Radical Change Theory and Synergistic Reading for Digital Age Youth

by Eliza T. Dresang and Bowie Kotrla

Books with digital age characteristic…stimulate curiosity and foster community.
—Elizabeth Lennox Keyser, 1999

Today's students think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors.
—Marc Prensky, 2001

Prologue

One of our favorite books is McGillis's The Nimble Reader: Literary Criticism and Children's Literature. McGillis applies various literary theories—among them the New Criticism, structuralism, feminism, and postmodernism—to much-loved, time-honored books such as E. B. White's Charlotte's Web (1952), in each case coming up with a fresh interpretation of a well-known text. The Nimble Reader makes the point that the meaning of any object, experience, or creative endeavor can be evasive and changes according to the lens through which it is viewed. Theory uncovers, illuminates, reveals, explains, predicts, and adds value and dimensions to what otherwise might have been overlooked.