Though the diversity of farm women's contributions was recognized by novelists such as Cather, Aldrich, and Sandoz in the 1800s, it would be many decades later before the work efforts of farm women would be formally recognized by the government and agricultural researchers. The West used a masculine environment, and farm animals and females where…

Observing that basal readers and standardized testing lead teachers to focus on facts when dealing with novels or poetry in class, this monograph discusses research on response to literature. The monograph also presents classroom activities designed to allow students to explore the forms, the language, and the imagery of fiction, poetry, and…

The use of science fiction in the classroom to clarify environmental or ecological values is discussed in this article. Science fiction was chosen due to its universal appeal and application. Students read and analyzed a story and were then required to take a position and to defend it. (MA)

Science fiction provides three major areas for providing an innovative technique for teaching social sciences: 1) concern with the future; 2) flexibility in dealing with ideas: and 3) interest and readability. A selected bibliography provides resources which correspond to topical concerns of social studies. (Author/JR)

This study examined young children's spontaneous participation during classroom book reading in response to different types of books. Twenty kindergarten teachers read four books--two fiction (familiar/unfamiliar story format) and two information books (expository/narrative text). The majority of children's spontaneous participation was related to…

The author advocates the use of American Indian fiction to teach ethnic and sociological concepts. Criteria for analyzing and rating the cultural and sociological worth of the novels are provided. (DE)

One of a series of children's books written from the point of view of an elementary grade child with a disability or other problem, the stories emphasize similarities in childhood experience while providing information specific to the disability. In this book, 11-year-old Renaldo, visually impaired since birth, sets up a greeting card service for…

An argument can be made for an expansion in the creative writing curriculum to cover all genres. The essential principles of writing in all genres, poetry, fiction, drama, TV, and film can be taught, with the positive effect of saving a serious writing student years of stumbling in the dark. A responsible creative writing course of the present and…

The annotated guide lists information sources available from the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped in print, disc, cassette, and braille formats concerning swimming and diving with special reference to blind swimmers. The guide begins with a brief sketch of a champion swimmer who is also legally blind and an…

Literary sociology is a multifaceted process of analyzing texts. It moves beyond traditional literary criticism to incorporate such varied approaches as: appreciating literary schemata; textual analysis; seeking form, sound, and content regularities; examining the lasting values of the work; and contemplating the reader's own authentic life-world…

With the rise in popularity of teen romantic fiction, many teachers wonder about the nature of such books and whether they should be used in the reading program. Most of the teen romantic fiction is written to a well-defined formula, based on guidelines from the publishers and on high-interest low-vocabulary literature. Characteristics with the…

Intended for use by librarians, teachers, parents, and community workers as a guide to good children's literature, this annotated bibliography contains more than 1,000 entries. Each entry provides author and title, publisher, date of publication, price, International Standard Book Number (ISBN), and appropriate age levels. The entries are arranged…

In order to determine when children distinguish the real from the fictional in television programing, 170 adults and 157 children from 2nd, 4th, and 6th grades were shown 40 "bits" of television, each 5 seconds in length and representative of a wide range of program types. Subjects were asked to classify as real or make-believe 18 "factual" bits,…

This circular provides information about reading materials in large type, i.e., materials set in type that is a minimum size of 14-point and, most commonly, 16- to 18-point size. Most of the materials listed are typeset, but a few are photographically enlarged conventionally printed books or typewritten materials prepared using a large-print…

Intended for junior or senior high school English teachers, articles and features in this journal issue focus on young adult literature and the adolescent audience. The first article, Kevin Major's "The Truth about My Fictitious Friends," describes the genesis of the author's fiction writing for the Newfoundland audience, and is followed…