Customer Reviews

Ten on Ten: Major Essayists on Recurring Themes

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As a first year English/language arts teacher, I was faced with the challenge of finding an approprite book to use in my 12th grade college writing class. When I found _Ten on Ten_ I was overjoyed. Robert Atwan, the editor, has done a brilliant job pulling together this book of essays.

For the uninformed, _Ten on Ten_ is a collection of ten well-known, modern essayists: George Orwell, E.B. White, James Baldwin, Alice Walker, Annie Dillard, Cynthia Ozick, Stephen J. Gould, Virgina Woolf, Joan Didion, and Lewis Thomas. While the above writers are certainly shining stars, the organization of their essays is where the true power of this book lies; the selections in this collection are not grouped by author, but by theme, themes that are both familiar and provocative. These themes include: Heroes and Heroines, Teaching and Learning, Moments of Insight and The Power of Langauge. This design, coupled with the excellence of the authors and the power of the essays selected makes this one of the most captivating collections I have found to date.

For teachers, this book also includes short introductions to each essay, questions focusing on style, language and other literary devices, suggestions for writing assignments, and a comprehensive biographical and critical essay about each writer. There is also a preface for instructors which offers ideas on how to incorporate the book into your writing or compostion classes.

My students have poured themselves into the essays in this book. They have even read beyond my requirements simply because they enjoyed the essays under certain themes. This fact alone makes the book worthwhile for me. Couple the students' interest with all that I have mentioned above, and one has a book that is more than worthwhile -- it's outstanding.

Ten on Ten was a book from my Writing Composition class during my 1st year of college. Recently I picked it up again just to read something to pass the time. I have to say, that it's a fun book. The essays are around 20 pages each, so you can read them in a single sitting. For a book that you can buy a used copy of for under $5, I say it's well worth it. You will probably enjoy it more if you are buying it for fun as opposed to if you are buying it for school.

A friend recommended this book for AP Language teachers, and it is a gem. Most rhetorics and readers are arranged by skill, device, or technique, not by themes or topics that are interesting to teenagers. Some other readers do have thematic/subject-oriented sections, but the topics do not always capture my students' attention. This book does the trick.

Jane Schaffer

San Diego

Even though the interior didn't contain markings, it was not in the condition as posted.