Outlines specific criteria for selecting intermediate literature that portrays characters with disabilities. Includes criteria such as plot, character development, and tone. Provides an annotated list of 46 novels published between 1990 and 1999 that feature such characters. Concludes that educators may be able to use this genre as a means to…

Children's literature often portrays characters with disabilities. These books may be used to promote awareness, understanding, and acceptance of those with disabilities. We provide guidelines for selecting high-quality literature and ideas for using characterizations of learning disabilities to teach students about themselves and others. Two…

Corrigan remembers well the angst and conflict of adolescence, as well as how important the right book at the right time could be in helping kids understand themselves and others. That ability to identify closely with teens permeates her story in verse, "Splintering," several verses of which are included here.

What are adolescents choosing to read? This is an important question because of potential divergence between school students' reading interests and reading expectations in school. This article considers the findings from a study of the reading over one week in May 2002 of 707 school students aged between 11 and 15, undertaken in 30 schools in the…

Just 10 years ago the Academy of American Poets initiated the observance of National Poetry Month to celebrate poetry and its place in American culture. Since then, the movement has continued to gain momentum with the emergence of Young People's Poetry Week in 1999, a focus on poetry slams as the centerpiece for Teen Read Week in 2003, and the…

The "Little Books" are a set of books designed for interactive book reading between parents and children or teachers and students. The books use thematic topics familiar to children. They are written with high-frequency words and use simple phrases and sentences. They also have strong links between illustrations and text. One study of…

Over the past decade in the United States, levelled texts, or "little books" with finely graduated levelling of text difficulty, have regained their status as a literacy staple for beginning readers. Despite their resurgence, questions remain regarding the reliability and quality of these books. In this study, we conducted a detailed…

In this article, the author recommends a certain criteria for selecting Spanish-language books for elementary students such as cultural factors, setting, time, age, language and visuals. She also enumerates some authors and a listing of their many bilingual texts, which can be used to enrich a school or classroom library.

U.S. Department of Education Secretary Spellings admonished PBS for having produced an episode of "Postcards from Buster" because it included children with lesbian parents. A college professor describes how this incident and children's literature was a learning opportunity for future teachers.

In this article, we report on grade-one children's preferences for narrative and/or information books, and their perceptions of what boys and girls like to read. Data include responses on two book preference tasks by 40 children in four schools. Children chose books and explained the reasons for their choices. One task was a closed, force-choice…

While strongly endorsing a multi-pronged approach to vocabulary instruction, Moen takes pains to include and even emphasize work with English Language Learners. By adhering to the principles of A.C.T. (Access to texts, individual Choice of reading material, and Time to read), Moen finds myriad ways to make learning words a creative and social…

This paper argues that the essential task of English Teachers, since the debut of the National Curriculum English, is not to make qualitative distinctions between literary and media texts nor to place them on some form of hierarchical scale. Media reading should be on equal footing with written literature reading; both involve active engagement…

Compiled by Bob Keeshan, TV's "Captain Kangaroo," this book is a reference guide for books appropriate for children through age eight. Books are organized alphabetically, according to children's age group, and include Bob Keeshan's comments as well as author, publisher, publishing date, and price. Each entry also lists values the book teaches,…

Arguing that children's books play a significant part in transmitting a society's culture to children, this Digest discusses how gender roles are portrayed in children's books. It begins by discussing how the genders are portrayed in children's literature, and then addresses the question of why gender-representation in children's literature is…

The Teachers as Readers (TAR) Project is a national program which helps teachers encourage children to become lifelong readers. TAR began as a pilot program in the state of Virginia in Spring 1992 as the Reading Initiative sponsored by the American Association of Publishers and the Virginia State Reading Association. The first TAR Project in…