Acting Cool! is a book of short plays for middle school teachers to integrate into Language Arts and Social Studies classes. The book is divided into two sections; one with ten plays related to the National Council of Social Studies standards and the other with eight plays related to the National Standards for English and Language Arts standards. The standards are included. The plays are accompanied by a vocabulary list and various activities for the class to do for each play. There is also a writing assignment or activity that sets the background for each play with a follow-up activity and assessment rubric. Some of the activities are Venn Diagrams, charts, journal writing, creating your own reader's theatre plays, and anticipation guides. The plays themselves are short, usually one-to-four pages, with parts for four-to-seven readers. They are written in the Reader's Theatre style, that is, the parts are meant to be read by different students but not acted out. This book is valuable to teachers because the plays are interesting to read, they are in self-contained units, and offer a variety of activities that are ready for the teacher to use in class with little preparation. Recommended.
