One of the most important policy documents for a school library media center is the selection policy or the collection development policy. A well-developed selection policy provides a rationale for the selection decisions made by the school library media specialist. A selection policy represents the criteria against which a challenged book is…

Professors have long assigned to their students works of which they were the author. The practice ranges from assigning commercially published textbooks they have written to having students buy a volume they have written and published or course packs made up of their own materials they have photocopied. Not only individual professors, but also…

Struggling readers exist in every school. As long as there are readers, there will be students who struggle and find reading a challenge. Helping struggling readers to read, comprehend, and enjoy print should be an essential task for library media specialists and teachers in all subjects since reading involves such a wide variety of materials:…

This article describes how a great choice of books could help children develop a life-long love of reading. Every teacher wants to boost a baby's chances in later success. The single most powerful tool a teacher has for awakening a deep love of books and learning is to read to children daily. Reading should become a loved, intimate activity filled…

The ability to read is vital. It paves the way to success in school, which can build self-confidence. It is power, key to personal growth. Through reading, we generate learning power that helps us know ourselves better and others as well. It also helps us understand past, present and future more clearly. So it is necessary for the teachers to find…

Adolescents seek to understand who they are and where they belong in the world. Quality young adult literature can familiarize them with a broader view of the world, open doors in their minds, and reveal similarities and differences among a multitude of others who have struggled with similar issues. Literature that provides a range of perspectives…

In this article, the author offers suggestions on what teachers can do to build and protect their students' confidence in their reading abilities. These suggestions include: (1) Create accepting classroom environments; (2) Use authentic assessments; (3) Choose interesting, appropriate texts; and (4) Use supportive reading strategies.

No classroom teacher needs convincing of the benefits of using children's picture books in his or her math program. As Marilyn Burns, the creator and founder of Math Solutions Professional Development, and the author of "The Greedy Triangle" (Scholastic, 1996), says, "Evidence shows that teaching math through children's books motivates children to…

The purpose of writing is to communicate with an audience. Teachers need to move heaven and earth to be sure that every child knows what it is to become a published author. Criteria for selecting a piece is important. In this article, the author explores why the criteria that children use for selecting poetry to share with an audience differ from…

Noting that few syntheses of research on children's literature exist, this annotated bibliography guides teachers, researchers, and librarians who are searching for research on a particular topic, strategies for using literature in schools, or children's books on a particular topic. Section I of the book focuses on children's literature research…

Whether teachers are horror fans or not, part of a teacher's service to student readers is to recommend recent and good horror novels. Unlike the almost idiosyncratic horror market of years past, today a series of recognizable horror writer such as Christopher Pike, D. E. Atkins, R. L. Stine and others are turning out numerous titles specifically…

Arguing that schools need to prepare all children to become competent citizens and to create an environment that fosters mutual understanding, this Digest discusses multicultural children's literature in the elementary classroom. It discusses the importance of multicultural children's literature and presents guidelines for selecting multicultural…

A study identified a list of trade books that educators selected for use in their own classrooms and a list of factors that they considered to be the most important when selecting those books. Subjects, 486 educators who taught in grades 4, 5, or 6 in 45 public school districts and 15 private schools in southeastern Pennsylvania, identified two…

A study examined teachers' opinions as to what makes children's magazines good as well as which magazines they are currently using in their classrooms and in what ways magazines are being used. Subjects, 10 (of 19) experienced third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade teachers at P.S. 106 in the Bronx, New York City, responded to a questionnaire concerning…

The checklist described here was developed for use by secondary school foreign language teachers as an aid in choosing appropriate literature for the program. It is designed primarily for prose literature and contains the following categories: objectives, reading level, interest, controversy, text, time available, and cultural content. Each of…