Twenty-eight mothers and their preschool children with developmental delays were observed during a storybook activity. The more responsive and engaged the child, the more the mother attempted to involve the child in the book activity. Mothers generally appeared to be sensitive to their children's developmental levels. (Author/DB)

Examined the effects of infant age on parent-infant interactions during picture-book reading. Subjects were 3 groups of parent-infant dyads with infants aged 9, 17, and 27 months. Found that parents reading to younger infants used more attention-recruiting verbalizations and more elaborations, compared with parents reading to older infants, who…

Demonstrates the benefits of intergenerational reading to children, seniors, parents, and libraries, and surveys library programs in Arizona, California, and New Mexico that mix generations with books and reading. The programs described vary from scheduled to spontaneous. (EAM)

Science fiction is a good teaching tool for elementary students because it stimulates the imagination and prepares children for the idea that the world will be different when they grow up. The article presents a science fiction unit, recommending books and activities about aliens, the future, and time travel. (SM)

The article reviews elementary level books that help students deal with life's unpleasant moments. Stories focus on self-centeredness, making excuses, first day of school, bossiness, cultural differences, adjusting to seventh grade, completing assignments, and being different. Teaching tips for presenting the stories to the class are included. (SM)

Examines effectiveness of project designed to increase inner-city children's opportunities to interact with storybooks in their classrooms and at home. Finds that 75% of children interacted with storybooks at a higher level of emergent reading at the end of the project, and 10 of the 28 children attempted to track print at postassessment, whereas…

This study, involving 16 intermediate-grade children with mild mental retardation, 29 children with learning disabilities, and 37 children without disabilities, found that all groups recalled cohesive story versions better than noncohesive versions. Statements in the stories' causal chain were better recalled than statements not in the causal…

Studies the relationship between the components of dialog style and children's story comprehension. Measures children's ability to accurately retell a story when various components of dialog were manipulated. Shows that the use of questioning during initial storytelling greatly aids the recall of stories. (DSK)

This study developed an intervention that used social stories in a computer-based format with three elementary-aged boys with autism. Results indicated the multimedia intervention was effective in reducing behavioral and social problems in the boys. (Author/DB)

Discusses the difficulty children with learning disabilities have in making friends and describes a strategy for incorporating children's literature into teaching friendship skills. A practice lesson that used this strategy with five elementary children with disabilities is described and found to be effective in promoting friendship skills. (CR)

Examines longitudinally how mothers structure shared book reading interactions with their children across the preschool period. Addresses consistency of individual maternal styles over time and comparability of storybook reading styles across familiar and unfamiliar stories. Finds three maternal stylistic groups: Describers, Comprehenders, and…

Examined the effects on reasoning performance of incorporating cultural factors into task material presentation and context. Low income African American students listened to stories under high movement expression (HME) or low movement expression (LME) conditions. Story content contained either high or low movement themes (HMT/LMT). Children…

This study investigated the effects of teaching mothers of low socioeconomic status (SES) to use decontextualized language during storybook reading with their preschool-age children. A multiple baseline design across behaviors and participants evaluated the effects of the intervention for five dyads. Mothers' and children's use of decontextualized…

Purpose: The extant literature suggests that exposure to novel vocabulary words through repeated readings of storybooks influences children's word learning, and that adult elaboration of words in context can accelerate vocabulary growth. This study examined the influence of small-group storybook reading sessions on the acquisition of vocabulary…

The early years are a time of joy and a period of great learning for young children. They are beginning to interact with print and experience the delights of being read to. This article presents the experiences of a kindergarten teacher during her class' independent reading time. Aside from just plain fun, children can acquire a wide range of…