An ethnographic study of children's response to literature at a range of developmental levels and in a variety of natural classroom contexts involved comprehensive classroom observations of 90 children aged five to eleven years representing a range of abilities. Data were collected during a four-month period on daily log sheets, then later…

Shows how ethnographic classroom research contributes to an understanding of children's response to literature, providing opportunities for the study of response in context, for the analysis of unsolicited expressions of response, and for observation of how expressions of response to literature fit into larger developmental patterns. (ET)

Using techniques borrowed from ethnography, a participant observer spent four months in one elementary school to examine children's responses to literature as it was expressed in the classroom. (HOD)

In this study of elementary school children's responses to two children's books, a participant-observer presented reading material to the children and studied their reactions. Spontaneous responses and variations in solicited verbal responses at different age levels and the implications of nonresponse are considered. (PP)

Peer relationships greatly influence how students form opinions of books and of reading in general. Students in a class can be seen as a community of readers. Their discussions, both formal and informal, can be a means of developing an awareness of literature and how to enjoy it. (PP)