Recent commercial language arts materials recognize the importance of addressing literacy as an integrated activity. Reading, Writing and Oral and Visual Communication are connected. Similarly, learning to read and reading to learn occur simultaneously. Some of these materials, often called anthologies, contain excerpts from early novels or reproductions of picture books. However, the quality of the presentation in an anthology is usually not appealing enough for introducing an author's work to the students. These materials, organized as anthologies, magazines, information booklets and the like, also address the need to read to learn. There is a variety of across-the-curriculum information. Audio tapes and sometimes video tapes are available to support the program.

Older literacy materials, usually called basal readers because they control vocabulary and attempt to control the level of reading difficulty, focus on reading skills and tend to pay little attention to the other strands of a language arts curriculum. However, in later primary, some of these basal readers have folktales, plays or biographical sketches which may be useful for some literacy activities. Trade books are also valuable resources for both language arts and other subjects. They are carefully selected by the teacher, the librarian, the students and their parents.

Functions of Informational Books

serve as curriculum content resources
develop critical thinking
suggest areas and methods of study
provide guides for children's reporting

Criteria for Evaluating Informational Books

ACCURACY AND AUTHENTICITY qualifications of the author accuracy of facts being up-to-date including all the significant facts avoiding stereotypes using facts to support generalizations making the distinction between fact and theory avoiding anthropomorphism		CONTENT AND PERSPECTIVE purpose intended audience adequate coverage demonstration of scientific method
STYLE clarity and directness level of difficulty reader involvement vivid language reference aids		ILLUSTRATIONS AND FORMAT clarification and extension of text suitability of media captions
Charlotte Huck, Susan Hepler and Janet Hickman. Children's Literature in the Elementary School, 5th Ed.      (New York: Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich: 1993) Chapter 11

Other Sources of Written Text

Newspapers, magazines, brochures, advertisements, signs, labels, word books, dictionaries, thesauri, atlases