Think about your favorite children's book. What impact did it have on you? Besides the immediate enjoyment of the book, did it have any long-term impact?

Aaron (2005) described the "family as the nation's smallest school" and "the home as the first school." Furthermore, studies document that 90% of the differences in academic achievement can be explained by five factors: (a) two-parent households; (b) school absenteeism; (c) amount read for homework; (d) quality and quantity of…

This study examined the effects of students access to print through public library card ownership and class trips to the community library. Reading performance, attitudes toward reading, time spent reading at home, number of books at home, and family visits to the public library after school were compared between students who had library cards,…

Offers a rationale for the practice of elementary school teachers reading frequently to their students and discusses guidelines for book selection and for planning read-aloud sessions. Includes a bibliography of read-aloud books. (FL)

Concludes that both boys and girls benefited from reading sex-appropriate content as opposed to content that was self-selected. Confirms that strong group feelings about reading exist outside a sex-typed pattern of interests. (FL)