When Oprah Winfrey began her successful book club in 1996, she continued a tradition that public libraries have provided for decades. Oprah placed a spotlight on reading that encouraged many women who had never read a book "to read." Book clubs sprang up in neighborhoods, bookstores, and on Web sites. Library media centers began offering book…

The authors examined the effects of choice, topic interest, and situational interest on reading engagement, attitude, and learning. The outcomes were measured using scores on a multiple-choice test, a content essay, and a personal reaction essay, and completion of an attitude checklist. Experiment 1 found a small negative effect for choice on the…

Maya K. David reports an interesting view of reading in Malaysia through the eyes of graduate student Mohd Nazri bin Hamid (2003), who conducted an exploratory study about the culture of reading in an academy of Islamic studies. The purposes of Nazri's investigation were (a) to examine undergraduate students' reading habits, (b) to offer a…

Many studies have examined the relationship between environmental processes and literacy outcomes. However, nearly all of this research has examined biologically related family members living together, thus confounding genetic and environmental influences. The purpose of this study was to address this issue using a sample of 262 adopted children…

This research study sought to explore the relationship between spiritual reading and its effects on human growth. The emphasis of the study was how participants felt they had grown in their relationship with God through reading. Participants were clergypersons in the Tidewater, Virginia area. The 30 pastors interviewed for this study indicated…

This study systematically examines the reading habits and in-house library use of a group of survey respondents in the Independent Living complex at a retirement community located in Westlake, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. The residents responded to an anonymous questionnaire requesting information about their reading habits and their preferences…

A study investigated the literacy needs of adolescents staying in short-term crisis intervention centers--shelters for teens who have run away or are otherwise homeless. During a 6-month period, interviews were conducted in a non-threatening, informal environment; the adolescents responded to open-ended questions about their histories of reading…

A study surveyed 449 seniors and sophomores at North Ridgeville (Ohio) High School to determine their reading interests. The survey of 18 questions revealed the following findings: (1) favorite type of novel was horror; (2) favorite author was Stephen King; (3) favorite magazines were "Seventeen" and "Sports Illustrated"; (4)…

A study investigated the literary experiences and understanding of elementary school students by focusing on the literature children encounter in school and at home, literary instruction, and the differences between good and poor readers. Teachers and researchers traced the reading habits of eight second-grade students from two classrooms from…

This document consists of an article and a two-page illustration "Putting Together the Pieces of the Puzzle." Noting that individual schools and communities throughout Indiana continue to struggle to meet the needs of young adolescents, the article discusses the work of the Stakeholder Steering Committee of the Middle Grades Reading…

The importance of independent reading is advocated for success both in school and out of school. The following four strategies are presented to stimulate children's interest in reading and to assist the teacher in providing an environment in which independent reading becomes a student practice: (1) provide opportunities for students to see, hear,…

With many annotations written or edited by students, this booklist contains 3,100 citations of fiction and nonfiction publications for adolescents. Most entries were published within the past few years, although well-written older books are also included. The annotations, which include appropriate age ranges, are categorized as follows:…

While story grammar and cognitive science theories of stories state or imply that a story will be more interesting if the protagonist experiences difficulty in attaining his or her goal, neither theory considers that the importance of the goal may also affect how interesting the story is. The structural-affect theory, however, defines stories on…

A study examined uses of newspapers by elderly persons, with emphasis given to the extent to which exposure and gratification patterns change by age segments within the aged, and what kinds of factors are associated with such changes. Data from a national sample of 1,308 elderly persons indicated that readership varies more by demographic and…

To ascertain whether reading attitudes changed as boys and girls progressed through the grades, a reading attitude inventory was administered to 234 children in grades one through six. Items in the inventory were grouped into the following categories: free reading in the classroom, organized reading in the classroom, reading at the library,…