"Reading maturity" is a construct that looks broadly at reading development encompassing not only basic reading skills but reading habits, attitudes, and dispositions. It has a rich history and this article calls for a need to make reading maturity a necessary part of the literacy curriculum. It offers a working description and reviews…

A mixed method study explored a theoretical model that employed, combined, and added to the theories of self-determination, the reading engagement perspective, and the four-phase model of interest to motivate adolescent struggling readers to read for pleasure. The model adds to the existing body of research because it specifies an instructional…

Can students read difficult but self-selected texts--and if so, how? In this article we describe what we learned about middle school students' use of background knowledge and specific vocabulary from interviews and surveys in our longitudinal study of magazine reading habits. Then we discuss the implications of these findings for structuring…

A century ago, a woman named Mary E. Hall convinced school leaders of the need for the professional school librarian--a librarian who cultivated a love of reading, academic achievement, and independent learning skills. After graduating from New York City's Pratt Institute Library School in 1895, Hall developed her vision for the high school…

What is the hold of literature on a reader's imagination, on my imagination? I remember many hours spent with books in a kind of romantic entanglement, and heartful obsession, and joyful reverie. I certainly remember being lost with words, lost in enthusiastic abandonment. I loved the sounds of words, and the images they conjured, and the…

This article describes our collaborative inquiry, three teacher educators/researchers of literacy from different institutions who shared a concern about how few teacher candidates in our programs neither viewed themselves as readers nor possessed a love of reading, qualities we view as key to supporting all children as lifelong readers, writers,…

News reports and well-publicized government studies have led to a popular perception that reading is an endangered activity, particularly among youth. In this study we surveyed college students, librarians, and college writing instructors about students' attitudes toward reading for pleasure, examine barriers to voluntary reading among college…

Reading logs have become a practice in many elementary schools. Although lack of autonomy undermines intrinsic motivation (Lepper, Greene, & Nisbett, 1973), no study has examined the effect of logs. Second and third-grade students (N = 112) were assigned either a mandatory or voluntary log and surveyed about their motivation to read at…

As teachers, our most important mission is to turn our students into readers. It sounds so simple, but it's hard work, and we're all on a deadline. Kittle describes a class in which her own expectations that students would become readers combined with a few impassioned strategies succeeded ... at least with a young man named Alan.

In the rapidly changing globalized world, school librarians cannot prepare today's students for every possible outcome, but they can give them the skills that will make them adaptable in 21st-century learning and work settings. The mission for school library programs is to ensure that students are effective users of ideas and information by being…

Students and teachers are feeling the brunt of "No Child Left Behind," trying to make meaningful academic growth with ever decreasing resources. School library media specialist are considered one of the most valuable resources in any school building. As the ultimate "resource manager," library media specialists can contribute…

This paper presents additional information from the authors' 2009 survey of young people's reading and writing--for more information see their forthcoming report Clark and Douglas (2010) "Young People's Reading and Writing: An in-depth study focusing on enjoyment, behaviour, attitudes and attainment." To support the School Library…

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…

An analysis of student tastes in pleasure reading reveals that students in the 1970's are seeking new perspectives in their quest for personal identity. (Author/PF)

The results of an informal survey of young teens and young adults in the San Francisco Bay area indicate what they read for pleasure. Lists of the ten most popular books, authors and subjects are given. (SJ)