The authors explored adolescents' reasons for reading or not reading books. In individual interviews with 39 adolescents (ages 15 and 16) in the United Kingdom, they reported that reading books offered an opportunity to relax, learn, escape the real world, and become immersed; was exciting, developed their empathy skills, and provided a form of…

This article presents the results from an international collaboration between undergraduate students in the United Kingdom and Norway. Using Literature Circles and "Google Documents" in groups, the students liaised digitally over three young adult novels that are prominent within the UK school curriculum. This study explored the ways in…

The Royal Society Young People's Book Prize is awarded annually in the United Kingdom for the best science information book, and the winning book is chosen by panels of young people. This article discusses the findings of a study of the responses to the books and to their judging experience of young people who participated on panels in the 2011…

This article draws on my experiences of teaching "Stone Cold" to respond to a blog post suggesting that the novel holds little educational value. I argue that the novel's narrative style helps to foster criticality while its subject matter can help students see the relevance of literature to the world around them. Relating this to…

In summer 2015, Scholastic, in conjunction with YouGov, conducted a survey to explore family attitudes and behaviours in the United Kingdom around reading books for fun. The key findings of this research, based on a nationally representative sample of 1,755 parents and children, including 349 parents of children ages 0-5; 703 parents of children…

Are the books preferred and most enjoyed by children harder than other books they read? Are non-fiction books read and understood at the same level of difficulty as fiction books? The Accelerated Reader software offers computerized comprehension quizzes of real books individually chosen by children, giving children (and teachers, librarians, and…

2010 marks the fifth year the United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY) has selected an honor list of international books. Once again, titles on the list crisscross the globe. They have been published in Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, India, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. This…

Some of the world's best children's book artists got together to help Amnesty International celebrate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights' 60th anniversary in "We Are All Born Free," one of the 42 titles recommended by the fourth annual United States Board on Books for Young People's (USBBY) Outstanding International Books…

Discussion of the role of children's literature in promoting peaceful resolutions to conflict focuses on a study that examined juvenile fiction about the United States and/or the British Isles during World War II. Attitudes in the stories were categorized, including prowar, conditional support, antiwar, and indifference. (18 references) (LRW)

This article deals with the use of alternative texts, such as the Harry Potter book series in classroom teaching. In this article, the author discusses a wide range of themes that could be addressed in the classroom. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone deals with issues of greed, self-sacrifice, fear of the unknown, and self-confidence. Harry…

This paper focuses on a 1997 pilot project carried out in five secondary schools in South Africa that examined children's reading and information use. This study (n=958) was part of a larger study from 1995 and 1996 carried out in the United Kingdom. The primary goal was to examine what young people are reading at the end of the 20th century. The…