Reviews series mysteries for children and adolescents in two categories: mysteries for girls ("Nancy Drew,""Doris Fein") and mysteries for boys ("Hardy Boys,""Race against Time"). Characters and plots, appeal of the series, and series books and adolescents are discussed. Eight sources are given. (EJS)

Emphasizes that library media specialists, teachers, and administrators must create required reading lists that focus attention on girls' developmental needs. Gives one school's list as an example. Discusses the uses of literature; literary models; examples from literature; and suggested additions to a reading list. (AEF)

The purpose of this study was to determine if young children recall stories with both male and female characters as well as they recall stories with only male or only female characters. The sample included boys and girls ages 3 to 5 from lower-class through upper-middle class backgrounds. It was hypothesized that boys would better recall stories…

This paper reports on an interview with a 10-year-old Black girl, in which she discusses her responses to books about strong, active Afro-American girls. The difficulty of obtaining such books is pointed out, as is the need for studies of the impact of culturally valid books for young readers. (PP)

Reports the findings of a study that replicated work done in the early 1970s concerning the media preferences and reading interests of intermediate grade children. Shows that the reading interests of boys remained much the same, with those of girls changing. Both groups continued to prefer television over print media. (FL)

Discusses reading with pre-teens Francine Pascal's "Sweet Valley Twins: Best Friends," one of a series of pre-romance novels featuring identical twin sisters. Interviews six girls using the Symbolic Representation Interview (SRI) about the good girl/bad girl dichotomy in novels and other media. Provides comments by Tom Romano and Diana Mitchell.…

A questionnaire was sent to a number of elementary and secondary school English and reading teachers in Connecticut, asking them to survey one or two different classes to determine their students' reading interests. Questions dealt with such topics as favorite type of book, favorite books, more recently read title, favorite authors, sources of…