Challenging educators and students to look at both the importance of secondary reading and the vital differences between secondary level and elementary level reading demands, strategies, competencies, and attitudes, the papers in this monograph indicate the broad range of theoretical issues in secondary reading that must be examined as a prelude…

A survey was conducted to determine how much and under what conditions students read voluntarily. Subjects, 844 secondary students, completed a questionnaire that was then analyzed using the Crosstabulation Subprogram of "Statistical Package for the Social Sciences" to correlate results with students' sex, grade level, scholastic…

A study investigated the reading preferences of senior level special education majors, noting which professional journals students chose most frequently for article summaries completed for a senior level curriculum and methods course. The summaries were collected over the course of 19 semesters, from fall 1973, through spring 1982. One hundred and…

This survey drew on a variety of national surveys and book industry publication and sales statistics to examine the number and kinds of people reading fiction, poetry, and drama. The survey used data from three different national surveys of readers conducted in the mid-1980s and including over 30,000 subjects to conclude that while literature…

As part of the Center for the Book's Viewpoint Series, this booklet considers the impact of books on history and civilization and their influence on personal life as well. Beginning with a preface by John Y. Cole, Executive Director of the Center for the Book, the booklet discusses writer Robert B. Down's favorite childhood books and his interest…

Intended to help communities raise funds for Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) projects, this booklet lists ideas and examples, many volunteered and tested by RIF projects themselves. The first of the booklet's four sections offers suggestions for preparing for a fundraising effort. The next two sections contain ideas on the main avenues of…

Since the concepts of surveillance (international information and keeping up with the job that the government is doing), diversion (being entertained and killing time), and interaction (people learning more about themselves) have been developed for newspaper and television but not necessarily for magazines, a study applied 14…

Article probed teaching methods for use in converting non-readers to readers in elementary schools. (Author/RK)

This paper suggests that reading offers a partial solution to the adaptation problems that older adults must face. Reading materials provide a means of disseminating information among older adults, and offer a source for consumer services information and basic education in living for those adjusting to retirement or old age. In addition, reading…

Specialists in the field of children's literature, who publish research and decide on awards for individual books, should give serious study to what children themselves choose to read. Among the children's books that were not originally awarded top honors by critics but that have proved extremely popular with children are the Oz books by L. Frank…

In order to study whether sex as a reading-interest determinant has lessened as the women's movement has strengthened, the reading interests of 161 first-grade and second-grade girls and boys were studied by conducting one-to-one interviews with the children in Glen Cove, New York, in the spring of 1976. Answers were tabulated in seven categories.…

Preschool reading behavior did not arise necessarily or spontaneously in an open classroom where a set of books was continually available. Because the open classroom acquires new properties and meanings when contrasted with the traditional school, complex factors influencing behavior, such as novelty and modeling, must be examined. (BJG)

Part of a series: "National Library Week, April 20-26.