Skip to Main Content
  • High School Catalog
  • High School Community
  • BFW Online Store
  • CACanada Store
ML Logo
  • Sign in// Register
  • search
  • minicart.altText
    0

Find what you need to succeed.

search icon
  • AP® Updates

    AP® Updates

    back
    • AP® Updates
  • Digital

    Digital

    back
    • Digital Offerings
    • E-books
    • LaunchPad
    • SaplingPlus
  • Our Story

    Our Story

    back
    • Who We Are
    • News & Media
    • Accessibility
    • Sustainability
    • Careers
    • Diversity and Inclusion
  • Solutions

    Solutions

    back
    • Administrators
    • AP® Summer Institutes
    • Home Schooler
    • International Customers
    • LMS Integration
    • Program Resources
  • Subjects

    Subjects

    back
    • Language Arts Mathematics Science Social Studies
  • Support

    Support

    back
    • Support
    • Booksellers
    • Find Your Rep
    • Find Your Account Manager
    • BFW Online Store
    • Permissions
    • Report Piracy
    • Training and Demos
  1. Home
  2. Language Arts
  3. The Bedford Reader, High School Edition
  • About
  • Preview
  • Contents
  • Authors
The Bedford Reader, High School Edition by X. J. Kennedy; Dorothy M. Kennedy; Jane E. Aaron; Ellen Kuhl Repetto - Thirteenth Edition, 2017 from Macmillan Student Store
Find Your Rep

The Bedford Reader, High School Edition

Thirteenth Edition| ©2017 X. J. Kennedy; Dorothy M. Kennedy; Jane E. Aaron; Ellen Kuhl Repetto

Long one of the most popular composition readers on the market, The Bedford Reader combines timeless readings with the leading voices of our day. It takes a practical and flexible approach to the rhetorical methods, focusing on their uses in varied writing situations. The unique and newly r...
Long one of the most popular composition readers on the market, The Bedford Reader combines timeless readings with the leading voices of our day. It takes a practical and flexible approach to the rhetorical methods, focusing on their uses in varied writing situations. The unique and newly reimagined "Writers on Writing" feature connects reflections from professional writers with point-of-need advice for student writers, and the Kennedys' class-proven instruction helps students connect critical reading to academic writing. The thirteenth edition has been thoroughly revised with compelling readings, helpful guidance for students on critical reading and writing, and an appendix covering MLA and APA documentation.Comprehension quizzes are also available for each reading in the book when The Bedford Reader is packaged with either Writer’s Help or LaunchPad Solo for Readers and Writers.
Read more

Institutional Prices


  • Format
Paperback $80.89

ISBN:9781319065683

Read and study old-school with our bound texts.

$80.89

Home Features New to This Edition
The Bedford Reader, High School Edition by X. J. Kennedy; Dorothy M. Kennedy; Jane E. Aaron; Ellen Kuhl Repetto - Thirteenth Edition, 2017 from Macmillan Student Store

Inspiring Writers to Read

Long one of the most popular composition readers on the market, The Bedford Reader combines timeless readings with the leading voices of our day. It takes a practical and flexible approach to the rhetorical methods, focusing on their uses in varied writing situations. The unique and newly reimagined "Writers on Writing" feature connects reflections from professional writers with point-of-need advice for student writers, and the Kennedys' class-proven instruction helps students connect critical reading to academic writing. The thirteenth edition has been thoroughly revised with compelling readings, helpful guidance for students on critical reading and writing, and an appendix covering MLA and APA documentation.Comprehension quizzes are also available for each reading in the book when The Bedford Reader is packaged with either Writer’s Help or LaunchPad Solo for Readers and Writers.

Features

Comprehensive coverage of reading and writing. Part One guides students through critical reading and academic writing, with examples that illustrate how to annotate an essay and how to respond critically to a piece of writing. In Part Two, each rhetorical chapter contains readings supported by author and selection headnotes, a two-part journal prompt, three sets of discussion questions that encourage critical thinking and reading, and several writing suggestions.

78 compelling selections by both well-known and emerging writers. Ranging from E. B. White and Malcolm Gladwell to Junot Díaz and Firoozeh Dumas, the writers included in the text provide diverse perspectives on topics that engage and challenge students to think and write purposefully.

Practical instruction in the rhetorical methods. Part Two presents in-depth instruction in ten methods of development. Chapter introductions address the purpose and uses of each method, with annotated examples that show the methods at work in different kinds of writing. Part Three collects well-known essays that show how the best writers mix the methods to achieve their purposes.

Flexible apparatus. The Bedford Reader provides support for a variety of teaching approaches, including support for instructors who teach thematically and those who hope to emphasize a more disciplinary approach to writing.

Emphasis on visual literacy. An in-depth analysis in Chapter 1 teaches students how to view images critically. Then each chapter in Part Two begins with an eye-catching visual and offers suggestions for approaching it with a critical eye.

New to This Edition

28 current and compelling new readings. Fresh voices along with classic authors explore topics that are relevant to students. Highlights include:

  • Issa Rae, “The Struggle.”  This selection from The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl considers assumptions about race in popular culture and personal experience.
  • Paired essays: student Tal Fortgang in “Checking My Privilege” and author Roxane Gay in “Peculiar Benefits” explore the meanings of privilege.
  • Randall Monroe, “Everybody Jump.” The author of webcomic xkcd offers an amusing answer to a scientific question. 

New casebooks on current issues offer opportunities to synthesize multiple perspectives.  Two new casebook topics allow students to examine timely questions. “Should Colleges Adopt Trigger Warnings?” includes two student essays and one professional argument, while “Have Politics Hurt the Comics Industry?” offers the insights of a comic author and an illustrator and a rhetorical analysis that rebuts their claims.

Additional annotated student writing models rhetorical moves.  The Bedford Reader includes 10 new student models, 5 of which are annotated to point out important rhetorical moves. With 24 student models in total, The Bedford Reader offers more student writing than any comparable text.  

Innovative "Writers on Writing" selections are now tied directly to writing instruction. Writing advice from the professional and student writers in the book is newly cross-referenced to the relevant instructional content.

A greater emphasis on the connection between reading and writing. At the request of instructors who use the book, we have thoroughly revised and reorganized the material on academic reading and writing in Part One, with increased attention throughout the text to writing in response to sources, whether one or many.

  • A stronger focus on reading to write. The Bedford Reader stresses the interconnectedness of reading and writing in Chapter 1, with a clearer overview of annotating texts and a new discussion of writing in response as a component of critical thinking.
  • Expanded coverage of key writing topics. Chapter 2 examines the writing situation in more detail, clarifying the distinctions between writing to reflect, entertain, explain, or persuade, and explaining how an awareness of purpose and audience influences a writer’s choices.
  • Examples of writing that responds to reading. The Bedford Reader for the first time features multiple student and professional essays that respond, directly or indirectly, to other works in the book. For instance, student writer Rachel O’Connor shares her critical reading of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” and composition instructor Barbara B. Parsons offers a rhetorical analysis of Brent Staples’s “Black Men and Public Space.” 
  • A new Appendix, “Finding and Documenting Sources.” This completely re-conceived appendix gathers the details on research and source citation where students are most likely to look for guidance. Freshened guidelines emphasize asking questions, finding and evaluating sources, creating annotated bibliographies, and avoiding plagiarism; and updated help with documenting sources reflects the most recent versions of both MLA style and APA style, offering dozens of current models and new annotated student essays for each.

 

The Bedford Reader, High School Edition by X. J. Kennedy; Dorothy M. Kennedy; Jane E. Aaron; Ellen Kuhl Repetto - Thirteenth Edition, 2017 from Macmillan Student Store

The Bedford Reader, High School Edition

Thirteenth Edition| ©2017

X. J. Kennedy; Dorothy M. Kennedy; Jane E. Aaron; Ellen Kuhl Repetto

Digital Options

The Bedford Reader, High School Edition by X. J. Kennedy; Dorothy M. Kennedy; Jane E. Aaron; Ellen Kuhl Repetto - Thirteenth Edition, 2017 from Macmillan Student Store

The Bedford Reader, High School Edition

Thirteenth Edition| 2017

X. J. Kennedy; Dorothy M. Kennedy; Jane E. Aaron; Ellen Kuhl Repetto

Table of Contents

PREFACE FOR INSTRUCTORS

CONTENTS BY THEME

new CONTENTS BY ACADEMIC DISCIPLINE

HOW (AND WHY) TO USE THIS BOOK

THE SELECTIONS

THE METHODS OF DEVELOPMENT

THE PRACTICAL GUIDANCE

THE WRITERS ON WRITING

Part one

ACADEMIC Reading and Writing

1 Critical Reading

Reading actively

NANCY MAIRS  Disability (annotated essay)

Developing an understanding

Analyzing essays

Examining visual images

Visual image: Man Fishing by a Power Plant, photograph by Robin Nelson

new
Reading to write

2 The Writing Process

assessing The Writing Situation

Discovering Ideas

Drafting

Revising

new
Integrating reading

Editing

An essay-in-progress

ROSIE ANAYA  Mental Illness on Television (annotated student essay)

PART TWO

THE METHODS

3 NARRATION: Telling a Story

Visual Image: Proposal, drawing by Demetri Martin

The method

The process

Narration in academic writing

new Scott Beltran  from Ride-Along Report (annotated student writing)

AMY TAN  Fish Cheeks

new NAOMI SHIHAB NYE  Museum

new Naomi Shihab Nye on Writing

new
JONATHAN BETHARDS  Code Three (student essay)

JUNOT DÍAZ  The Dreamer  

Junot Díaz on Writing

MAYA ANGELOU  Champion of the World

Maya Angelou on Writing

SHIRLEY JACKSON  The Lottery

Shirley Jackson on Writing

4 DESCRIPTION: Writing with Your Senses

Visual Image
: Doug and Mizan’s House, East River, photograph by Margaret Morton

The Method

the process

Description in academic writing

Nick Fiorelli  from Teaching Methodologies at Child’s Play Preschool (annotated student writing)

  BRAD MANNING  Arm Wrestling with My Father (student essay)

Brad Manning on Writing

new N. SCOTT MOMADAY  The Way to Rainy Mountain

new N. Scott Momaday on Writing

SVEN BIRKETS  Ladder

new DIANE ACKERMAN  Black Marble

JOYCE CAROL OATES  Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks, 1942

Visual Image: Nighthawks, painting by Edward Hopper

Joyce Carol Oates on Writing

5 EXAMPLE: Pointing to Instances

Visual Image
: Low-Energy Drinks, cartoon by Glen Le Lievre

The method

The process

Examples in academic writing

Kharron Reid  Letter to E-line Systems (annotated student writing)

BRENT STAPLES  Black Men and Public Space

Brent Staples on Writing

new
ISSA RAE  The Struggle

new BRIAN DOYLE  A Note on Mascots

new Brian Doyle on Writing

ANNA QUINDLEN  Homeless

Anna Quindlen on Writing

KELLIE YOUNG  The Undercurrent (student essay)

6 COMPARISON AND CONTRAST: Setting Things Side by Side

new Visual Image: from Fun Home, graphic memoir by Alison Bechdel  

The method

The process

Comparison and contrast in academic writing

Charlotte Pak  from Beyoncé Knowles: Soloist (annotated student writing)

DAVID SEDARIS  Remembering My Childhood on the Continent of Africa

new David Sedaris on Writing

ANDREA ROMAN  "We’re Not . . ." (student essay)

Andrea Roman on Writing

SUZANNE BRITT  Neat People vs. Sloppy People

Suzanne Britt on Writing

BRUCE CATTON  Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts

FATEMA MERNISSI  Size 6: The Western Woman’s Harem

new ALAIN DE BOTTON  Tragedy

new Visual Images: A Man Drives Into His Family Home to Punish His Wife, video still by BBC News; Medea Kills Her Son to Punish Her Husband, Greek vase by unknown artist

new Alain de Botton on Writing

7 PROCESS ANALYSIS: Explaining Step by Step

Visual Image
: Workers Making Dolls, photograph by Wally McNamee

The method

The process

Process analysis in academic writing

Victor Khoury  from DNA Extraction (annotated student writing)

new
writing

new ANNE LAMOTT  The Crummy First Draft

new KOJI FRAHM  How to Write an A Paper (student essay)

new Koji Frahm on Writing

FIROOZEH DUMAS  Sweet, Sour, and Resentful

Firoozeh Dumas on Writing

DAN KOEPPEL  Taking a Fall

JESSICA MITFORD  Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain

Jessica Mitford on Writing

8 DIVISION OR ANALYSIS: Slicing into Parts

Visual Image
: Deconstructing Lunch, cartoon by Roz Chast

The method

The process

Division or analysis in academic writing

new Rachel O’Connor, from A Question of Fairness: "The Lottery" as Social Commentary (annotated student writing)

    JUDITH ORTIZ COFER, The Cruel Country

new Judith Ortiz Cofer on Writing

 LAILA AYAD  The Capricious Camera (documented student essay) Visual Image: Mounted Nazi Troops on the Lookout for Likely Polish Children, photograph

ROBERT LIPSYTE  Jock Culture  

GUILLERMO DEL TORO AND CHUCK HOGAN  Vampires Never Die

Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan on Writing

new
BARBARA B. PARSONS  Whistling in the Dark

new Barbara B. Parsons on Writing

9 CLASSIFICATION: Sorting into Kinds

Visual Image: How the Poor, the Middle Class, and the Rich Spend Their Money, table by National Public Radio

The method

The process

Classification in academic writing

Kharron Reid  Résumé (annotated student writing)

DEBORAH TANNEN  But What Do You Mean?

Deborah Tannen on Writing

WILLIAM LUTZ  The World of Doublespeak

William Lutz on Writing

RUSSELL BAKER  The Plot against People

new
JEAN-PIERRE DE BEER  Stars of Life (student essay)

new MARION WINIK  The Things They Googled

new Marion Winik on Writing

10 CAUSE AND EFFECT: Asking Why

new
Visual Image: Wild Weather, bar graph by National Geographic

The method

The process

Cause and effect in academic writing

Kate Krueger  Letter to the Weekly (annotated student writing)

CHITRA DIVAKARUNI  Live Free and Starve

Chitra Divakaruni on Writing

MARIE JAVDANI  Plato o Plomo: Silver or Lead (documented student essay)

Marie Javdani on Writing

new
RANDALL MUNROE  Everybody Jump

*Visual Image: What If, drawings by Randall Munroe

CHRISTOPHER BEAM  Blood Loss

Visual Image: Trends in Serial Killing, bar graph by James Alan Fox and Jack Levin

new       *MALCOLM GLADWELL  Little Fish in a Big Pond

new Malcolm Gladwell on Writing

11 DEFINITION: Tracing Boundaries

new Visual Image
: It’s a Part of Me, Not a Definition of Who I Am, poster for the International Down Sydrome Coalition

The method

The process

Definition in academic writing

Martin Ward  Civil Liberties (annotated student writing)

new TAL FORTGANG  Checking My Privilege (student essay)

new Tal Fortgang on Writing

new
ROXANE GAY  Peculiar Benefits

new Roxane Gay on Writing

MEGHAN DAUM  Narcissist — Give It a Rest

Meghan Daum on Writing

new
DAGOBERTO GILB  Pride

AUGUSTEN BURROUGHS  How to Identify Love by Knowing What It’s Not

12 ARGUMENT AND PERSUASION: Stating Opinions and Proposals

Visual Image
: Corporate America Flag, image from Adbusters Media Foundation

The method

The Process

Argument and persuasion in academic writing

new Adrianne Silver  from Bullying Law Proposal (annotated student writing)

LINDA CHAVEZ  Supporting Family Values

Linda Chavez on Writing

new
HAVE POLITICS RUINED COMICS?

new CHUCK DIXON AND PAUL RIVOCHE  How Liberalism Became Kryptonite for Superman

new Visual Image: Sink the Japanazis with Bonds and Stamps, cover illustration for World’s Finest Comics

new JANELLE ASSELIN  Superhuman Error: What Dixon and Rivoche Get Wrong

new SHOULD COLLEGES ADOPT TRIGGER WARNINGS?

new BRIANNE RICHSON  An Obligation to Prevent Trauma on Campus (student essay)

new Brianne Richson on Writing

new
   JON OVERTON  Beware the Trigger Warning (student essay)

new Jon Overton on Writing

new
WENDY KAMINER  The Danger of Playing It Safe

new Wendy Kaminer on Writing

who needs privacy?     

NICHOLAS CARR  Tracking Is an Assault on Liberty

Nicholas Carr on Writing

JIM HARPER  Web Users Get as Much as They Give

LORI ANDREWS  Facebook Is Using You

Lori Andrews on Writing

PART THREE

MIXING THE METHODS

JUDY BRADY  I Want a Wife

Judy Brady on Writing

new
JOAN DIDION  Earthquakes

new Joan Didion on Writing

MAXINE HONG KINGSTON  No Name Woman

Maxine Hong Kingston on Writing

JONATHAN SWIFT  A Modest Proposal

new HENRY DAVID THOREAU  Where I Lived, and What I Lived For

new LUIS ALBERTO URREA  Barrio Walden

new Luis Alberto Urrea on Writing

E. B. WHITE  Once More to the Lake

new COLSON WHITEHEAD  Loving Las Vegas

Colson Whitehead on Writing

 

new APPENDIX

new Finding and documenting sources

Conducting research

Writing WITH SOURCES

Source Citation Using MLA Style

new
MARGARET LUNDBERG  Eating Green (annotated student essay)

Margaret Lundberg on Writing

Source Citation Using APA Style

new
ERIC KIM  The Brain that Changes (annotated student essay)

new Eric Kim on Writing

GLOSSARY OF USEFUL TERMS

DIRECTORY TO WRITERS ON WRITING

INDEX
 
The Bedford Reader, High School Edition by X. J. Kennedy; Dorothy M. Kennedy; Jane E. Aaron; Ellen Kuhl Repetto - Thirteenth Edition, 2017 from Macmillan Student Store

The Bedford Reader, High School Edition

Thirteenth Edition| 2017

X. J. Kennedy; Dorothy M. Kennedy; Jane E. Aaron; Ellen Kuhl Repetto

Find Your Rep

Authors

X. J. Kennedy

X. J. Kennedy is an acclaimed poet, children’s author, college teacher, and textbook author. He has taught freshman composition at the University of Michigan; the University of North Carolina, Greensboro; and Tufts University. More than 2 million students have used his introductory literature texts and The Bedford Reader, now in its fourteenth edition.


Dorothy M. Kennedy

Dorothy M. Kennedy was a writer and editor whose articles and reviews have appeared in both professional and academic journals. She taught composition at the University of Michigan and Ohio University and, with X. J. Kennedy, was the recipient of the NCTE Teacher's Choice Award for Knock at a Star: A Child's Introduction to Poetry.


Jane E. Aaron

Jane E. Aaron is a professional writer and editor as well as an experienced teacher. She is the author of the best-selling Little, Brown Handbook and The Compact Reader. She has served as consultant, editor, or writer on more than a dozen other textbooks for the first-year composition.


Ellen Kuhl Repetto

Ellen Kuhl Repetto is an editor and writer who has contributed to more than twenty composition readers, handbooks, and rhetorics. She is the author of The Bedford Reader and The Compact Reader.

The Bedford Reader, High School Edition by X. J. Kennedy; Dorothy M. Kennedy; Jane E. Aaron; Ellen Kuhl Repetto - Thirteenth Edition, 2017 from Macmillan Student Store

The Bedford Reader, High School Edition

Thirteenth Edition| 2017

X. J. Kennedy; Dorothy M. Kennedy; Jane E. Aaron; Ellen Kuhl Repetto

Related Titles

Available Demos

Select a demo to view:

  • Privacy Notice
  • //
  • Student Data Privacy
  • //
  • Ads & Cookies
  • //
  • Terms of Use
  • //
  • Piracy
  • //
  • Accessibility
  • //
  • Code of Conduct
  • //
  • Site Map

AP® and Pre-AP® are trademarks registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse, these products.

  • BFW publishers facebook
  • BFW publishers twitter
  • BFW publishers linkedin
  • BFW publishers linkedin
ML Logo
We are processing your request. Please wait...