The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

The Teaching Librarian volume 18, no. 3 13 TL Brenda Dillon Inventors is a collection of 45 short (2-5 pages) biographies, each illustrated with a pencil sketch portrait, of Canadian scientists and inventors. The profiles include both historical and contemporary men and women, some of whom are famous while others have remained obscure. An appendix groups discoveries by theme, including Communication, Discovery, Electronics, Health, and Transportation. The bibliography also serves as a useful list of resources for further study. The detailed title page and an index provide easy access to all of this information. Although the writing style makes this title most suitable for high school students in Academic level courses, the biographies are short enough to be unintimidating for students in Applied level courses or for students in grades 7 and 8. The book design, in particular the page layout, is quite traditional--the pencil sketch, a "quotable quote", and a few pages of text; no colour, no sidebars or fact boxes, no diagrams… it's almost relaxing after so much exposure to the "visually dynamic" layouts that have become so popular! This second edition of Canadian Scientists and Inventors will be very useful for biography assignments, especially in science, history, and civics. The recommended Culminating Performance Task for the grade 10 Civics course in my board is a Famous Canadians assignment and I'll be adding this title to my collection with that topic in mind. Very highly recommended purchase for high school library collections. Breaking the Silence: Recognizing the Social and Cultural Resources Students Bring to the Classroom Catherine Compton-Lilly, editor 2009 978872074668 In my experience, one of the consequences of standardized testing--in particular the grade 10 Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test--has been a narrowing of the definition of literacy. In far too many cases, literacy has come to mean the set of skills and understandings necessary to pass the OSSLT. This has occurred in an educational system using a standardized curriculum, standardized texts, and even, at least in some boards, standardized assignments (e.g. board-wide Culminating Performance Tasks). Ironically, at the same time as teachers are faced with all of this standardization, we are also expected to acknowledge, understand, and support diversity, incorporate multiculturalism, and ensure that equitable educational opportunities exist for all of our students, regardless of their individual backgrounds, strengths, and needs. Incorporating these polar opposites into a harmonious whole to create successful teaching and learning experiences is a tall order indeed! Breaking the Silence was written to help us do just that. Breaking the Silence consists of ten chapters divided into two sections: Considerations for Sociocultural Teaching, and Working with Diverse Students and Families. The contributors share their own research and experience in a combination of theory and practice designed to help teachers reflect on their own classroom realities and experiences. Collectively, the contributors make the point that learning generally, and literacy in particular, happen in a context which, because it includes the world beyond the classroom walls, differs for each student. They argue that this must not only be recognized by teachers (and by the educational system as a whole) but must also form the foundation of teaching and learning if students are to succeed. Diversity has to be more than a buzzword. As is typical of publications from the International Reading Association, Breaking the Silence, while quite theoretical, is also practical. The contributors write in the first person, present classroom examples and applications (both elementary and secondary), provide tips and recommendations, and suggest resources. In fact, each chapter ends with a section called "Recommendations for Educators and Classroom Applications" as well as both reference and suggested reading lists. An essential addition to district professional collections and a worthy consideration for use by Professional Learning Communities. z