In the spring of 2005, the author created a short, online questionnaire to capture data about middle schoolers and book covers, and after several pilot studies she posted it to SurveyMonkey.com. The study includes the fiction books for middle school from the 2005 Quick Picks list. Over the course of a week, participants reported to the school…

In this article, Elizabeth Birr Moje, Melanie Overby, Nicole Tysvaer, and Karen Morris challenge some of the prevailing myths about adolescents and their choices related to reading. The reading practices of youth from one urban community are examined using mixed methods in an effort to define what, how often, and why adolescents choose to read. By…

According to the 2004 National Assessment of Educational Progress, males who have made it through 12 years of school have significantly poorer reading skills than their female peers. In every age group, boys have been scoring lower than girls annually for more than three decades on U.S. Department of Education reading tests. The longer boys are in…

This book presents an informal history of books and reading, beginning with the first clay tablets and continuing on to the latest novels. The history recounted in the book reveals the power books have always had to delight and entertain, and to enlighten, educate, and "raise possibilities." But the story of reading also contains many…

While English teachers want students to enjoy reading, to appreciate the beauty of literature, and to recognize the universality of the classics, many adolescent students do not become interested in the aesthetic aspect of literature until they are beyond high school age. Some works, outside the traditional literary canon, speak more directly to…

Designed to provide teachers in early childhood education and other interested educators with criteria for evaluating the quality of plot, characterization, and style in picture story books, this instrument uses a set of eight criteria for evaluating these literary elements. Each criterion is followed by statements that illustrate different ways…

Contains a selected, annotated bibliography of resources on adolescent literature useful to English and reading teachers. (RB)

Dialectically different students can more easily be taught expository writing and reading skills if the teacher approaches the students' language and culture with a positive attitude, makes use of the students' cultural experiences, and selects reading materials with which students can relate to. (EH)

Based on the principle that children learn a great deal from other children, this booklet suggests ways to use the potential of the peer group to help other pupils become better readers. The first section, "Children as Natural Teachers," presents the advantages of using peer tutoring, the eight important components of a successful peer…

Noting that research indicating Newbery Medal books are not popular with elementary students in spite of their unquestioned superiority in plot, characterization, and style, a study examined the readability level of Newbery Medal winners from 1974 to 1986. Three readability formulas were used to assess readability: Gunning's Fog Index, Fry…

To explore in-service elementary teachers' selection of children's literature and the factors influencing that selection, a study surveyed 55 public and independent elementary teachers (K-7) from urban, suburban, and rural settings in Massachusetts, Oregon, and Wisconsin about their recent experiences in selecting children's books for use in their…

Intended for educators, librarians, and storytellers, this bibliography provides access to myriad materials on the relationship between folk literature and children. Extending from 1693 through 1979, the bibliography is confined to materials dealing with children and folk literature; materials on storytelling techniques or the nonliterary elements…

A brief description of the activities of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in the area of science for children, followed by a discussion of the criteria used in reviewing children's books in "Science Books." (LS)