Brooke, Robert E., Ruth Mirtz and Rick Evans. Small Groups and Writing Workshops: Invitations to a Writer's Life. Champaign, IL: NCTE, 1994. The advantages of this book can be simply put: before I read it, I felt annoyed by the weakness of my use of peer groups but helpless to improve it. After reading it, I realized first that I had not been seeing all the value in what I had already been doing, but more importantly I immediately improved the results of peer workshops in my classrooms. Maybe the most enjoyable part of the book is the way its authors practice what they are preaching. Some chapters are collaborations, others are individually titled, but the whole demonstrates fairly clearly that the authors were writing as a workshop. The pieces all fit together, even refer to each other, and the sequence of the book is probably ideal (somewhat rare in such efforts, in my experience). You can actually just sit down and read it cover to cover. Even beyond that, it is clear these teacher-scholars were also working collaboratively with their own students in developing their ideas. References to the actual work of their classes weave in and out of the arguments and explanations so richly that the book has almost a "documentary" feel in the sense that term is used in film-making. You don't have to just take their word for how these ideas play out in reality; you can see it happening. Contributed by Keith Rhodes 2000 Invitational Participant.