Somalia has a long and rich oral literacy tradition of poetry, proverbs, and songs, while Somalia's print literacy history has been significantly disrupted by colonization and then the Somali Civil War. Many Somalis have fled the country since the start of the civil war in 1991, and an estimated 10,000 Somalis have made a new home in Maine. When…

The importance of adolescent literacy is well established, and the topic continues to be of both local and national interest. Practitioners need to know not only which programs and practices appear effective, but which have the scientific evidence to support that claim. To identify effective programs and practices for general education students in…

Focusing on literature and the teaching of literature, this monograph presents and discusses salient issues, inviting the reader to participate in the dialogue. The first section following the introduction presents reasons for teaching literature and discusses the types, quality, and selection of literature, as well as literature and values. The…

Compiled by teachers, administrators, curriculum planners, and librarians, this list is intended to help local level curriculum planners and teachers select books for their reading programs and evaluate their literature programs, and to encourage students to read by improving their reading attitudes. To accommodate a variety of tastes, abilities,…

Reading instruction, centered around the oral reading of literature, allows children to enjoy stories and forget that they are engaged in an academic exercise.

This manual is a compilation of the bilingual (i.e., English and Spanish) programs sections for the 2001 and 2002 Texas Reading Club manuals. The sections have been combined and organized into chapters according to the age level of their audiences--toddlers, preschoolers, families, elementary school-age children, and young adults. Included are…

The purpose of this manual for the 2003 Texas Reading Club, "Mission Possible: Spy a Book!" is to assist library staff who serve youth by suggesting ideas for programs that will attract children to the library. The following chapters are included: (1) Marketing, Cooperation and PR; (2) Serving Children with Disabilities; (3) Theme Songs;…

This book provides information to help teachers, librarians, and parents establish a book club for the Prekindergarten through eighth-grade school community. The first chapter discusses book club planning, publicity, preparations, process, and acquisition of books. The following 13 chapters suggest books for a variety of subject areas, including…

This digest offers guidelines in providing challenging reading opportunities for gifted students. Research findings concerning the characteristics of the gifted child as reader (e.g., they read earlier, better and more) are noted. Specific needs of gifted learners can be met by: using literature as a supplement to the readings in basal texts;…

The focus of the articles in this theme issue of a journal for librarians and teachers working with young children is storytelling. The first article, "Observations on Storytelling," (K. Roberts) relates how storytelling can be essential to reading--if one observes the law of diminishing returns. The second article, "How to Turn a Story Hour Into…

Intended to help teachers decide which books to start with when incorporating children's literature into the reading program and to show them how to use these books with a variety of readers, this book provides a rationale and guidance for using "real books" to teach reading. Titles and authors of the articles included are as follows: (1)…

The use of children's literature in the classroom can greatly enhance the core curriculum by supporting children's cognition, language, personality, social, aesthetic, and creative development. Preservice teachers often have difficulty conceptualizing a style of literature presentation that will provide optimum learning-stimulation, however, and…

This collection of essays grew out of the "Reading Stephen King Conference" held at the University of Maine in 1996. Stephen King's books have become a lightning rod for the tensions around issues of including "mass market" popular literature in middle and high school English classes and of who chooses what students read.…

Recognizing that productively engaging low-achieving adolescents in print-rich classrooms is complicated, this book presents 40 articles that focus specifically on teaching struggling readers in middle school and high school classrooms. The articles in the book are drawn primarily from the "Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy." The book is…

Many gifted children enter kindergarten already reading and in need of reading instruction that is different from the regular program. A reading program for gifted youngsters that is literature-based will help develop comprehension skills at the highest cognitive levels and will also foster the desire to read. Beginning with the interpretation of…