Children's lives are infused with stories at home, at school or the library, and in the media. This article discusses how to harness the power of literature and use it to develop positive character traits in young children. Storytelling is a fundamental way in which human beings process and share events as well as the feelings surrounding those…

A counterbalanced, within-subjects design was carried out to study the efficacy of electronic books in fostering kindergarten children's emergent story understanding. The study compared effects of children's independent reading of stories electronically with effects of printed books read aloud by adults. Participants were 18 four- to five-year-old…

The purpose of this study was to determine how storytelling and story reading influence the language development and story comprehension of young children from 3 to 5 years of age. During the study, two groups of children heard the same 24 stories. Group A heard the stories told and Group B heard the stories read from a book. The language pre- and…

This study examined the effect on pre-adolescent children's attitudes to bullying of one group-based variable (group status) and two situational variables (rule legitimacy and rule consistency). Pre-adolescent boys (n = 229) read a story about a group of boys who had high or low (handball) status. The legitimacy (high versus low) of the rules…

In this article, the author discusses how he incorporates children's literature into the exploration and investigation of various math topics. After doing some activities, he has found that integrating different mathematical topics after discussing books can help children make the connection to mathematics in their daily lives.

This article presents results from 2 studies comparing 3 approaches to teaching vocabulary during storybook reading: (a) contextual instruction, based on connecting words to their use in books and to children's personal experience; (b) analytical instruction, which enhances contextual instruction with semantic analysis of words in contexts other…

In the present study, the authors investigated age differences in children's understanding (a) that a person's behavior may contribute to the formation of a shared opinion within the peer group and (b) that origins of a reputation can be direct or indirect. The authors read stories in which a target character engaged in either prosocial or…

"Dialogic Reading" is an interactive shared picture book reading practice designed to enhance young children's language and literacy skills. During the shared reading practice, the adult and the child switch roles so that the child learns to become the storyteller with the assistance of the adult, who functions as an active listener and…

The objectives of this "reading club" manual are to encourage reading; to provide a handbook for library staff and volunteers to use as a whole or in parts to complete their reading programs; and to aid librarians in helping participants in the reading club experience a feeling of accomplishment by providing ideas that are fun for…

These parent workshop materials are designed to clarify fundamental issues and relationships pertaining to parents and literacy development in children. The workshop structure provides an opportunity for parents of preschoolers to contribute to growth in conversation and to help in the development of literacy skills. Arranged into five sessions,…

In continuation courses for teachers, discussion of a picture course was found valuable, providing: nearness to actual teaching practice, expansion and solidifying of a topical vocabulary, possibility of guiding conversation, a favorable climate for conversation, and little financial (and technological) outlay. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

For the purpose of examining the relationship between preschool children's level of literacy development and the contextualization of story content to the children's world knowledge, a study was conducted investigating how parents of high and low print aware children contextualize stories for them in terms of their prior knowledge. The study…

A study was conducted to determine whether the interests of seventh grade students were reflected in the content of the basal stories used in the classroom. Subjects were 48 seventh graders enrolled in developmental reading in an upper middle-class socioeconomic region of New Jersey. On a questionnaire, students were asked to select from a list of…

This article describes a 10-step process for bookwebbing, a method of using a storybook for instruction in a variety of curriculum areas. The process, which is recommended to be used in cooperation with another teacher, is as follows: (1) choose a book which can apply to many curriculum areas; (2) read the whole book; (3) read it again in two or…

The booklet tells the story of Josephine, a little Choctaw girl, who picks wild flowers and hurts her Aunt's feelings. Josephine later learns from her grandmother the importance of respecting nature and how the flowers came to be. The story introduces constellations, how weaving came to the Choctaw, how the sick were prayed for, and why wild…