Purposefully selecting text is a longstanding challenge for teachers of multinational, adult learners enrolled at language schools. International students come from diverse cultural backgrounds, have been educated in different academic systems, are of different ages, and have separate interests; therefore, it is difficult for teachers to…

There's no doubt about it--paranormal fiction is hot right now. The author's shelves are full of vampires and werewolves, faeries and zombies. As a fan of all things supernatural, she is thrilled about this explosion of the immortal, the unknown, and the mythological. And yet, it feels like people missing the eternal constant in this renaissance:…

This article discusses how Mary Curran-Hackett, an adjunct faculty member at the University of Cincinnati in the English Literature and Composition and Rhetoric Departments, was determined to hook her students on reading. She wanted to find a topic on which every single student would undoubtedly have an opinion, and if not a preconceived notion,…

The author identified books most often selected among a sample of economically disadvantaged Black 8- to 12-year-old participants (N = 293) and investigated reasons participants offered for choosing specific books. Participants self-selected books at a book fair providing 412 books. The most commonly selected books supplied descriptive data.…

This issue of the Arizona English Bulletin contains articles discussing literature that adolescents read and literature that they might be encouraged to read. Thus there are discussions both of literature specifically written for adolescents and the literature adolescents choose to read. The term adolescent is understood to include young people in…

Outlines the characteristics of a good mystery and then suggests titles that would be of interest to young readers. (FL)

Surveys some recent fiction which reflects both the diverse interests and varying reading abilities of 11-18 year olds. Presents brief reviews of 26 novels touching on themes such as family, first love, social issues, adventure, fantasy, and thrillers. (RS)

What are adolescents choosing to read? This is an important question because of potential divergence between school students' reading interests and reading expectations in school. This article considers the findings from a study of the reading over one week in May 2002 of 707 school students aged between 11 and 15, undertaken in 30 schools in the…

Lists adolescent novels that dramatize the trauma of war for the young. (EL)

Highlights five current adult books of interest to high school readers. (AEA)

Whether teachers are horror fans or not, part of a teacher's service to student readers is to recommend recent and good horror novels. Unlike the almost idiosyncratic horror market of years past, today a series of recognizable horror writer such as Christopher Pike, D. E. Atkins, R. L. Stine and others are turning out numerous titles specifically…

Discusses the theme of survival prevalent in many children's books and presents a bibliography of 60 titles listing survival stories of several major types. (TO)

This survey drew on a variety of national surveys and book industry publication and sales statistics to examine the number and kinds of people reading fiction, poetry, and drama. The survey used data from three different national surveys of readers conducted in the mid-1980s and including over 30,000 subjects to conclude that while literature…

A study was conducted to discover the components of books that children prefer over and above those children's books that adults critically acclaim. Forty intermediate-level fiction books included in the "Children's Choices" listings for 1978 to 1980 were read by three adult researchers and classified according to A. Applebee's taxonomy…

Lists and appraises books favored by middle school readers as revealed in the most recent "children's choices" poll conducted by the International Reading Association. Proposes a similar poll for older students. (JL)