Advocates teaching developmental students to apply the schemata they unconsciously use when choosing movies or television programs to select recreational books. Reviews six steps in surveying/previewing recreational books and three stages of diminishing teacher involvement in book selection. (DMM)

Discusses how teachers can aid young children in developing social skills in and outside the home through reading and discussing books that present characters and social situations with which children can identify. Discusses several such child-recommended book titles from "Children's Choices" and includes an annotated bibliography of additional…

Surveys 315 fourth- and fifth-grade inner city and suburban children from Virginia and Ohio about their "most favorite" book, with titles categorized by literary genre. Finds little overlap with individual titles but emergence of some genre patterns--girls favoring realistic fiction and boys selecting fantasy; inner city children…

Investigates why children are attracted to scary books, and what they find scary. Addresses children's fears through scary books and the instructional value of scary books. Discusses successful classroom experiences with scary books and notes selection considerations. Offers literature study ideas and a 100-item bibliography of scary books. (SR)

Describes the grant-supported Read, Enjoy and Do (R.E.A.D.) program of the Park Forest (Illinois) Public Library intended to provide materials to help parents/caregivers make reading an enjoyable learning experience for children. Highlights the program's accomplishments, strengths, and weaknesses. Analyzes changed or altered grant needs and…

Examines the reading behavior of education students and the pedagogical theories dealt with during their studies. Reports that pre-test findings indicate that the pedagogical literature read by education students is largely determined by the different courses of study (i.e., elementary or secondary education), and less so by a common disciplinary…

Examined book choices of below-average, average, and above-average readers in a fourth-grade literature-based reading program. Found that book selection criteria were mentioned at different frequencies with below-average readers, whose criteria included pictures and friends' recommendations. Word length, print size, and book length influenced…

Offers a list of more than 50 books, in picture book and board book format, that are best suited to the developmental needs and interests of infants and preschool children. Books are listed under the following headings: identification of objects, rhythm and rhyme, pattern and repetition, and contrast and opposition. (AEF)

Investigates how the needs of adult new readers are being met in five North Texas public library systems using the PLA's (Public Library Association) list of recommended titles for "Adult New Readers" for 1993-97 as the comparative sample. All the libraries had titles from the sample, though there was considerable variance. Only one…

"In an age when browsing the net, playing with funky handsets and passing non-stop SMSs seem to be the order of the day, reading a book in a peaceful corner of a library has become an archaic idea for most people. While technology is slowly taking a steady control over individual lives, the reading habit is fast vanishing into thin…

This publication attempts to answer some common questions from adult basic education and General Educational Development teachers about the practice of using children's literature in the adult literacy classroom. Answers include the following: some books in the children's literature market are meant to be read and enjoyed by a wide diversity of…

The serialized reference work "Biography Today" is initiating a "Subject Series" that in five separate volumes will encompass: authors, artists, scientists, and inventors, sports figures, and world leaders. This is the first volume in the "Author Series." There will be no duplication between the regular series and the special subject volumes. This…

An action research project focused on how a child's academic achievement is affected by his or her chronological age. The population consisted of kindergarten and third-grade students in a growing middle class community within a southwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois. Evidence for the existence of this problem was gathered from teacher surveys,…

Exploring the range and diversity of humorous literature for children, this book attempts to remedy the past neglect of children's humorous books by taking humor seriously. The first five chapters of the book discuss what children find funny and at what age, different kinds of humor found in children's literature, passages of humorous tone in…

Noting that parent involvement in student schoolwork ranks high as a cause of academic success for most children, this book helps parents act as tutors in reading and writing for their first- and second-grade children. It offers both general guidelines and specific strategies and activities to use for accomplishing specific objectives, such as…