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…

This book argues that it is the incorporation of a multicultural agenda into basal readers, the primary tool for teaching reading in elementary schools, that has stunted American children's ability to read. The book shows how basal readers have been systematically "dumbed down" in an effort to raise minority students'"self…

This book aims to show parents how to instill the love of reading in their children and how to nurture that love throughout their lives, even in the face of television, video, and computer entertainment. The book is based on the concept of "reading pathways," developed after more than 20 years of classroom observation and interviews. It…

This book contains eight selections of literature for children in Grades 3-5, books which focus on themes of friendship and family. Ranging from picture books to novels, these selections are rich with possibilities for exploring topics such as loyalty, empathy, conflict, courage, fairness, responsibility, and diversity. Each selection features the…

Intended for those who want to encourage children to read, this book deals with children learning to read at different stages and explores four assumptions: reading is an important thing to do; reading is learned by reading; what beginning readers read makes all the difference to their view of reading; and to be successful, teaching and learning…

Intended to help teachers both improve students' text comprehension and better understand the teaching-learning process involved, this book focuses on comprehension and concept development as the central core of an effective educational program. The book's five sections deal with teaching explicit comprehension skills, precomprehension and…