Teachers have the privilege and responsibility of helping children discover the joy of reading. This principle underlies the mission of The Children's Literature Assembly (CLA) of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). Unfortunately, as teachers and librarians in this country face the demands of the "No Child Left Behind Act" and of their own states, they increasingly find that time spent with mandated curricular programs and test preparation replaces children's extended time with literature. Concerned with this trend, CLA sponsored the "Resolution on the Essential Roles and Value of Literature in the Curriculum," which was adopted as a position statement by the NCTE Board of Directors, and decided to focus its annual Master Class on this essential issue. This article describes four speakers who shared their professional and personal insights into "Keeping the Love of Literature Alive in this High-Stakes Testing Environment" with an audience of professors of children's literature as well as teachers whose instruction and examples directly influence young readers. Award-winning authors Candace Fleming and Jim Murphy provided perspectives on the writing of fiction and nonfiction, while Nancy Roser and Kathy Short addressed the use of literature in classrooms dominated by state standards.