Describes the plight of junior high students in Japan who are apparently too concerned with doing well in the content areas to engage in leisure reading. (MKM)

This column reviews two secondary-level poetry supplements: "Steps to Poetry: Fifty Spirit Masters" and "Understanding Poetry," both from J. Weston Walch, 1978. For various elementary and secondary grade levels, ten poetry anthologies suitable for pleasure reading and six titles from the Caedmon Poetry Record series are reviewed. (SJL)

Children quickly become bored with repetition requiring the library media specialists to vary their booktalk formats to sustain children's attention and promote recreational reading. This article discusses the four basic booktalk formats: plot summary, anecdote, character description, creation of mood, and a fifth to promote books with a common…

To promote recreational reading among high school students, a group of teachers created the Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award where students read and vote on their favorite 5 out of 12 nominated titles. Describes how media specialists promote the program and how educators integrate nominated books into classroom subject curricula.…

Describes the difference between literary communication ("belles-lettres") and information communication. Identifies 11 possible functions of or reasons for reading belles-lettres. Discusses the importance of literary communication to library users and the library's role in providing belles-lettres to the public. (AEF)

Discusses the genre of teen paperback series. Topics addressed include the necessity for different evaluation criteria than those applied to monographs regarding setting, characters, and continuity; value judgments regarding quality and enjoyment; collection development; and improved circulation. (LRW)

Examines reading habits of Estonians with studies dating back to the 1960s and discusses the impact of the printed word on culture. Focuses on changes since the Estonian's transition to the market economy: (1) reading has become casual and less frequent; (2) literary preferences have shifted; and (3) smaller home libraries have increased the need…

Five generalizations for reading instruction with disabled and normal readers are presented: (1) caring, positive relationship between teacher and student; (2) the role of rereading and daily reading; (3) appropriate materials; (4) interest as a springboard to learning; and (5) the unification of instruction. (DB)

Explores the validity of the reading comprehension skills distinctiveness hypothesis. Finds that results argue for a unitary or holistic view of reading comprehension and suggest increasing the time students spend in sustained reading of self-selected materials as a means for improving students' reading comprehension. (MG)

Describes the development of a reading incentive program at a school library for grades four through nine. Discusses a reading list provided by the librarian that students choose from; writing a summary of the book read in student journals; teacher participation that improves relationships with students; and motivation. (LRW)

The author's purpose in this study was to test 4 hypotheses that proposed different paths for the influences of children's television viewing on their academic achievement. Data were drawn from the 1997 Child Development Supplement (CDS) to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). The population for this study included 1,203 children between the…

Literacy education is at a crossroads. While traditional school experiences still prize disembodied experiences of reading print-based texts as the pinnacle of sound education, informal learning experiences provide fruitful examples of the ways that visual texts are read as they are embodied by readers. In this paper I draw from the literacy lives…

This manual of activities and reproducible drawings and worksheets is designed to encourage reading and to accompany a reading club program. Each chapter is centered around an Olympic sport. As each chapter begins, a bulletin board idea and nametag pattern are provided. This is followed by several storytime ideas for toddlers and preschoolers,…

Intended for use with grades 5-12, this book offers 201 titles of carefully selected novels as an antidote to students' laments about history being boring--good historical fiction that animates the data found in textbooks. The book is an expanded and updated edition of an earlier publication and includes 86 new titles, as well as 40 titles…

A study investigated the relationship between reading and the writings of gifted secondary school writers, especially their developmental reading interests, leisure reading selections, and the influence of others on their literary choices. Subjects, 79 students from rural and urban Arkansas schools were participating in a gifted writers'…