Morris, Darrell (2005) The Howard Street Tutoring Manual: Teaching At-Risk Readers in the Primary Grades. Second edition. New York: Guilford.

Now in its second edition, The Howard Street Tutoring Manual is a comprehensive and concise guide to working with at-risk readers. Because poor readers risk academic failure across the curriculum, interventions such as Reading Recovery (http://www.readingrecovery.org/), the America Reads program (http://www.ed.gov/inits/americareads/index.html), and volunteer tutoring programs like that at Howard Street have emerged as pivotal in the lives of thousands of young people.

The Howard Street Tutoring Manual is targeted for volunteer tutors who work approximately two hours a week with students who are at a variety of reading ability levels. This book takes the reader step by step, not only through the tutoring session itself, but provides useful diagnostic information prior to beginning sessions, and commentary in interpreting progress once sessions begin. Author Dr. Darrell Morris, professor of education and the director of the Reading Clinic at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, provides guidance for tutors working with readers considered to be at Emergent, Fledgling, and Late First-Second Grade levels.

After the introduction, the book moves into a reading assessment that has procedures for administering, grading, and interpreting reading ability ranging from early first grade to fourth grade. The assessment provides sections in word recognition, oral reading, spelling, conceptual understanding, and alphabet knowledge. Each section provides scoring and interpretation information, and reproducible materials for the student and assessment administrator.

Once the child's reading level has been determined based on their initial reading assessment, the tutor can use the chapters on Emergent, Fledgling, and Late First-Second Grade level readers as a guide. Each of these chapters has a similar structure, designed as a case study, with lesson recommendations, book lists, and activities to try. The tutoring sessions for Emergent readers are organized as 35-minute lessons that include 1) rereading books, 2) word study, 3) sentence writing, and 4) introducing a new book. The tutoring sessions for Fledgling readers are organized with 1) guided reading, 2) word study, 3) easy read, 4) read-to, and optional writing exercises that are designed to fit into a 35-45-minute tutoring session. Finally, the chapter on Late First-Second Grade readers includes sessions that are designed to be 45-minutes in length, and include 1) guided reading, 2) easy reading, and 3) read-to. At each stage, there is a focus on vocabulary development, reading fluency, and comprehension. There is also a nicely paced sense of time within each chapter, as the case study unfolds week by week, providing updates on the child's progress.

As a former reading tutor with at-risk first graders, I found this book to be a comprehensive refresher in the structure and function of tutoring sessions. I think this book will be quite useful for tutors, and can be a handy reference for trainers in tutoring programs. There is a great deal of useful material in the 243 pages of the book, although the user will likely need additional references and guidance when tutoring. The Manual assimilates a tremendous amount of information in one volume, and for a volunteer tutor who may not be trained in education, it will be a useful reference. As the introduction states, it is important to develop a supervised volunteer tutoring program in which the supervisor is a strong "hub" and has a firm knowledge of the beginning reading processes, experience in teaching beginning readers to read, and a willingness to work with adult tutors by serving a mentoring role. It would not be good management to expect a tutor to use this book without the guidance and support of someone who has helped readers.

The Manual will be most useful for those working with readers who are just emerging, up to 1st-2nd grade level; however this could conceivably apply across many different ages. In such an event, the recommended books at the end of each chapter may need to be adapted for content when used with older children. Nonetheless, the word sort exercises, structuring of optional writing exercises and spelling patterns are applicable for any age student. This book is one that is immediately applicable for use in a tutoring setting. There are smatterings of empirical research to support the recommendations, and they complement the personal case-approach style used throughout most of the text. Overall, the book is a well-researched, incredibly useful resource for working with at-risk readers, complete with materials, books to use, and guidance in assessing a student's progress. At the end, I was left a bit wanting for a conclusion to the book that was as helpful as chapter 1, where Morris carefully explained the tutoring model described in The Howard Street Tutoring Manual. Without such a conclusion, the Manual seems to end abruptly. Despite the ending, I see tremendous utility in the material that is there, and think the text would be useful for tutors, and potentially teachers looking for insight into the diagnosis of early readers.

Pages: 243     Price: $30.00     ISBN: 1-59385-124-3

Reviewed by Leslie Forstadt, Ph.D. candidate at The University of Iowa in Educational Psychology. Leslie worked as a reading tutor for the America Reads program in the Iowa City Public Schools. She received her B.A. in Psychology from Smith College, and is receiving her teaching certification in elementary education in addition to her doctorate.