Academic inquiry has focused recently on how to create caring classrooms and school communities--that is, classrooms and school communities that encourage children to continue to develop caring feelings, thoughts, and behaviors, or to feel, think, and practice them anew. After reviewing research on caring and attachment, this article discusses how…

Book challenges have become more and more frequent in recent years. In particular, those books that address issues most relevant to preteens and teenagers seem to be the object of many challenges. Many of the hundreds of challenged works represent literary classics and high-quality writing for young audiences. Teachers, administrators and other…

A family reading night is the ideal way to introduce the library media center and actively involve parents in their child's reading success. This event is an opportunity to explain how a reading program works and provide parents with strategies to encourage further reading at home. Parents can sit down with their children and read in the library,…

Native American and other cultural stories provide students with a broader perspective on the world. In addition, cultural stories connect science content and knowledge about the world to cultural interpretations and people's life ways. By implementing the ideas suggested in this article, you can select books that both enrich your science library…

In his book "To Be a Boy, To Be a Reader: Engaging Teen and Preteen Boys in Active Literacy," William Brozo suggested that many adolescent boys have become mentally and academically detached from school. While Brozo acknowledges that a solution to these problems is multifaceted, he asserts that engaging boys in literature that makes use of…

The rapid multiplication of public libraries and the wide distribution of cheap editions, have rendered books upon all subjects and of every degree of merit and demerit so readily accessible, that it has become necessary not only to teach children how to read, but also to give them such instruction as will enable them to decide wisely what to…

The items listed and annotated in this bibliography on intellectual freedom are limited to materials published between 1966 and 1971 in both books and periodicals. As used in this bibliography, intellectual freedom refers to the free access to and acquisition of all materials in whatever subject area and form, and the distribution of those…

Books should be selected on the basis of literary merit, not as a vehicle for instruction, since we don't know the psychological effects of specific works. (DD)

Examines the readability and educational levels of 25 periodicals, classified as newspaper format, neutral, minority, male, and female magazines. Indicates that periodicals have similar readability levels but significantly different reader education levels.

Components of a checklist for evaluating books for gifted children include critical and developmental skills (vocabulary, critical reading skills, story content); creativity (opportunity for imagination, potential for creative follow-up); comprehension; and application (role models, interest, and relevance). (CL)

Special education students (11-14 years old) with poor reading skills make significant gains in handwriting, language, and reading when nontraditional materials, such as the newspaper and the daily lunch menu, were used. (CL)

When children are taught to read, the sources used are usually fictional narratives; writing follows in the same genre with children learning how to write personal narrative. Narrative has been such a part of the tradition in primary grades that even the information books that are available for the young are often written in a narrative structure.…

Books for children with specific learning disabilities should be chosen on the basis of typeface, appearance, subject matter, literary merit, length, and illustrations. A list of 42 books chosen with these characteristics in mind is presented. (5 references) (Author/SJ)

Most novels are trash. Most books are trash. But there is a delight in trash heaps, which were once a great source of pleasure to small-town America and are disappearing as refuse collection and treatment become more and more sophisticated. (Author)

The forty-two titles selected by the editors of School Library Journal" are the best among over 2,100 new children's books reviewed since last January. Also included are 25 top notch Young Adult titles. (67 references) (MM)