6 NEW TITLES THIS MONTH
READING NON-FICTION
Student Copies | Class Set
PAUL'S CASE
Teaching Unit | PDF
BLESS ME, ULTIMA
Multiple Perspectives | PDF
AS I LAY DYING
Multiple Perspectives | PDF
FREDERICK DOUGLASS
AP Teaching Unit | PDF
BELOVED
Multiple Perspectives | PDF
DECEMBER'S TOP 10 BEST-SELLING EBOOKS
THE CRUCIBLE
Teaching Unit | PDF
THE SCARLET LETTER
AP Teaching Unit | PDF
BEOWULF
Teaching Unit | PDF
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
Teaching Unit | PDF
ENDER'S GAME
Teaching Unit | PDF
OEDIPUS REX
AP Teaching Unit | PDF
THE CRUCIBLE Activity Pack | PDF
NIGHT
Teaching Unit | PDF
HAMLET
AP Teaching Unit | PDF
THE CRUCIBLEAP Teaching Unit | PDF
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The header for this issue of the Prestwick House Footnotes Newsletter features Kadence Cruz Nikolson, son of Kathy Nikolson.
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In this issue of the PH Footnotes Newsletter:
Prestwick House is Growing!
 On December 22, 2009, Prestwick House signed an agreement to purchase fellow educational publisher, Teacher’s Pet Publications. What does this mean for our teachers? As a result of this acquisition, in the coming months, you will be able to purchase the full line of Teacher’s Pet products directly from Prestwick House catalogues and website!
Like Prestwick House, Teacher’s Pet Publications began as a home business founded by high school English teacher, Mary Collins. Both companies specialize in practical products based on sound educational methods, have spent the last few years adding a technological aspect to their products, and are ultimately dedicated to helping teachers like you. Check out our current selection of Teacher's Pet Products at PrestwickHouse.com and keep your eyes open for future additions to our site including Choose Your Own and Presentation materials!
Free Monthly Lesson from Prestwick House
 Click here to download this month's free lesson, or view our complete list of past free lessons!
This month's lesson on fact vs. interpretation in non-fiction works comes from Reading and Analyzing Non-Fiction: Slant, Spin, and Bias and includes an explanation, student worksheet, and teacher answer key.
Click here to download this month's free lesson, or view our complete list of past free lessons!
NEW! Reading and Analyzing Non-Fiction: Slant, Spin, and Bias
 This week, Delaware-based publishing company, Prestwick House, Inc. is excited to announce its newest title, Reading and Analyzing Non-Fiction: Slant, Spin, and Bias, written by former high school English teacher and English Department chair, Douglas Grudzina.
This text contains a wide variety of works and accompanying exercises that will help students analyze and evaluate non-fiction — a largely neglected part of most states’ curriculum standards.
Currently, the English curriculum taught in high school classrooms consists mainly of fiction, but state standards and organizations such as the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) and the IRA (International Reading Association) encourage the inclusion of non-fiction titles. According to Jenkins Group Inc., nearly 42% of students will never pick up another work of fiction after completing their education. Increasing steadily over the past decade, the majority of reading in the US by adults consists of scanning non-fiction works for information.
Grudzina asserts that, “The actual genres of non-fiction have changed drastically in recent years. Whereas only a decade ago, the typical reader got his or her news from a print newspaper or magazine, now print journalism is all but obsolete; consumers are choosing to read their news online. The surge in popularity of blogs has also created non-fiction genres that never existed before. It is now more important than ever to teach readers how to judge fact from opinion and how to recognize a writer’s biases, fallacies, or outright lies."
Read more in the Press Release Section of PrestwickHouse.com.
Prestwick House Title to Appear in New Clint Eastwood Film!
In December, Warner Brothers Studios sent a fax to our CEO, Jason Scott, asking permission to use one of our titles as a prop.
The Clint Eastwood film is called Hereafter and stars Matt Damon. Plot details are not being discussed by the studio, but according to IMDB, "Hereafter, penned by Peter Morgan, tells the story of three people — a blue-collar American, a French journalist and a London school boy — who are touched by death in different ways. Hereafter is produced by Eastwood, Kathleen Kennedy and Robert Lorenz. Steven Spielberg, Frank Marshall, Peter Morgan and Tim Moore are the exec producers." It has been likened to The Sixth Sense by critics.
The book they are requesting to use is the Prestwick House Literary Touchstone edition of The Call of the Wild by Jack London. No word as to what the book would be used for, but we are thrilled at the prospect of seeing the artwork of Prestwick House Art Director, Larry Knox, on the big screen!
Verbing Nouns
Special Thanks to Guest Blogger and Grammar Dog owner, Mary Jane McKinney, for her contribution to the Prestwick Café Blog. Image copyright 1987 Bill Watterson.
 “Thank you” is no longer enough. Some Americans are switching to the phrase “preciate it.” On TV I hear “preciate it” from newscasters, sportscasters, and award show hosts at the conclusion of interviews. Instead of saying “thanks” or “thank you,” or “I appreciate it,” they say “preciate it.” The trend is notable because it changes a core cultural response (thank you) and lops a syllable off of a traditional verb (appreciate).
Americans like to play with both traditional etiquette and verbs. We like to see things happen, change, move. Thirty years ago the word impact was strictly a noun. Today, a sentence like “The sub-prime mortgage crisis has impacted the entire U.S. economy” sounds normal. Other nouns that have been “verbed” include task (She was tasked with writing the report) and transition (He transitioned from head of sales to Chief Financial Officer). Americans have added “ize” to nouns like priority to form prioritize and dollar to form dollarize (converting foreign currency into dollars). The rest of the world frowns on this custom. The Company forbids the use of “hospitalize” on the air. Writers must say that someone was “sent to hospital."
Read more at the Prestwick Café Blog.
Free Indirect Discourse and Jane Austen
by Stephanie Polukis
 Jane Austen, while she has always been a favorite writer of literature enthusiasts and hopeless romantics, seems to have grown in popularity this past decade. With comic spoofs like Pride & Prejudice and Zombies, modern-day interpretations like Bridget Jones' Diary, sequels like Emma & Knightley and The Pemberley Chronicles, month-long PBS specials, and even a book entitled Jane Austen’s Guide to Dating, people are being exposed to Austen’s work who otherwise would not be.
Each avid reader of Austen, whether she (or he) is a veteran Austenite or a newcomer, has a unique reason for falling in love with the novels. It could be for Austen’s charismatic heroines, her wit and use of satire, or even the way all of her stories have happy endings, albeit with several surprising plot twists. My personal love of Jane Austen, however, comes from the beautiful way Austen uses language, particularly free indirect discourse.
Read more at the Prestwick Café Blog.
Image copyright 2009 Theo Westenberg.
This Month at The Prestwick Café Blog
FREE Copy of Reading and Analyzing Non-Fiction: Slant Spin and Bias With Every Order of $50.00 or More!
 Teaching nonfiction can be a challenge, but with Reading and Analyzing Nonfiction, your students will learn to examine the interplay of fact, opinion, and emotion in an editorial, memoir, or feature article. With this refreshingly unique collection of nonfiction selections, students will cover everything from the Declaration of Independence to Pulitzer Prize-winning editorials and blog entries from New York Times best-selling authors.
Each selection is accompanied by exercises that follow the effective model-guided practice-independent work teaching process, and are enhanced with annotations to help guide your students to an independent analysis of what they have read. You can easily use this book in your AP Language and Composition course, your general literature course, or even your writing courses to give your students models to analyze and follow.
To claim your free copy, simply add Reading and Analyzing Non-Fiction to your online order of $50.00 or more and enter coupon code RNFSSB.
Coupon code RNFSSB is available online only from January 14, 2010 through February 14, 2010. It is available online only and applies to orders exceeding $50.00. Cannot be used with any other promotion.
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