Humorously discusses the plight of the avid reader. (MKM)

Encourages enterprising people to peddle books to those waiting in gas lines. (DD)

Muses over and responds to several "letters" regarding top 10 lists for reading teachers, political correctness, best sellers, and Howard Gardner on drill and discipline. (SR)

Remarks on recent articles and books regarding literacy and reading in America. (SR)

Describes the impact on the author of reading Harvey Cushing's "The Life of Sir William Osler," a biography of the leading American medical educator in the late nineteenth century, which stressed his reading interests. (DD)

Muses over how many books bought are actually read. Reflects on factors involved in the decision not merely to buy books but to read them. Notes that some people maintain that most of what is actually read is pap. Wonders whether reading teachers should pay more attention to what people read, as well as how people read. (SR)

Argues that the humorous books that teenagers choose to read are appropriate in relation to their interests, maturity, and experience. (AEA)

Discusses Janice A. Radway's "Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy and Popular Literature." Argues that reading educators should consider a more general premise embodied in the book: in order to understand the appeal (or lack of it) of certain books, then educators first need to understand what the books are for the students who read them. (RS)

Discusses literacy in the author's own family and asks whether the term "family literacy" can really refer with any accuracy to any group of people or to any set of behaviors. Argues that literacy educators must resist abstractions and generalizations and focus upon the particularities that help shape the individual literacies of their…

Award-winning short-story writer talks about her own reading and writing, censorship, young adult novels, and ways teachers can increase students' interest in reading. (ARH)

Maintains that teachers must encourage the lifetime reading habit at school in independent reading. Discusses several ways to do so, including cluttering up the classroom with reading materials, providing time for reading, and encouraging the reading habit throughout the year. (SR)

Muses about teachers' reading habits and their ability to trust themselves as competent, literate individuals. Refers to Howard Gardner's book, "The Unschooled Mind: How Children Think and How Schools Should Teach." (SR)

Discusses selected books that had an influence on the author's childhood and career. (JT)

Argues that the "good" reader in school, who has mastered reading skills, does not offer a natural starting point for progression to the "good" reader of adulthood who is an active and voracious reader. Stresses that reading in school needs to reflect reading attitudes and behaviors of "good" adult readers. (RS)

Reviews research on the effectiveness of SQ3R as a study technique, noting that support for SQ3R is based more on opinion than on empirical evidence. (JT)