Reviews five sets of thematically related books with the intent of helping instructors make connections between children's literature and real living. Investigates five areas, all broadly speaking to the issue of "security": (1) unsettling experiences; (2) nature study; (3) overcoming evil; (4) exploring adolescent angst; (5) journeying for…

Presents feedback from 14 teenagers in response to the Young Adult Library Services's 1995 Best Books for Young Adults list. Offers recommendations for librarians who create book lists: respect teens and their books; beware the influence of reviews and an author's momentum; make two lists; use real criteria for selection; and listen to them. (JMV)

Discusses William Beatty Warner's "Reading Clarissa: The Struggles of Interpretation," a study of Samuel Richardson's role as eighteenth-century critic and interpreter of his own novels. Examines the treatment of character by both Richardson and Warner, focusing on Richardson's humanist interpretation and Warner's anti-humanist…

Reviews the growing body of work that examines reading as a process occurring within a social context and having social consequences. Three categories within this literature are examined: studies of literacy and its sociocultural role; the history of the book; and the meaning of reading as an activity. Notes and a bibliography is appended. (15…