Reviews children's literature with multi-dimensional, engaging characters--characters with strengths and weaknesses who grapple with real problems and find real solutions. (MG)

Introduces and discusses briefly 10 multimedia products that are fun, useful, and that can teach a lot about communicating technical and business information. Discusses seven things that designers can learn from such examples. (SR)

Discusses Janice A. Radway's "Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy and Popular Literature." Argues that reading educators should consider a more general premise embodied in the book: in order to understand the appeal (or lack of it) of certain books, then educators first need to understand what the books are for the students who read them. (RS)

Reviews "How Porcupines Make Love II," the sequel on teaching a response-centered literature curriculum. Finds it to be a lively, engaging, provocative text, one that includes workable hints for classroom practice. (MG)

Discusses William Beatty Warner's "Reading Clarissa: The Struggles of Interpretation," a study of Samuel Richardson's role as eighteenth-century critic and interpreter of his own novels. Examines the treatment of character by both Richardson and Warner, focusing on Richardson's humanist interpretation and Warner's anti-humanist…

Discusses a variety of software programs which will assist middle school through college teachers in teaching text structure to their students. Notes that these programs represent a departure from traditional programing style--they allow the person who uses information technology to combine the roles of producer and consumer. (RS)

Reviews 17 recent young adult books that might appeal to the late elementary/middle school/junior-high-age children. Discusses the use of corollary text to help readers make connections between recent young adult literature and older, often classic literature. (MG)

Presents a critical review of Margaret J. Marshall's work, "Contesting Cultural Rhetorics: Public Discourse and Education, 1890-1900." The author discusses Marshall's comparison and examination of historical nineteenth-century texts about education. The analysis suggests the book does not adequately advance knowledge about public…

Explores the effects of Toni Morrison's novel, "Beloved," on readers. Explains that it maps a new direction for the African-American apocalyptic tradition because Morrison relocated the arena of racial battle from the streets to the African-American psyche where memories of the atrocities of the past have been buried. (JS)

Reviews the growing body of work that examines reading as a process occurring within a social context and having social consequences. Three categories within this literature are examined: studies of literacy and its sociocultural role; the history of the book; and the meaning of reading as an activity. Notes and a bibliography is appended. (15…

Discusses the picture books of Leo Lionni and describes how Vivian Gussin Paley, a Chicago elementary school teacher, used his books for an entire year's curriculum in her kindergarten class. Highlights include children's engagement with literature, and other learning activities based on the books. (LRW)

The three books reviewed in this article represent the continuous effort to make visible the significant bridge between theory and practice in the fields of literacy and children's literature. While the authors maintain distinct purposes for their creations, the texts each speak to a strong theoretical support for the practices they describe. The…

The EPIEgram newsletter contains information about educational materials and technology and systemic change. In addition to continuing features, "Research & Reports,""Views and Reviews," and "The Educational Software Selector (TESS)," the five issues and two double issues contain articles on textbook adoption;…