More Short Scenes and Monologues for Middle School Students: Inspired by Literature, Social Studies, and Real Life

Love this book. It is perfect for anyone involved in Middle School Theatre. This book was promply delivered and was in good condition.

This large volume is rife with distinct voices, multicultural characters, and engaging scenes. The monologues are not just a string of questions, but the unseen character the soloist is speaking to is clearly defined within the monologue making them useful for character study and acting in general. The characters throughout the volume are age appropriate and the plots presented would be of interest to middle school and younger high school students. The volume is organized well with short monologues divided by gender in the first half of the book and scenes with incrementally increasing number of characters in the second half of the book. The book is useful for classroom use (beginning through advanced classes), character work, ensemble work, and practice for students blocking and directing scenes. Monologues range from the historical (immigrants coming to America, pg 74) to current issues (global warming, pg 78) but are always seen from the young person's point of view. The multicultural voices included in the collection are realistically written with appropriate diction and rhythm to their speech. Occasionally, indigenous words (xie xie, pg 10) are scattered throughout monologues, but the correct pronunciation as well as the word's meaning are always included so as not to confuse the student. The topics are relevant and even come from literature the students may be studying (To Kill a Mockingbird is mentioned in one monologue). Some of the scenes in the second half of the book are adapted from longer plays (pg 82 "Over the Rainbow") and so have well developed characters. Surface also includes magical characters (a spirit cat, a cricket) as well as inanimate objects to give students a chance at playing non-traditional characters. Dialogue in the book is engaging and differs from piece to piece so students can work on pace and tone when speaking. This is an excellent book and would be useful in a variety of classrooms including speech/communication, drama, English or social studies.