The purpose of the study was to examine how reader response journals followed by classroom discussion ("Reader Response Plus") contributed to students' reading comprehension and to their attitudes toward reading. The study was conducted in a rural school in upstate New York. The twelfth grade class that participated in the study consisted of six students in a special education classroom, four of whom were randomly selected as focus students. As they read the award-winning novel, "The Watsons Go to Birmingham," by Christopher Paul Curtis, students responded in reader response journals and participated in classroom discussions where these responses were shared. Classroom discussions allowed to consider the perspectives of others and gain new information. Instruments used to collect data include the "Qualitative Reading Inventory-3," a journal rating rubric, a reading attitude questionnaire, an individual attitude checklist, and field notes. Findings indicate that "Reader Response Plus" contributed to improvements in reading comprehension and attitude. All four of the focus students increased either their independent, instructional, or frustration levels of reading comprehension based on the "QRI-3." Each student also demonstrated an improvement in reading comprehension based on data collected from rubrics used to assess journal entries. Throughout the course of the study, the students also became more actively engaged with the text and began to participate more during discussion.