There are large gaps in reading skills by family income among school-aged children in the United States. Correlational evidence suggests that reading skills are strongly related to the amount of reading students do outside of school. Experimental evidence testing whether this relationship is causal is lacking. We report the results from a…

The introduction of Common Core State Standards has many middle grade school teachers concerned with implementing standards while retaining student reading engagement and motivation strategies. This study analyzes the effectiveness of providing social networking strategies in online book discussion groups on enhancing middle grade student reading…

The lobby of the college building echoes with the noise of teenagers milling around a table filled with books. Hands flutter over the bright covers, picking them up, flipping them over, thumbing through pages. Welcome to an Elon Academy Saturday at break time, the mid-point pause in this monthly gathering of the more than 70 student participants…

This essay discusses why the theme approach to the teaching of literature to elementary school students is an effective way to focus attention on concepts related to pupils' lives. The author argues that this approach is better than organizing children's literature according to either subject or type because the teacher can more easily guide his…

In order to determine the opinions of third grade remedial reading pupils about trade books recommended in library selection aids and special series books recommended for poor readers, 57 pupils completed statements on book inventory forms about 24 picture books and 24 series books. Data was gathered on book completion, interest, and difficulty…

Microfiche copies of 112 children's trade books and two Xerox Classmate Readers were put into three fourth-grade classrooms to assess their effect on children's reading achievement, attitudes toward reading, the the use of library books. The microfiche copies of the trade books were matched title-for-title with hardbound books shelved with the…

Jackdaws are collections of interesting artifacts that provide information about a particular subject, period, or idea, and build background and interest in works of literature for children. Jackdaws are easy to construct: practically anything that is related in some fairly direct way to a piece of literature and that can aid a student's…

The articles in this issue focus upon the implications of new research and trends in the psychology of the reading process, reading interests of children, the developmental values of reading, content analysis of children's books, adult reading studies, the adult new reader, and the implications of research for the publishing world. The articles…

"No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) attempts to ensure educational equity for all K-12 students. However, for the conceptual goals of NCLB to become reality, pre-service teacher training models must be modified to include a deeper understanding of individual differences and how these play out in classroom dynamics. The "Three Literacy…