Reiterates some of the major tenets of reader-response theory. Describes the "writerly" text as a source of activity rather than of meaning, and examines Gary Paulsen's "The Winter Room" as an example of the active writerly text. (SR)

Compares responses of readers (both children and adults) of Maurice Sendak's "trilogy" ("Where the Wild Things Are,""In the Night Kitchen," and "Outside over There") to Sendak's own explanation of his intent. Suggests that Sendak offers an original, fresh, and magical expression that immediately reaches many…

Reviews five sets of thematically related books with the intent of helping instructors make connections between children's literature and real living. Investigates five areas, all broadly speaking to the issue of "security": (1) unsettling experiences; (2) nature study; (3) overcoming evil; (4) exploring adolescent angst; (5) journeying for…

Describes four books written for children about the struggles to survive, to escape, and to gain freedom of children who are refugees. Describes how fourth-grade children responded to these books. (SR)

Considers the stories that children read, hear, and make part of their lives. Focuses on the text with the understanding that texts live only when read by a person in a particular context. (MG)

Examines the key role that memory plays in the meaning-making process that children enact as they read and view images in a classroom that respects and encourages their own views and reflections. Discusses the six major categories of children's visual responses, and presents representative examples of children's illustrations. (TB)

Outlines an elementary school unit on rivers, which drew on a range of reading materials both fiction and nonfiction, among them "The Incredible Journey of Lewis and Clark." Studies the degree of similarity in fourth graders' response to and understanding of fiction and nonfiction books. Observes that children do have unique responses to…

Explains how a teacher comes to learn that primary and intermediate grade students are engaged by fiction and nonfiction both, that they do not associate one with pleasure and the other with learning. Argues that readers of all ages find meaning in a work, fictional or nonfictional, to the extent that it relates to their own lives and experiences.…

Addresses the question of how literature should be discussed with children. Illustrates how a knowledge of literature beyond a single story and beyond a particular child's response can be of help in teaching. (SR)

Argues that the primary value of literature lies within the work itself, an appreciation of it, and the connections readers make to it. Discusses how a reader response approach offers one way to open the door for children to the lived-through experience of literature as art with intrinsic value. (SR)

Presents nine student responses to "Pink and Say" by Patricia Polacco. Gives the students opinion and often times their response to some of the scenarios presented by the book. (SG)

Analyses children's responses to "The Arkansaw Bear," a work of dramatic literature for children. Discusses two types of literary understandings displayed by the children: affective values of literature, and formal aspects of literary analysis. Suggests that it is time to welcome the literature of theater into the world of children's…

Discusses fostering democratic principles in the literature classroom, moving from reader response to democratic community, listening and democracy, listening together as teachers, and democratic reading and the integration of thought and feeling--all stemming from the work of Louise Rosenblatt and applied to the classroom and teacher/student…

Presents the results of a study of two fifth-grade reading groups, one comprised of all girls and the other of mixed gender. Discusses results in a reflective essay format, suggesting that the group of girls was more emotional in their observations and the mixed group was more action and plot oriented. (TB)

Reflects candidly upon the author's commitment to multicultural education and the resistance she initially encountered from white, female preservice teachers. Relates how the author and her undergraduate students found ways to break the silence and bridge their cultural divide through the use of multicultural children's and adolescent literature,…