The act of reading a well-written book to students is one of the easiest writing lessons a library media specialist can give. When kids hear new or unusual words and descriptive, poignant phrases, it increases their own experimentation with writing. Using good literature to develop good writers just makes sense. There are a plethora of avenues and…

Using literature in science instruction has the potential to increase student motivation and to improve student achievement in both literacy and science. The process of identifying high-quality picture books, however, can be challenging and time consuming for teachers. The authors identified 74 science-based picture books from the annual Teachers'…

Neither a bibliography nor a history of genres through historical sequences of listings by author, this book is a guide for those who help readers identify genre authors and titles of desired types in both libraries and bookstores. A secondary purpose of the book is as a text for library school students, aimed at familiarizing them with the common…

A questionnaire was distributed to 81 sixth-grade students in an effort to find out the reasons why they chose one book over other books. The 2-item questionnaire was also used to compare reasons given by male and female students to see if there were differences in their responses. Subjects were from 4 classrooms chosen at random from 7 classrooms…

This paper reports on the reading habits of a group of students who moved from GCSE French to A Level French in the British school system; they were the second intake of A Level students with a GCSE background. Data was gathered using questionnaires and group interviews at three points during the students learning. Eleven students participated in…

Written for teachers of adult literacy students and administrators of literacy programs, this book discusses a multitude of ways to use books appropriate for adult new readers. The book's first six chapters provide annotated lists of 639 books suitable for new readers, including titles, authors, dates, publishers, and suggested reading levels.…

Numerous concepts in the teaching of reading have been emphasized since the middle of the 20th century. Four such concepts are the Initial Teaching Alphabet (ITA), traditional linguistic procedures, rebus, and programmed reading. Each has advantages and serious disadvantages. ITA stressed a rather consistent sound/symbol relationship, but pupils…

A picture book is defined as a book in which the illustrations are as important as the text or written story. Picture books published today seem appropriate and exciting for anyone from 1 to 100 years old. Among the many kinds of picture books are Mother Goose books; toy books (board books, pop-up books, concept books, flap books, cloth books, and…

Intended to make the job of finding the right book for the right child easy, this book lists the "Children's Choices" selections (recent books recommended and voted on by children themselves) for 1992, 1993, and 1994. Each of the over 300 entries (about 100 for each calendar year) is annotated and includes publication information.…

It is important for parents to teach their children to associate learning with sweetness, enjoyment, and pleasure. Suggestions to help parents make reading to their children a special time are: (1) make reading a "snuggle time"; (2) visit the library once a week; (3) develop a regular reading time with children; (4) select appropriate…

This resource book is intended to help parents identify good books for their children by offering a list of the best contemporary Australian books for children and by explaining ways to recognize what qualities to look for in new and unfamiliar books. The first section of the book answers some common questions about why books and reading aloud are…

This publication lists 91 trade books that a group of adult literacy professionals have read and recommended for use in adult literacy programs. An introductory section explains the process used to decide upon recommended books, provides a key for the symbols that describe each book, and makes some general suggestions for the ways books from the…

Noting that whole language proponents suggest integration of two or more subject areas around a common theme using literature, this paper presents annotations of 31 items from the ERIC database on thematic units of study. Annotations in the paper are organized into six sections--overview, elementary examples, research, secondary examples, special…

Working from case studies of teachers and from the actual language used by teachers and students, this book provides a rationale for and a description of a response-centered approach to the teaching of literature in the secondary school. Embedded throughout the book are student activities. Each chapter gives suggested readings of related articles…

This study investigated whether the choice of literature read aloud by the teacher affected childrens' choices of books in their free reading. Subjects, 13 third grade students, freely selected library books before the study, and then were asked to make choices each week during the 11 weeks of the study in order to determine if the genre being…