In an age where multi-media, such as video games and computer generated games, are consuming the lives of young adults, students are reading fewer novels and engaging less in recreational reading activities. Because of the ever-changing diverse student population teachers are searching for ways to be competitive motivators. Today, teachers need to…

Many reading programs today overlook an essential component of literacy instruction--helping children develop an enduring love of reading. This authoritative and accessible guide provides a wealth of ideas for incorporating high-quality children's books of all kinds into K-6 classrooms. Numerous practical strategies are presented for engaging…

Research indicates that there is a strong relationship between leisure reading and school achievement, but the leisure reading habits of urban adolescents have rarely been studied. From their investigation of the leisure reading habits of 584 urban minority middle school students, the authors identify these key findings: (1) More than two-thirds…

In this case history, the author describes how her journey as a reader evolved from a poor reader who did not like to read in elementary school into an avid trilingual reader in graduate school. Once she discovered the joy of reading, each language in which she read had its own purpose and emotional connection. She credits self-selected reading…

This article describes a questionnaire survey of 747 students enrolled in a graduate school of education, who are currently teachers or prospective teachers. The Literacy Habits Questionnaire, developed by Applegate and Applegate, was administered in September 2006. Findings suggest a high prevalence of aliteracy, the ability to read but a…

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether third grade literacy students who receive incentive rewards as part of their instruction will exhibit significantly higher reading habits and attitudes toward recreational reading than they did before the incentives were introduced. The study examined 19 third grade students with fairly high…

In this article, Elizabeth Birr Moje, Melanie Overby, Nicole Tysvaer, and Karen Morris challenge some of the prevailing myths about adolescents and their choices related to reading. The reading practices of youth from one urban community are examined using mixed methods in an effort to define what, how often, and why adolescents choose to read. By…

This article explores the conditions of "flow" experience from two studies into the literate lives of young men (Smith and Wilhelm 2002; 2006) that were explanatory, when present, of motivation and engagement in various activities including literacy, and when absent, of a lack of motivation and engagement in various activities including literacy.…

A school-wide reading campaign emphasized the joy of reading. (MKM)

Describes 30 years of promoting the good pleasure-reading habits of 530,000 Kansas children. (JM)

A Summer project designed to encourage students to read as a pleasurable and profitable activity is described. (MM)

All public, private and parochial schools in the city of Baltimore were polled to find out what young adults were reading on their own time for pleasure. The most popular teen titles in each school, as well as the overall top ten titles for the city are given. (NH)

Reviews research findings concerning the recreational reading habits of students in colleges of further education. (FL)

When the National Endowment for the Arts released its "Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America" this past summer, marshaling statistics gathered over a 10-year period, the report confirmed what many educators, librarians, and booksellers have long suspected: that our energies are increasingly focused elsewhere, and that the shift…

This report contains the best national data available to provide a reliable and comprehensive overview of American reading today. While it incorporates some statistics from the National Endowment for the Arts' 2004 report, "Reading at Risk," this new study contains vastly more data from numerous sources. Although most of this information is…