A study attempted to determine how students in literature-based reading programs compare to students in basal-based, skill-oriented reading programs in terms of their interest in reading. The study was carried out on a sample of 215 pupils in 9 third and fifth grade classrooms from school districts in Eastern Kansas and Northeastern Oklahoma. Students' attitudes toward school were measured with the Elementary Reading Attitude Survey, a standardized, self-report, paper and pencil test normed on students in grades 1-6. There are 20 items on the survey which constitute the total reading score. Results showed that posttest scores were in all cases below pretest scores, probably because reading interest tends to drop off toward the end of the school year. In both third and fifth grades, scores on the posttest, while lower than the pretest, were still higher in classes using the literature-based approach than in those using the skills-based approach. Generally, fifth graders scored lower than third graders on the reading attitude tests. Further, results from this study suggest the literature-based approach is especially important for males, particularly those in fifth grade. (Contains 2 figures, a table of data, and 33 references.) (TB)