Discusses how eight English teachers have dealt with recent censorship issues in their schools. (RS)

Discusses appropriate reading material selection in light of content area reading instruction. Presents some ideas for determining the difficulty level of textbooks and other materials. Concludes that teaching reading in the content areas is one way to focus on the process of reading as an instrument to develop cognitive skills and thought…

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 the ongoing debate about the role of literature in the freshman composition course. Claims that teachers of these courses individually determine the nature of each course. Shows that, for many decades, literature has not retained a secure place in freshman composition courses. (HB)

Discusses the debate about the use of literary works in freshman composition courses. Calls for more extensive research into the period of the 1950s and 1960s, with particular attention to the changes in composition instruction and the loss of literature from that curriculum. (HB)

Examines how nonfiction read-alouds can enrich elementary children's literacy learning experiences. Provides a rationale for the use of read-alouds, guidelines for selection, recommended formats for effective classroom presentation, and activities useful before, during, and after reading. (SR)

Describes the current state of reading lists in high school English courses as stagnant and in dire need of renewal. Argues for the canon of literature used in high schools to be opened up to include works by minorities and women writers. (HB)

Explains some of the fascination of Roald Dahl's work and sheds some light on its nature. Discusses that what possibly worries the more anxious teacher or parent are Dahl's additions to the conventional folklore scheme of reference. (MG)

Considers how four relationships (between teacher and student, teacher and the curriculum, student and curriculum, and between and among students) affect readers and the reading program in a classroom. (RS)

Gives responses of 11 practicing teachers to the question, "What novel published since 1987 do you recommend for high school readers?" Provides citations, summaries, and overviews of the works. (HB)

Traces children's author Peggy Rathmann's search for what she wanted to do with her life. Provides the stories behind her award-winning picture books for children. (SR)

Offers an interview with poet X. J. Kennedy, winner of the prestigious National Council of Teachers of English Award for Poetry for Children for the year 2000. Outlines how he began writing poetry, his work writing poetry for adults, and how he began writing poems for children. Offers an overview of his work. (SR)

Considers how Francesca Lia Block's melding of the magic and the ordinary makes her work special. Suggests that magic is what makes people dream, and that the teen years is a great time to dream because there is still time to make dreams come true. Presents a nine-item annotated bibliography of titles for adolescents by Block. (SG)

This paper argues that the essential task of English Teachers, since the debut of the National Curriculum English, is not to make qualitative distinctions between literary and media texts nor to place them on some form of hierarchical scale. Media reading should be on equal footing with written literature reading; both involve active engagement…

The stated objective of "The Norton Anthology of American Literature" (NAAL) is to present a thorough selection from the literary tradition along with new or lesser-known works to exemplify multi-cultural America. The first edition of the NAAL emphasized traditional pieces. Poetry selections in the second edition were greatly shortened.…