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…

Reviews 24 books for youthful readers by several authors. Stresses Gary Paulsen's idea that the richness of the "poem" which readers create as they read text is largely a product of the information that they bring to it. (PRA)

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)

Reviews "How Porcupines Make Love II," the sequel on teaching a response-centered literature curriculum. Finds it to be a lively, engaging, provocative text, one that includes workable hints for classroom practice. (MG)

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…

Through personal investigative reporting and compelling writing, H. G. Bissinger in "Friday Night Lights" (1991) explores the culture of high school football from a variety of perspectives including: students, parents, coaches, teachers, school boards, local politicians, community values regarding race, gender and education, regional…

Reviews five books: "Garbage Pizza, Patchwork Quilts and Math Magic" (Ohanian), about elementary math instruction; "Ready for What?" (Graue), on school readiness; "The Braid of Literature: Children's Worlds of Reading" (Wolf and Heath); "The Best Years of Their Lives" (Zvirin), a book of resources for teenagers; and "Teaching and Learning in the…

Explores the effects of Toni Morrison's novel, "Beloved," on readers. Explains that it maps a new direction for the African-American apocalyptic tradition because Morrison relocated the arena of racial battle from the streets to the African-American psyche where memories of the atrocities of the past have been buried. (JS)

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…

The National Center for Research on Literature Teaching and Learning's review of 45 commercial hypermedia literature applications from a response-based perspective suggests that applications currently available, though not supportive of response-based literature teaching and learning, indicate how such applications could be developed. Includes the…

Reviews five composition textbooks, assessing their attempts to integrate the reading and writing processes through literature and composition. Examines the textbooks' theoretical instantiation and notes their lack of success in achieving the reading/writing connection. (MM)

The three books reviewed in this article represent the continuous effort to make visible the significant bridge between theory and practice in the fields of literacy and children's literature. While the authors maintain distinct purposes for their creations, the texts each speak to a strong theoretical support for the practices they describe. The…

A response-based pedagogy encourages the exploration of multiple perspectives regarding literary works and student construction of defensible interpretations of the same, with the quality of students' critical and creative thinking being the focus of assessment. The National Center for Research on Literature Teaching and Learning's ongoing…

Chinese crime fiction is discussed in the context of political and social change. Chinese fiction bears little resemblance to the model police officer of Communist ideology. Crime fiction has become the main vehicle in China for forming public images of police and may become a channel for social discourse. (SLD)

This resource book contains reviews, written by children, of 375 "can't put down" children's books. Reviews were selected from over 10,000 submissions, the results of a national survey in which children reviewed their favorite books. The book makes it easy to locate books by listing: (1) title; (2) author; (3) number of pages; (4) genre…