This compact edition retains all the features that have made the full edition so successful within a smaller, affordable volume. Combining the broadest selection of readings with time-proven and class-tested instruction, LITERATURE: READING, REACTING, WRITING, Compact Seventh Edition, remains the most useful and student-friendly introduction to literature text available. The text includes a comprehensive guide to writing about literature, with full coverage of critical thinking, argument, and the writing process. Teachers themselves, authors Kirszner and Mandell take students through each step of the research and writing process, helping them to craft literary analyses and arguments and to understand that writing about literature is a process of discovery, examination, and debate.