Describes three junior novels, "The Contender,""Harlem Summer," and "Mary Jane," to use in motivating Black disadvantaged students to read. (MKM)

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…

Reports on a study indicating that the relationship between the reading habits of adolescents and their parents is not a strong one. (MKM)

Lists ten reasons for teenagers rejecting reading and suggests materials and instructional alternatives to aid in overcoming their reluctance. (MKM)

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)

Offers suggestions to students for developing realistic approaches or attitudes to reading, thus making reading more meaningful. (TO)

Finds that adult listeners to tape recordings of books are highly educated people who do a great deal of professional and recreational reading and who listen to books on tape for information and enjoyment while they are engaged in activities that require little concentration. (SR)

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)

Evaluates the reading habits and interests of delinquent adolescents in a Georgia youth offender center. (RB)

The Novel Maturity Scale measures what secondary students are reading and determines the quality of material read. (RB)

Focuses on the importance of fostering positive attitudes toward reading. (AEA)

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)

Compares how readers in Hungary and Finland approached selected novels. Finds that the reading of fiction plays different roles in the two societies; different styles are preferred; and readers approach the same book from a different perspective. (SR)