Presents the perspectives on books and reading of two middle school boys, both reluctant readers who were passionate about reading self-selected materials outside of school. Argues that the perspectives of these renegade readers can inform educators who want to improve students' engagement with reading. (SR)

Offers brief descriptions of 32 children's books (or book series) in Spanish that introduce children to numerous countries around the world. Notes a web site address listing high-quality books in Spanish for children and adolescents. (SR)

Reviews research on the development of attitudes toward reading to investigate the idea that as children get older, their interest in reading declines. Highlights include research methodology; attitudes toward recreational reading; reading at home; reading autobiographies; and the need to provide interesting books to children. (LRW)

Describes how an English department and a school district responded to a parental challenge to the use of James Dickey's novel "Deliverance" in a senior English class. Offers a 2-month chronology of events, beginning with a letter of complaint to the principal, continuing through responses, meetings, media coverage, and the meeting and…

Presents the perspectives of five experienced high school English teachers on how the threat of censorship influences their selection of literary works and their teaching methods. Claims teachers need strong support from administrators and professional organizations in order to present a culturally diverse literature curriculum. (NH)

Presents annotations of 30 children's books published in 2000, vivid in language and diverse in genre, content, and style, selected as notable for their potential to enhance language awareness for children in grades K-8. (SG)

Uses students as primary informants about what motivates them to read in their middle school classrooms. Finds students valued independent reading and the teacher reading aloud; and they emphasized quality and diversity of reading materials rather than classroom setting or other people. Considers the access to reading materials in the classroom…

In an effort to make reading more visible and find out what goes on in the minds of adolescent readers, the author led a group of seventh-grade students in creating Symbolic Reading Inventories. The students created "snapshot" scenes from the books they were reading and placed themselves, as readers, in or around the picture. Reading is a complex…

This column focuses on reading engagement by first discussing the concept then suggesting ways that teacher-librarians can lead initiatives in their schools towards this goal. While the concepts: (1) reading engagement; (2) motivation to read; and (3) interest and voluntary reading are interconnected, it is important to understand their…

The idea of literature circles is not new; however, it is hardly adapted in a second language classroom. In Taiwan, using literature circles to teach a second/foreign language is even less seen. The two college teachers-researchers reported their experiences of trying out literature circles in a JFL (Japanese as a Foreign Language) and an EFL…

The authors report the results of a study in which they sought to determine the effect of the race of a book's primary characters on the reading motivation of 3rd-grade students in Mississippi. Students (N = 35) from 2 3rd-grade classrooms chose books with covers that depicted main characters who were either Black or White. The authors sought to…

Common reading programs are becoming a ubiquitous component of first-year experience initiatives. Sometimes controversial, these programs are designed to provide students an introduction to the intellectual expectations of college in an often-informal gathering of college faculty and peers. Yet, truly dynamic and successful programs move beyond…

Language arts teachers and library media specialists bear the responsibility of teaching students how to properly feed their brains. In this article, the author describes how she teaches her students to make wise choices when selecting books. Furthermore, she presents the "Brain Food Pyramid" model that looks similar to the food pyramid but it…

This paper addresses the issue of diversity and tolerance in the classroom by using multicultural children's literature with a thematic approach. With a review of the related studies on the topic, it points out that the understanding, respect and appreciation of various cultures are imperative for us to live peacefully as global citizens, and the…

When the authors realized that successful book selection is not a natural skill for all learners, they developed a tool to support self-selection of independent reading material without book leveling. This tool is called BOOKMATCH, and it supports readers for whom book selection is "complicated." BOOKMATCH is an acronym in which each letter…