This paper reports on an interview with a 10-year-old Black girl, in which she discusses her responses to books about strong, active Afro-American girls. The difficulty of obtaining such books is pointed out, as is the need for studies of the impact of culturally valid books for young readers. (PP)

A study of young children's use of literature during free play, of the physical design of library corners, and of teacher's literature activities found positive correlations among these elements. Observations of nursery school classrooms revealed that many lacked inviting library corners and that many teachers did not sufficiently encourage…

Concludes that the reading interests of Mexican-American students differ little from those of other American students. (FL)

To determine how television viewing affected the quality of recreational reading, logs were completed on the amount of time fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade students spent on reading and on watching television. Results indicated that students who watched a lot of television and who did little reading tended to choose books of lower quality.…

Analyzes the roles played by females in Judy Blume's "Are You There God? It's Me Margaret." Concludes that the book offers flat and unflattering portrayals of female characters. (FL)

Reports the findings of a study that replicated work done in the early 1970s concerning the media preferences and reading interests of intermediate grade children. Shows that the reading interests of boys remained much the same, with those of girls changing. Both groups continued to prefer television over print media. (FL)

A study examining the impact of ancestral cultural knowledge on student motivation surveyed 61 Mexican American students at a Southwestern middle school before and after a 3-day program on Mesoamerican culture. Findings indicated that students' sense of cultural awareness and voluntary reading preferences were enhanced. Culturally relevant…

Summarizes work by three researchers in the area of young people and libraries. The first examined library habits of pregnant teenagers; the second explored reading interests of children and adolescents and factors involved in their selection of reading materials; and the third advocated making research relevant to those involved in collecting…

A survey examined the reading interests and availability of relevant reading materials for 25 bilingual fifth-grade students in a rural southwestern school. Area residents were primarily descendants of early Hispanic settlers. Discusses the importance of targeting student reading interests and making materials of interest available in classrooms…

Examines two urban 10th-grade English classes of ethnically diverse students in which the teachers diversified literature selections for newly designed ethnic literature curricula. Reports the texts students found most memorable and meaningful, and analyzes the values students found in their encounters with these literary works. (RS)

Over the past 10 years, traditional elementary history textbooks have been criticized by a number of reviewers. In part as a result, some fifth-grade teachers, many of whom have students who are learning chronological U.S. history for the first time, have begun to augment these textbooks with biographies, historical fiction, literature-based…

A study conducted in the Orange County Public Schools in central Florida investigated the reading interests of sixth-grade students. The study also gathered information from teachers regarding the nature and source of reading materials used for independent reading in their classrooms and on the implementation of sustained silent reading practices.…

A study examined the effects of sex-typed content and sex role preference on 87 fifth grade boys' and 64 fifth grade girls' reading material preferences. It also explored how high- and low-rated sex-typed reading content and students' sex and sex role preferences influenced reading comprehension. After reading the sex-typed content, which…

"New Horizons in Adult Education" is an electronic journal started in the fall of 1987 by the Syracuse University Kellogg Project. In the spring of 1989, the project surveyed readers of New Horizons to find out how they were reacting to the journal and its method of transmission. Data were collected by sending the survey electronically…

This book draws on extensive demographic information to present a portrait of the nation's reading habits. Research offers the following observations and facts: reading of serious contemporary literature is the pastime of a distinct minority; the proportion of Americans who read serious literature is between 7 and 12% and contemporary fiction,…