A study examined critical literacy and how texts, transactions, and talk enabled girls to examine their positions as readers and negotiate their identities in relation to novel characters and one another. Participants were eight sixth-grade girls of European American, African American, and Latina backgrounds and the participant researcher, a white…

A longitudinal study of student reading attitudes was conducted in 30 schools (20 elementary, 10 middle) using the Elementary Reading Attitude Survey instrument (ERAS). The instrument tested attitudes toward both recreational reading and academic/school reading as part of the Reading Excitement and Paperbacks Project (REAP). REAP participant…

The effects of infusing tradebooks into the school and home environments of non-White, low socioeconomic status, urban third through fifth graders were studied. Tradebooks are books with a purpose that is not school-based. The study was conducted in an urban kindergarten through grade 5 school in the Los Angeles (California) area, where 59 percent…

Reports on a national study of the extracurricular cultural life and the impact of the mass media on Chinese middle school students. Finds a strong influence of recreational reading, television, music, and videos on middle school students. Presents a four-part course of action designed to strengthen ethical instruction in the schools. (CFR)