Advocates introducing children to other cultures through the use of trade books illustrating social studies themes. Outlines ways to build a better understanding of cultures through interest created by accurate and well-written books. Briefly reviews three books for the elementary, intermediate, and young adult audience. (MJP)

These exercises and examples pertain to readability information presented in preceding articles. They are designed to help speech language pathologists test their intuitions about word and text difficulty and to see readability data from a number of quantitative formulas applied to passages across a wide range of levels. (Contains 8 references.)…

Recommends establishing literature study groups as early as the primary grades. Outlines the steps for implementing a group and describes several classroom experiences with them. Includes a discussion of follow-up activities, and a bibliography of related works. (MJP)

A former eighth grade reading and writing teacher considers how her experience in a classroom workshop for readers and writers has affected her behavior with her young daughter. Emphasizes providing children with adequate time to read, choice of what to read, and opportunities to respond. (RAE)

Reports on the reading interests of 450 Russian secondary school graduates enrolled in a mathematics and physics-oriented technical school in Moscow. Finds that students' interests changed during two periods in recent Russian history: (1) 1988-1990--the perestroika period; and (2) 1991-1992--the "market" period. (CFR)

Describes the Teachers as Readers (TAR) program, established by the Association of American Publishers in 1992 to encourage teachers and administrators to read current children's and young adult trade books and to use them in their language arts program. Nearly 600 TAR groups nationwide meet periodically to read and discuss books for use in their…

Suggests practices to use and to avoid using when reading books to or with young and elementary school children. Also suggests how television viewing has supplanted reading among children and their families, and how parents and teachers can control children's television viewing and use television to its best advantage. (BB)

Offers eight teaching suggestions from teachers, regarding an effective strategy for teaching inferential comprehension, how to chose a good book, book celebrations, annotation writing for developmental readers, an assignment to promote reading for pleasure, a discussion group program for adult new readers, memo writing as an information network,…

Supports expanding children's understanding of gender roles through children's literature. Describes the understanding of gender at different ages and developmental levels. Suggests the development of a classroom library collection that reflects a variety of gender roles and recommends titles for children of different age groups. Encourages…

Praises the Laura Ingalls Wilder books for their realistic portrayal of 19th-century prairie life. Recommends using the books as source material for a variety of social studies classes. Provides a list of suggested activities collected under broad topics including housing, unusual weather phenomena, medical care, and clothing. (MP)

Discusses the importance of nonfiction as part of children's and young adults' reading. Topics include library collection development practices to keep nonfiction collections up-to-date; electronic formats that allow interaction; nonfiction picture books; booktalks; results of research on reading and skill development related to nonfiction; and…

To help children and adolescents learn to read, school librarians and teachers must learn to read with confidence for pleasure and satisfaction and to draw on their experience of the world and their experience with other texts. Having personal enthusiasm, the skills to analyze how a literary work functions, and an understanding of what…

Helping teachers to discover approaches and techniques that fit their teaching style and their teaching situation, this book presents as fairly, completely, and clearly as possible the major approaches and techniques of reading instruction that research and practice have indicated to be successful. Based on the idea that the best reading programs…

A study examined literacy professionals' interest in gender issues in literacy education. A total of 1,519 K-12 teachers; reading specialists; teacher educators in reading, language arts, and related fields; library media specialists; and school administrators who make policy decisions related to literacy education completed a survey. Results…

Designed for use by students in grades 5 through 9, this annotated bibliography of nearly 600 titles of fiction and nonfiction also serves as a resource for teachers, librarians, and parents in search of titles that might catch the attention of junior high and middle school students. The book presents annotations of books published in 1991 or…