Reports on a survey of the leisure reading of 700 teenagers in rural North Carolina which collected data on reading for pleasure, types of materials selected, favorite authors and books, differences in interests of boys and girls, reasons for reading, and how respondents find out about books. Implications for teachers and library media specialists…

A discussion of the benefits and reasons for incorporating literature instruction into beginning and intermediary, as well as advanced foreign language programs, presents suggested prereading, reading, questioning, and postreading activities to help students enjoy and appreciate authentic foreign literature. (CB)

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)

"Through Indian Eyes: The Native Experience in Books for Children" presents essays, stories, and poetry reflecting modern Indian life from a Native American perspective, and includes 84 reviews of children's books about Native Americans and guidelines for choosing literature that accurately portrays Native Americans. (LP)

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)

Presents an overview of the components of content-area reading instruction (word identification, vocabulary, and comprehension) and describes instructional strategies that can be used to teach middle and high school students with reading disabilities how to approach content-area reading. Tips for selecting textbooks are also included. (Author/CR)

Describes an intervention developed to help overcome reading apathy and motivate high school students to read. The intervention involved teaching students how to select books to read by practicing the creation of book previews in the computer lab. Evaluation of student surveys, book selections, and book reports indicated that learning to preview…

Asserts that to implement successful literature groups in which students discuss their responses to a common piece of literature they have read, a teacher must consider setting an appropriate classroom environment, choosing quality literature, forming heterogeneous groups, selecting reading schedules, teaching diverse methods of responding,…

This article focuses on recommended literature for gifted black and other minority students. The use of bibliotherapy with gifted students is described and recommendations are presented for using multicultural literature, along with guidelines for selecting high quality multicultural literature. An annotated bibliography of 10 recommended books is…

Examines the reading experiences of six African-American middle school girls. Finds that their book selection processes were different than those proposed by the professional multicultural education literature; they found affirmations, support, solutions, and decision-making skills in their reading; and that what mattered were the connections the…

Discusses six books for teachers and educators that deal with the storymaking techniques of established authors and illustrators. Addresses new developments in children's books. (SR)

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…

Presents a debate between two English teachers (in the form of a critique of a March 1997 article in this journal, a response to that critique, and a rebuttal of that response) on the classics, student choice in reading, and teaching. (SR)