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Changing Lives Through Literature
Changing Lives Through Literature (CLTL) is a bibliotherapy program that offers alternative probation sentences to offenders. The program was created in 1991 by Robert Waxler, an English professor at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and Superior Court Judge Robert Kane. At a cost of less than $500 a person, proponents say that CLTL saves the government tens of thousands of dollars when compared with the cost of housing an inmate for a lifetime at an annual rate of $30,000. The program is said to help reduce the recidivism rate among certain segments of the prison population. Former offenders credit the program for giving them a second chance.Barker, 2010 Several studies of the CLTL program have been published. A longitudinal study by Jarjoura & Krumholz (1998) found favorable results, with lower rates of recidivism than those in a comparison, non-program group.Waxler & Hall, 2011, p. 5; Jarjoura & Krumholz, 1998 Liberal and conservative penal systems throughout th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bibliotherapy
Bibliotherapy (also referred to as book therapy, reading therapy, poetry therapy or therapeutic storytelling) is a creative arts therapy that involves storytelling or the reading of specific texts. It uses an individual's relationship to the content of books and poetry and other written words as therapy. Bibliotherapy partially overlaps with, and is often combined with, writing therapy. Distinct from the creative arts therapy is bibliotherapy as a supportive psychotherapy, a brief self-help intervention where through the reading of a chosen standard manual, emotion regulation skills are acquired through either behavioral therapy or cognitive therapy techniques. Two popular books used for this are ''The Feeling Good Handbook'' for cognitive therapy and ''Control Your Depression'' for behavioral therapy. The main advantage of this psychotherapy compared to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is its cost-effectiveness, although, especially for complex presentations, CBT tends to hav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deliverance (novel)
''Deliverance'' (1970) is the debut novel of American writer James Dickey, who had previously published poetry. It was adapted into the 1972 film of the same name directed by John Boorman. In 1998, the editors of the Modern Library selected ''Deliverance'' as #42 on their list of the 100 best 20th-Century novels. In 2005, the novel was included on ''Time'' magazine's list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923. Plot Narrated in the first person by Ed Gentry, a graphic artist and one of the four main characters, the novel opens with him and three friends, all middle-aged men who live in a large city in Georgia, planning a weekend canoe trip down the fictional Cahulawassee River in the northwest Georgia wilderness. It's a last chance to travel on this wild river, which is scheduled to be dammed to create a reservoir and generate hydropower. Besides Ed, the protagonists are insurance salesman Bobby Trippe, soft drink executive Drew Ballinger, and landlord ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Their Eyes Were Watching God
''Their Eyes Were Watching God'' is a 1937 novel by American writer Zora Neale Hurston. It is considered a classic of the Harlem Renaissance, and Hurston's best known work. The novel explores main character Janie Crawford's "ripening from a vibrant, but voiceless, teenage girl into a woman with her finger on the trigger of her own destiny". Set in central and southern Florida in the early 20th century, the novel was initially poorly received. Since the late 20th century, it has been regarded as influential to both African-American literature and women's literature. ''TIME'' included the novel in its 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels published since 1923. Plot synopsis Janie Crawford, an African-American woman in her forties, recounts her life starting with her sexual awakening, which she compares to a blossoming pear tree kissed by bees in spring. Around this time, Janie allows a local boy, Johnny Taylor, to kiss her, which Janie's grandmother, Nanny, witnesses. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The House On Mango Street
''The House on Mango Street'' is a 1984 novel by Mexican-American author Sandra Cisneros. Structured as a series of vignettes, it tells the story of Esperanza Cordero, a 12-year-old Chicana girl growing up in the Hispanic quarter of Chicago. Based in part on Cisneros's own experience, the novel follows Esperanza over the span of one year in her life, as she enters adolescence and begins to face the realities of life as a young woman in a poor and patriarchal community. Elements of the Mexican-American culture and themes of social class, race, sexuality, identity, and gender are interwoven throughout the novel. ''The House on Mango Street'' is considered a modern classic of Chicano literature and has been the subject of numerous academic publications in Chicano Studies and feminist theory. The book has sold more than 6 million copies, has been translated into over 20 languages and is required reading in many schools and universities across the United States. It was on ''The New Yor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dinner At The Homesick Restaurant
''Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant'' is a 1982 novel by Anne Tyler, set in Baltimore, Maryland. It is Tyler's ninth novel. In 1983 it was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the PEN/Faulkner Award. Tyler considers it her best work. The book follows the lives of three siblings: Cody, Ezra, and Jenny, and explores their experiences and recollections of growing up with their mother, Pearl, after the family is deserted by their father, Beck. The novel ends with Pearl's funeral, and a surprise occurrence. The novel examines how siblings may share the same events yet experience them differently; e.g. Cody remembers his childhood as a harsh time. He blames himself for his father abandoning him and considers himself left to the mercy of an angry mother who favors Ezra. Meanwhile, Ezra remembers his childhood fondly and creates a nostalgic family-themed restaurant. Plot Pearl Tull is a rigid perfectionist. She has three children with her husband, traveling s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Bluest Eye
''The Bluest Eye,'' published in 1970, is the first novel written by Toni Morrison. The novel takes place in Lorain, Ohio (Morrison's hometown), and tells the story of a young African-American girl named Pecola who grew up following the Great Depression. Set in 1941, the story is about how she is consistently regarded as "ugly" due to her mannerisms and dark skin. As a result, she develops an inferiority complex, which fuels her desire for the blue eyes she equates with "whiteness". The novel is told from Claudia MacTeer's point of view. She is the daughter of Pecola's foster parents at different stages in her life. In addition, there is an omniscient third-person narrative that includes inset narratives in the first person. The book's controversial topics of racism, incest, and child molestation have led to numerous attempts to ban the novel from schools and libraries in the United States. Plot summary In Lorain, Ohio, nine-year-old Claudia MacTeer and her 10-year-old sister ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Bean Trees
''The Bean Trees'' is the first novel by American writer Barbara Kingsolver. It was published in 1988 and reissued in 1998. The novel is followed by the sequel ''Pigs in Heaven''. Plot Taylor Greer sets out to leave home, Kentucky, and travel west, and finds herself in Oklahoma near Cherokee territory. As Taylor stops in the town, a woman suddenly approaches, deposits a small child, and leaves without explanation. Not knowing what else to do, Taylor decides to care for the child. The two travel to Tucson, Arizona, where she meets Lou Ann, a woman with a young son. Lou Ann had been married; her husband abandoned her and their child. The novel traces the experiences of Taylor and the child, who Taylor names Turtle. Setting The story takes place in real places in North America, including Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Arizona. It begins when the main character, Taylor, leaves her home in Pittman, Kentucky to find herself. First, her car breaks down in the middle of Oklahoma, later ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Chance In The World
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient Greek letter alpha, from which it derives. The uppercase version consists of the two slanting sides of a triangle, crossed in the middle by a horizontal bar. The lowercase version can be written in two forms: the double-storey a and single-storey ɑ. The latter is commonly used in handwriting and fonts based on it, especially fonts intended to be read by children, and is also found in italic type. In English grammar, " a", and its variant " an", are indefinite articles. History The earliest certain ancestor of "A" is aleph (also written 'aleph), the first letter of the Phoenician alphabet, which consisted entirely of consonants (for that reason, it is also called an abjad to distinguish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greasy Lake
''Greasy Lake'' is a collection of short stories by T. Coraghessan Boyle published in 1985 by Viking Press. Author Background The collection reflects the fears, anxieties and issues of America in the 1960s, especially in regard to the fear of a nuclear holocaust. "One of the astonishing things about looking back at old stories are their references to then-current political and social events", he said in the forums on his personal website. "We write in a given period, and that period seems to vanish rather quickly, so that all stories become historical the moment they're finished." In another interview he stated that he never starts writing with a particular theme in mind—that an author’s obsessions at the time emerge naturally to form unity within a short story or a collection of stories. When he spoke with the ''San Francisco Chronicle'', he revealed the reason behind his focus on the anxieties of American society at large. "I worry about everything in the world," Boyle s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
