Interactive Bibliocounseling: Recent Fiction and Nonfiction for Adolescents and Their Counselors.

Abstract

It is estimated that several thousand result of the guided dialogue with the novels for adolescents have been pubcounselor (Hynes & Hynes-Berry, 1986). lished since 1990. This number is signifiMuro and Kottman (1995) also view in cant because the use of literature for teractive bibliocounseling as a natural adolescents is a long-recognized helping and easy way for the counselor to enter strategy used by school counselors. into the tentative and sometimes con Bibliocounseling, or having students read fused world of the student. Discussing and react to books about situations or the implications of what was read is often persons similar to themselves, dates back a less threatening way for students to to the 1930s (Rubin, 1978). As originally share their thoughts and feelings on sen used, bibliocounseling involved having sitive personal issues with the counse students read materials selected by the lor. Directed discussions with the coun counselor. In this approach, ongoing disselor aid students in achieving catharsis eussions with the counselor were not and insight, in gaining an awareness of deemed necessary, because it was asnew ways of responding to troublesome sumed that students would be able to situations, and in discovering that oth modify their thoughts, feelings, and beers share similar problems in life. Al haviors as a result of what they read though bibliocounseling usually involves (Baruth & Phillips, 1976). students doing the reading, Timmerman, More recently, however, bibliocounMartin, and Martin (1989) reported good seling has come to be viewed by counresults when the counselor read the selors as an interactive process whereby material to students who had difficul student growth and change occur as a ties reading. There are several points counselors need to be aware of before using bibliocoun seling with adolescents. First, the most Leila Christenburyand Andrew V. Beale are proappropriate time to introduce bibliocoun fessors, School of Education, Virginia Common. r, ,