Describes the collection development plan implemented by the Tulsa City-County Library system to support their perception of the role of the library as providing more than recreational reading. Topics discussed include raising staff consciousness, rejecting demand buying, evaluating the collection, streamlining acquisitions, and procedures for…

Explores adolescent use of the media for leisure and, in particular, adolescent leisure reading of books. Surveys adolescents to measure the popularity of leisure reading compared to other leisure options, with a view toward contrasting female and male leisure reading pursuits. Finds that reading is popular with adolescents and that females favor…

Finds that home literacy environment influenced leisure-time reading, and that leisure-time reading contributed to orthographic processing skill beyond the prediction provided by phonological processing skill. Finds that home literacy environment influenced orthographic processing skill indirectly by its influence on leisure-time reading. Shows…

This report delineates a three-part investigation into first graders' preferences, selection rationales, and processes when choosing a picture book to own. One-hundred ninety first graders were invited to select their favorite book from among nine high-quality, well-illustrated picture books representing a variety of topics, media, and genres. In…

A number of studies have shown that low-income and minority students undergo larger summer reading losses than their middle-class and White classmates, and that reading is the only activity that is consistently related to summer learning. The purpose of this study was to explore whether reading books during summer vacation improved fall reading…

Many studies have examined the relationship between environmental processes and literacy outcomes. However, nearly all of this research has examined biologically related family members living together, thus confounding genetic and environmental influences. The purpose of this study was to address this issue using a sample of 262 adopted children…

This article summarizes some of the recent research on boys and reading that has been primarily conducted in Australia but is also available online to international readers. The research makes it clear that many boys are still reading, but competing claims on their busy lives easily sidetrack them from making reading their main activity. Educators…

This study investigated the prospective relationships between reading performance and reading habits among Finnish children during the first and second grades of primary school. One hundred and ninety-five children were examined twice during their first primary school year and once during the spring term of Grade 2. The results showed, first, that…

The field of college developmental reading does not have a unified, agreed-upon approach to creating effective and efficient readers at the college level, as Reynolds and Werner (2003) have pointed out. For example, Keefe and Meyer (1991) assert the appropriateness of a holistic, whole-language approach for adult readers, while Bohr (2003)…

Students must be able to create meaning from career and technical education texts. Reading and comprehension of texts are skills that develop through practice with a variety of texts, including those in career and technical education. A quasi-experimental nonequivalent control group design was used to determine the effect of implementing content…

A descriptive study examined whether reading aloud to children regularly would have an effect on creating independent readers. Subjects, 269 preschool through third-grade students in Cranford, New Jersey, were given a questionnaire to be completed by the parents. Ninety-one questionnaires representing 200 children (ranging in age from 3 months to…

School administrators should realize that independent reading is an important and integral part of the language arts program, that it takes into consideration important skills and strategies, and that it requires risk-taking in a supportive environment. Principals can provide such support by working cooperatively with teachers during every phase…

This easy-to-use book addresses the needs of the teacher who has always wanted to do more with poetry in the classroom. It presents a sequence of activities that allows young children to listen to, learn, read, and write poetry--these activities have been used in dozens of classrooms and proven to be successful in a wide range of settings. Topics…

Designed to appeal to children who are entering the world of poetry for the first time, this collection combines the traditional with the contemporary. It could be used equally well at home or in the book corner of a primary classroom. The collection includes poems by such classic children's writers as A. A. Milne, Ogden Nash, Christina Rosetti,…

This collection of materials is part of the Project LEAP (Library's Educational Alternative for Preschoolers) program which, in response to the need for quality literature in child care settings, has created 100 storytime kits, 80 puppet shows, and a model 300-title child care center library. The collection of materials is in 3 parts: (1) a…