Lists and briefly describes 24 books in several categories chosen by young readers as the best books of 1986. (NKA)

Reports observations of the storytime of preschool children at home and in schools. The results indicated that children's responses were similar in type whether at home or at school but that children tended to respond to literature more like the adult in the situation than like the other children. (HTH)

Studies how children negotiate the meaning of literature by examining how they responded when given the opportunity to retell a story directly after hearing it. (DF)

Presents comments by authors of children's and adolescent literature about qualities of good writers, which include being a good reader, caring about language, being well educated, being an alert observer, being a good story teller, and being a compulsive writer. (EL)

Argues that different kinds of response statements, focusing on issues from cultural, historical, phenomenological, and structuralist approaches to reading texts, can be assigned to help students learn about more demanding kinds of information and, hence, can make students stronger, more informed, and more self-conscious readers of literature. (EL)

Discusses "critique" in an analysis of the relationship between discourse, text, and subjectivity, particularly as it relates to the teaching of poetry. Stresses how to make students more aware of the power of the text and to comprehend more fully the nature of their own responses. Illustrates with student responses to Blake's poem, "The Rose."…

Reports on the reading processes of seven research physicists using data gathered from a series of interviews and observations. Reveals reading processes permeated with individual purposes and schema. (FL)

Concludes that structure of topic makes a difference in writing quality, fluency, and total error but not in any error ratio. Suggests that, for placement testing, educators should first decide which types of students they wish to identify, because each topic structure distinguishes low, average, and high ability students differently. Topic…

This booklet presents lesson plans and activities that were used in a study exploring the reader response patterns produced by Year 12 students from three different schools to the teaching of classical literature in translation. The emphasis is placed on their reading and reacting to the Homeric "Odyssey." Lesson plans and activities…

This book, part of a series which serve as guides for K-12 teachers who are striving to align lively, classroom-tested practices with standards, gathers together brief articles spotlighting instructional suggestions. The book begins with overviews of the key component of fiction, with special emphasis on character. It then continues with a section…

Intended for preadolescents, this novel can serve as an antidote to the well-documented sexism girls encounter as they struggle with questions of self-esteem. It tells the story of 11-year-old Lily, harassed by a boy at school, but with a distinct advantage in that her flute teacher is a time traveler. In the novel, Lily travels back 3,500 years…

Addressing the complexity of the question of multicultural literature in the classroom, this anthology of 27 articles includes: contemplations by seven award-winning writers of young adult (YA) literature on the subject of diversity; a resource section that describes over 200 literary works and lists 50 reference tools to help teachers stay…

A study aimed to discover a correspondence between the thinking processes and textual structures of six eleventh graders. In a predominantly White, middle class rural high school, six students were selected to think aloud as they read two essays written as part of two assignments for their advanced English classes. The six were selected based on…

Numerous studies have focused on attitudes toward reading and how to measure such attitudes. The present study examined the effects of both the survey format and the reading abilities of 82 sixth graders at a middle school in McDuffie County, Georgia. Since all of the students had taken the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, the language arts composite…

This book takes a look at the realities of classroom life, offering specific suggestions for dealing effectively with today's students. More than a compendium of activities, the first edition of the book introduced educators to a philosophy of teaching illustrated and implemented by workable, realistic techniques. The second edition of the book…