Designed to help librarians plan a summer reading program around the theme of bears called "have a bearable summer," this activity guide presents many activities and organizational suggestions. The first section of the guide deals with publicity and public relations, while the second section covers story time activities. The third…

Because studies have found that children can lose a year in their reading skills and motivation during summers, this planning guide suggests ways for librarians to interest children in a summer reading program by appealing to their fascination with bears and teddy bears. The guide is organized chronologically, beginning with a timetable, followed…

Approximately 500 books for teens and preteens (between the ages of 10 and 20) are listed and briefly annotated in this book designed to offer parents advice on adolescents and on books for adolescents. The first three chapters discuss the stages of adolescent development, and the fourth chapter talks about the adolescent as a reader. The fifth…

This annotated bibliography, published to assist teachers, librarians, and parents in finding quality reading materials, presents books for reading aloud to students or children in grades 4-8. Each of the 140 entries, listed alphabetically by author, provides the author's name, title, publisher, sequels or related books, a brief annotation about…

This guide focuses on literature to entertain and literature to understand one's self. Designed primarily for independent use by students, several of the literary selections in each section of the guide are followed by the same sequence of questions so that students can develop a pattern for questioning themselves. The first section, on literature…

The product of a two-day symposium on children and children's books, this booklet features remarks of Elaine Moss, British author and critic, and Barbara Rollock, coordinator for children's services at the New York Public Library. Moss's speech discusses meeting children's need for books offering depth and involvement, while Rollock's talk…

Drawing from data obtained from a two-page student questionnaire mailed to a number of Connecticut English and reading teachers in all types of schools, this paper reports on the reading interests and habits of students in grades four through twelve. Usable responses were received from 3,339 students from 51 schools in 37 different towns and…

Compiled from the reading lists of 60 exemplary schools, this "summertime" reading list provides titles of tried-and-true works published in or before 1960 which appeared on at least five of the school reading lists. Selections are divided according to grade level. The list offers over 100 book or series of titles recommended for…

A study was conducted to determine whether students' preferences for reading or for viewing television were related to the quality of their leisure reading choices. The families of 198 fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students were asked to complete television and reading logs for four weeks. Sixty-six students were identified from this sample as…

Intended for classroom teachers and administrators who want their schools to reflect commitment to the idea that reading for pleasure is an essential part of every successful reading program, this book provides suggestions by which educators can coordinate their efforts with librarians and parents to get children to read voluntarily. The book is…

To gather information about reading as it relates to older adults, 267 people, ranging in age from 60 to 93 years, were asked to complete questionnaires. Specific information elicited concerned reading habits, reading materials, time spent in reading daily, time spent watching television, reading interests, preferred television shows, and reading…

During a year-long study, the social settings in a grade 3 and grade 4 classroom were examined to determine the effects of the communities on what and how the children read for leisure. Maps of the actual physical setting of the school and classrooms were made, typologies or classifications of the social structures in the class and school were…

Four readers, ranging in age from 62 to 82, were selected for intensive analysis of their reading strategies, habits, and interests. Interviewing provided demographic information and reading habits and interests. Each person read orally an unfamiliar expository selection rated at ninth-grade-level difficulty by the Dale-Chall Readability Formula…

The purpose of this study was to determine in what way the interpretation and implementation of the library educational commitment to adults changed between 1833 and 1956. Primary documents were the chief sources of data; however, because comprehensive documentation of the American Public Library movement did not begin until 1876, secondary…

This paper describes procedures that can be used in individual schools to evaluate various aspects of their English programs. The major portion of the paper discusses schools' ability to foster voluntary reading, in the face of the widely reported decline in such reading after grade eight. Specific suggestions are given for bridging the gap…