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Passport to America by Norma S. HitchReview by: Sandra PlannThe Modern Language Journal, Vol. 68, No. 4 (Winter, 1984), pp. 424-425Published by: Wiley on behalf of the National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations

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424

Reviews:

MLJ,

68

(Winter

984)

is

overused. Some

poems

are marred

by inap-

propriate

archaisms

and

contractions,

uch

as

fore,

'en,

neath,twas, tis,

ore'er,

thout

),

'twould,

o'erwhelm.he

translators lso

made the

unfor-

tunatedecision to use fixed nd-rhymesnmost

cases,

except

for

Nekrasov,

to match

the

Rus-

sian

originals.

This

inevitably

esults

n

distor-

tions,

f

only

because

of the

relative

paucity

of

English

rhymes

n

contrast

o

their

bundance

in

Russian. In

view

of these

handicaps,

it s not

surprising

that

although

the

translations are

always

at

least

adequate,

they

do not attain

artistic

excellence.

Nevertheless,

his collectionhas

some

poten-

tial

value.

Ironically,

its

destined readers are

inacademia among students f Russian litera-

ture,

who

will

find

these

poems

helpful

f

sup-

plemented

with critical

material

and Russian

texts. The

value of this edition for

this

audi-

ence is

increased

by

the

fact that

the most

widely

used

bilingual

anthology,

The

Heritage

of

RussianVerse

Indiana University

ress,

1976),

is

not

imited

o the

nineteenth

entury.

o this

book could

fill

a

gap

for

student readers

and

their nstructors ntil a

better ollectioncover-

ing

that

century

s

published.

But the

ordinary

English-speaking

eader and

poetry

nthusiast

is

likely

to be left

indifferent

y

the book's

unappealing design

and

format,

which re those

of

a

typical

mass-circulation oviet

poetry

di-

tion.

Such

readers

are

also

likely

to miss

the

kind of critical articles and

biographical

data

that

might encourage

them

to tackle

an un-

familiar

foreign

iterature.

One

is

eft

amenting

he

fact

hat,

up

to

now,

no

American or

English

poets

of stature have

undertaken to

translatefrom he best

Russian

poetry,

taskwhich

they

lone can

accomplish.

Unless

they

are true

poets,

academics cannot

do

it,

nor

can

the kind

of translator whose

poetic activity

s

limited o

translations f Latin

American

poetry

s

better

appreciated

in this

country

ow more than ever

before,

t

s

largely

because some

outstanding

American

poets

have

workedhard to translate nd

publicize

it. Rus-

sian

poetry

n

English

deserves

the same

kind

of dedicated

effort

y English-speaking

poets.

VICTORIA A. BABENKO-WOODBURY

College f

William nd

Mary

HITCH,

NORMA

S.

Passport

o

America. incoln-

wood,

IL:

National

Textbook

Co.,

1984. The

New

York

onnection.

p.

59.

California

iscovery.

Pp. 59. Adventuresnthe outhwest.p. 61. The

Coast-to-Coast

ystery. p.

61.

The

fourbooks

in

the

Passport

o

America

eries,

The

New York

Connection,

alifornia iscovery,

Adventuresn the

outhwest,

nd The

Coast-to-Coast

Mystery,

re

intended orboth ESL

students nd

below-grade-level

readers,

at the

unior high

through

dult

education levels. Each book fol-

lows the same formula:

Nancy,

a

student at

UCLA, and Michael, a recentYale graduate,

have

numerous

adventures

as

they

ravel from

region

to

region

solving

crimes. The

author's

objective

is

to

improve

students'

reading

skills

while

introducing

hem

to the

culture,

history,

and

geography

of the

United States.

Although

some

of the cultural

and

geo-

graphical

information

s

interesting

nd fits n

well,

other inclusions are

quite

artificial

nd

constitute

major

weakness

in

the

story

on-

tent. For

instance,

in

The New York

onnection,

Nancy

and

Michael, fleeing

from

man

who

has

shot at

them,

are

driving

to the

police

sta-

tion;

Nancy

thinks

he

man is

following

hem.

However,

instead

of

going

directly

o the

police,

Michael

decides to drive around for bit to see

if

they

re

reallybeing

followed.

Additionally,

this enables

him

to show

Nancy

"more of

New

York

at the

same

time"

p. 30).

Such

implau-

sible devices are tedious

distractions

from

he

stories.

The

plots

of the

stories,

ven

without

he

n-

terruption

f ncessant

and

irrational

ightsee-

ing,

are

flimsy.

n TheCoast-to-Coast

ystery,

Nancy

and

Michael travel

cross the US

to

gain

possession

of

a

puzzle

box

belonging

to

Mr.

Hall,

Nancy's

uncle,

who needs

the

box to

save

the life

of

his

ailing

grandson,

Robin. When

they

finally

return the box to

Mr.

Hall,

he

removes

a

key

from

t and

leads

Nancy

and

Michael to

a

door

in

the

floor f his basement.

Opening

the door

with

the

key,

the

only

one

in

the world

that

fits

t,

Mr. Hall

explains

that

using

force could

have

badly damaged

the

things inside, namely gold and jewels. Now

Robin

can

have the

operation

that

he needs.

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Reviews.

MLJ,

68

(Winter

984)

425

The author

never

explains why

Mr. Hall

did

not

simply

call a

locksmith.

The stories lso

hinge

on

highly

mprobable

coincidences,

such as

the

episode

in

California

DiscoverynwhichNancy and Michael, driving

to meet a Mr.

Dick

Bell,

rescue a

man

being

chased

by

a

lion.

The

man,

once

safely

n

their

car,

introduces

himself,

By

the

way,

my

name

is Dick Bell"

(p. 30).

Finally,

the

characters ften

ehave in

highly

illogical ways.

While

in

San

Francisco,

Nancy

and

Michael,

pursued

by

a

man with a

gun,

run

into a

building

that

houses the motor

of

the

city's

cable

car.

Michael,

standing

and watch-

ing

the

great

wheels,

forgets

bout the

man

with

thegun Californiaiscovery,. 44), a detail that

even

the east

sophisticated

eader would

ques-

tion.

These books also have

numerous

stylistic

problems.

While

they

re

intentionally

written

in

a

simple

manner

(4th-grade

level),

the

author has in

places oversimplified

the lan-

guage, resulting

n

incorrect

sage,

such

as,

"If

it was here for

years,

t

would

be

tarnished nd

dark"

(The

New York

onnection,

.

28)

instead

of

"If

it

had been here

for

years.

.

. ."

Other

errors re more

glaring;

for

xample,

"Most

of

them have

moved,

years ago"

(California

is-

covery,

.

21).

In other

spots

the

writing

s awk-

ward;

for

nstance,

When Boris

is out

of

sight,

they

start

n

the direction

he went"

The

Coast-

to-Coast

Mystery,

.

57).

Paragraphs,

too,

are

disjointed.

Contextual

and

stylistic

onsiderations

side,

the books

have their

pedagogical

pluses

and

minuses.

The

suggested

reinforcement

ctivi-

ties

included

in

the teachers'

guide

would be

useful and

enjoyable.

The

short,

suspenseful

chapters

would not

fatigue

weak readers and

would

encourage

them to

read on. The

gloss-

ing

of

vocabulary

in

the

right-hand

margins

helps

maintain

the

continuity

fthe

story.

Most

of the

definitions re

clear,

although

a few are

ungrammatical;

or

xample,

"Concerts: show

where

people

go

to

listen

to music"

(California

Discovery,

.

8).

In

addition,

the

inclusion of

some

vocabulary

exercises

would

greatly

strengthen

he

books as would the

expansion

of other

xercises. The

three ofive

tudy ues-

tionsfollowing ach chapter plus theexpanded

study questions

in the

teachers'

guide

check

comprehension

f the

passages;

however,

more

discussion

questions

would

deepen

student

n-

volvement.

For

instance,

liciting

tudent

iews

on

Nancy's

independence

and Michael's

male

chauvinism could spark some livelyclass dis-

cussions.

Finally,

the nclusionof

questions

re-

quiring

the readers to make

predictions

before

reading

the

chapters

would also

be

useful.

These

books

are best suited to

younger

readers;

they

re

lively

and

suspenseful,

but

it

might

be

difficult

orolder readers to

lay

rea-

son

aside and believe

the

thin,

highly llogical

plots

in which

the

characters

pursue

criminals

with reckless

bandon. The inclusionof

exces-

sive

geographical

and cultural

information,

which at timesbecomes a cumbersomedistrac-

tion from

he

story

ine,

could

pose

a

particu-

lar

problem

for

weak

readers,

the

intended

users of

Passport

oAmerica.

SANDRA PLANN

International

raining

nd

Exchange,

nc.

KAGAN,

LESLIE

&

KAY

WESTERFIELD.

Meet the

US.:People ndPlaces ntheUnited tates.Engle-

wood

Cliffs,

NJ:

Prentice-Hall,

1984.

Pp.

viii,

182.

$9.95,

paper.

KNEPLER,

MYRNA.

Let's

alk bout

t. New

York:

Harcourt,

Brace,

1982.

Pp.

xiii,

162.

$8.95,

paper.

Knepler's

book

(henceforth

Talk)

is an

inter-

mediate

ESL

grammar

with a

deceptive

con-

versation

text

title;

Kagan

and

Westerfield

(henceforth

US)

have

produced

an

intermedi-

ate to advanced ESL reader withsome active

grammar

(articles

and

prepositions)

and

vocabulary

exercises,

as

well as

some

sugges-

tions for ral

discussion.

Both

books

have

good

paper

and

bindings,

are

a

convenient extbook

size,

and

contain

useful

introductions to

teachers.

Talk

ells he

students hat

the

purpose

ofthis

book

is

to

help

you

to talk

about

your

deas

and

opinions

n

English"

p.

vi)

and tells he

teacher

that

"all the

exercises

. . are

aimed at

getting

students o actively reate[sic]theirownutter-

ances."

There are

three

sections:

first,

ixteen

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