Reading books aloud to students can motivate them to read themselves, but teachers and librarians need to learn new skills to read aloud effectively. Selecting an appropriate book, reading with expression, creating an atmosphere, and using the right questioning techniques to start a discussion all have an impact on successful reading aloud. (LAE)

Three librarians--Barbara A. Genco from Brooklyn, New York; Eleanor K. MacDonald from Beverly Hills, California; and Betsy Hearne from Chicago, Illinois--share their perspectives on where popular literature should fit into library material selection and children's reading diets. Popular literature is defined as primarily that which has first…

Although often ignored by teachers and librarians, nonfiction books can make children want to read. Teachers can create effective assignments by moving beyond textbooks to use trade nonfiction that interests students. With fiction, nonfiction makes a total literature connection that introduces, reinforces, and reviews reading skills. (SLD)

Generates questions which invite the reader to consider the people, places, and activities in their own classrooms that turn kids on or off to books. Provides some ideas and impressions from observations and conversations with children. Offers a nine-item annotated bibliography for teachers interested in reading further about this topic. (MG)

Asserts that, even with the expansion of new electronic media and educational technology, books still represent the widest range of possibilities for providing multiple perspectives on the human experience. Provides a list of 20 books reviewed and recommended in the article. (CFR)

Asserts that oral history and children's literature are effective strategies for making history relevant to elementary students. Includes a figure illustrating the webbing approach and 37 recommended children's books. (CFR)

Explains the educational value of picture books, what constitutes a picture book, what to look for in picture books, and how to select them for the classroom or school library. Gives advice on how small rural school libraries can get more books. Appendices describe 38 selection aids for children's literature and 10 children's book awards.…

Discusses six books (published in 1997 or 1998) for educators that deal with teaching young adolescents and teaching with literature. (SR)

Offers suggestions for helping students find enjoyable leisure reading books. Highlights include identifying subject matter, characterization, setting, or pace similar to previously enjoyed books; tools of young adult readers' advisory, including annual lists, bibliographies, and catalogs; peer reviews and recommendations; review newsletters; and…

Describes how the author's eighth-grade students went on a yearlong search to find the literature of the twenty-first century. Describes how the students read widely, chose their own books, evaluated them according to topic questions loosely based on the theme of breaking stereotypes, kept and shared journals, and carried out projects of their…

Presents an annotated bibliography of trade books selected by the National Council for the Social Studies and the Children's Book Council primarily for grades K-8 that emphasize human relations, diversity, sensitivity to cultural experiences, originality, high literary quality, and a pleasing format. Indicates the thematic strands of social…

Discusses the results of a survey of young adult librarians that investigated how their needs are being met by publishers. Highlights include budgets; nonfiction expenditures; marketing; factors that influence patrons' book selections; jacket art; adults reading young adult books; underserved populations; the need for more paperbacks; and Internet…

This paper explores reading for pleasure, its importance, and its impact on literacy attainment and other outcomes and reviews much of the research on the importance of reading for pleasure. A debate has been rife in the UK over the past few years as to how best to teach children to read, which culminated in an "Independent Review of the…

Designed for use by junior high and middle school students, this annotated bibliography of over 1,100 titles of fiction and nonfiction also serves as a resource for teachers, librarians, and parents in search of titles that might catch the attention of such students. The bibliography presents annotations of books published or reissued in 1993 and…

Representing current thinking about a wide range of issues related to reading motivation, this book offers a look at how to create classroom cultures that foster in students the love of reading. The book is about teachers and the critical role they play in helping children develop into motivated, active, engaged readers who read both for pleasure…