Identifies several impediments to achieving reading literacy for many in-city high school students in California, including lack of interest and motivation, inappropriate resources and absence of support, and insufficient reading experiences and background knowledge. Recommends ways to remove these barriers through the use of strategic reading and…

Maya K. David reports an interesting view of reading in Malaysia through the eyes of graduate student Mohd Nazri bin Hamid (2003), who conducted an exploratory study about the culture of reading in an academy of Islamic studies. The purposes of Nazri's investigation were (a) to examine undergraduate students' reading habits, (b) to offer a…

Describes how an English teacher in a Queens, New York, ghetto school introduced her grade nine students to Charles Dickens's "Great Expectations." Focuses on students' responses, which eventually became enthusiastic, and discusses the use of classics within the curriculum. (KH)

Discusses the independent reading choices of students in grades six, seven, and eight at one middle school in Maryland. (MG)

The need to consider length of residency, language facility, and cultural subgroup when selecting library materials for the Hispanic community is discussed in the first article. The second lists 50 vendors of Spanish language books and audiovisual materials, including a contact, an address, and specialty areas for each vendor. (CLB)

A review of the literature was conducted to summarize how characteristics of individual readers help to determine the nature and quality of their comprehension of specific texts and to discuss how this knowledge might be used by teachers to promote effective reading in their classes. Three dimensions of readers were identified as being causally…

Explores past, present, and future trends of romance novels by discussing publication styles; romance appeal; ethnic romances; attitudes toward romance novels in libraries; and the acquisition, cataloging, processing, and shelving of romance novels in libraries. Sidebars list librarian romance novelists, 1994 award winning romance writers of…

Examines research on effects of reading aloud to children in areas of reading and listening comprehension, vocabulary and language development, and attitudes toward reading. Outcomes of reading aloud and results of teacher survey concerning ways in which the school library media specialist can contribute to read-aloud programs are discussed.…