. Her cocky rival-a singing ("Long, low, LEAP, ho!") jackrabbit-springs into the air to flaunt his speed. "Tortoise looked patiently up at him with her old, old eyes. Let's race, ' she said." A jumble of directional signs tucked under his wing, Roadrunner marks the course through a desert filled with the appropriate flora and fauna. Indeed, with repeated readings, the safari-style ecological subtext may overtake the amusement of the race itself. Precise and punchy, Lowell's undated prose turns hip alongside Harris's comical characterizations. The race ends with an endearing laugh at Tortoise eating her victory bouquet; the book ends with an author's note concerning the current threats to desert creatures. A merry blend of play, allegory and environmentalism. Ages 3-up. -- Publisher Weekly
About the Author
Dr. Short is a division director at the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) in Washington, D.C. She has worked as a teacher, trainer, researcher, and curriculum/materials developer. Her work at CAL has concentrated on the integration of language learning with content-area instruction. Through several national projects, she has conducted research and provided professional development and technical assistance to local and state education agencies across the United States. She directed the ESL Standards and Assessment Project for TESOL and co-developed the SIOP model for sheltered instruction.
Dr. Short's monographs include: Extend Your Students' Reach and Move Them Toward Independence, Base Your ESL Instruction in the Content Areas, Reach for the Common Core, Structural Supports for English Learners, Comprehensive and Responsive Assessment, and Developing Academic Literacy in Adolescents.
Dr. Tinajero specializes in staff development and school-university partnership programs and has consulted with school districts in the U.S. to design ESL, bilingual, literacy, and bi-literacy programs. She has served on state and national advisory committees for standards development, including the English as a New Language Advisory Panel of the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards and the Texas Reading Academies. She is currently professor of Education and Interim Dean of the College of Education at the University of Texas at El Paso and was President of the National Association for Bilingual Education, 1997-2000.
Dr. Tinajero's monograph is titled Teaching the Fundamentals.
Dr. Schifini assists schools across the nation and around the world in developing comprehensive language and literacy programs for English learners. He has worked as an ESL teacher, reading specialist, school administrator and university professor. Through an arrangement with California State Polytechnic University at Pomona, Dr. Schifini currently serves as program consultant to two large teacher-training efforts in the area of reading for second language speakers of English. His research interests include early literacy and language development and the integration of language and content-area instruction.
