We asked language arts teachers, “What are the greatest challenges your students face when taking standardized tests?” They answered, “My kids don’t understand figurative language, they don’t know how to infer information from a text, and they have trouble comparing texts.”

That’s why we created this series. Struggling readers can, and do, read. Their problem is understanding and processing the ideas behind the words. Adolescent Literacy includes direct, explicit instruction in skills that are essential to literacy.

Each book contains 20 reading, vocabulary, and writing lessons:

• In Adolescent Literacy: Making Inferences, the lessons strengthen the reader’s ability to make evidence-based guesses, recall relevant details, and analyze text and non-textual clues.
• In Adolescent Literacy: Figurative Language, the lessons focus on alliteration, analogy, hyperbole, idioms, metaphors, paradox, similes, and other figures of speech.
• In Adolescent Literacy: Comparative Reading, the lessons highlight ways in which students can analyze and compare different texts and their elements. 

Including activities and instruction, each lesson takes 20–50 minutes to complete.  Each book also addresses IRA/NCTE and McREL standards  and comes with teaching tips, instructional guides, assessment suggestions, and more.