To motivate students to read, it is important for teachers to teach the reader, not the reading. This article presents three strategies for accomplishing this: studying the child, not the book; focusing on students' reading lives and knowing them as readers; and thinking of students as readers. (SM)

Five strategies to help elementary teachers encourage a love of reading in their students are showing how reading fits into one's life, identifying all children as readers, focusing on good reading experiences, pointing out when reading works, and encouraging talk about books. A sidebar provides suggestions for positive reading reinforcement. (SM)

Teachers must make changes in their reading programs that reflect a desire for students to compose lives in which reading matters. Strategies presented include getting serious about independent reading, building a literate environment, making every child bookish, setting up reading partnerships, and ideas for home-school reading support. (SM)