Bacon, Wallace.
The Art of Interpretation
. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1966. (If you can only afford one book, get this one. Excellent information on the history of oral interpretation, practical suggestions for performing prose as well as poetry in the classroom, and a wonderful array of good selections.)
Coger, Leslie Irene.
Readers Theatre Handbook
. Glenville Illinois: Scott Foresman and Company, 1967. (A good basic book for staging this style of performance piece, selecting material, getting it on its feet.)
Dickinson, Emily.
Final Harvest
. Boston: Little Brown & Company, 1961. (A collection of her best poems with a good biographical introduction.)
Grenough, Millie, Barry Marshall, Linda McGuire, Kelley O’Rourke, Paul Spector.
Bananas and Fifty Four Other Varieties, a book of activities to do with kids
. Booklet funded by U.S. office of Education, Title VII Emergency School Aid Act, Board of Education, City of New Haven, 1980.
Koch, Kenneth.
Sleeping on the Wing
. New York: Vintage Books, 1982. (Modern poems used as examples for student writing exercises.)
Koch, Kenneth.
Wishes, Lies and Dreams
. New York: Harper & Row, 1970. (His account of working in a public school in New York City using poetry exercises with students.)
Langbaum, Robert.
The Poetry of Experience, The Dramatic Monologue in Modern Literary Tradition
. London: Chatto & Windus, 1957. (Particularly useful for developing ideas for the dramatic monologue, character and songs.)
Larrick, Nancy.
On City Streets, An Anthology of Poems Selected
by Nancy Larrick.
New York: M. Evans and Company, Inc. 1968. (Establish poets and newcombers all set in an urban environment.)
Scholes, Robert.
Elements of Poetry
. New York: Oxford University Press, 1969. (A very portable, beautifully written book that gives many specific ideas for analyzing a poem.)
Spolin, Viola.
Improvisation for the Theater
. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press. 1963. (Many Theatre teacher’s bible. You’ll find theories for acting, 3 chapters on children and theater, many useful classroom activities.)