Linking Literacy and Popular Culture: Finding Connections for Lifelong Learning

Morrell's book is profoundly important for teachers, teacher educators, and those who are interested in issues of 21st literacy acquisition more generally. What separates Morrell's work from so much of the other pieces in this field is that they are emergent out of literacy instruction that he is actually doing himself. Much of what passes for literacy theory and urban educational theory more generally is profound on paper and passe in practice. This happens in large part because teachers struggle to understand what it means for them in their day to day practice and urban teacher educators struggle to help them with this challenge. Much can be said about why this is the case, but Morrell's book helps us to begin to understand how to circumvent this shortcoming in the field of literacy development. Morrell's book begins by helping us understand the expanding definition of literacy in lives of 21st Century youth. Although Lee, Gee, Alvermann and others are beginning to investigate this topic with more vigor, there is still a dearth of research on the ways in which popular cultural literacies are exploding traditional definitions of being literate. The historically conservative definition of literacy is tremendously significant for our understanding of literacy development and instruction among new century youth. Morrell's work helps us to understand this theoretically. But, what makes the book even more compellling and useful for those involved in educating young people, or preparing/supporting those that plan to do so, is that he maps this theory onto real classroom practice. Drawing from his own practice and the voices of America's most marginalized youth, Morrell provides readers with a grounded theory of practice about engaging secondary literacy instruction. The books is particulary useful because it gives educators insight into the practice of drawing on youth popular cultural literacies as a scaffold into more traditional academic literacy acquistion. The book is replete with examples of how this can be accomplished, the theoretical underpinnings to justify such an approach, and resources for teachers that are inclined to take on such a project in their own work. I highly recommend this book for literacy instructors at all levels and those involved with the challenge of preparing/supporting teachers in this endeavor.