Examines the nature of children's sense of theme in narratives as it develops over three age levels--kindergarten, second grade, and fourth grade--and investigates the role of literature in that development. Concludes that thematic identification is an early developmental strategy. (MM)

Argues for the inclusion of noncanonical literature in the English curriculum, especially literature by women and minorities. Provides principles to guide the teaching of noncanonical literature. (SRT)

Presents a study of students in Australia, Canada, and England and examines grade nine students' written responses to writing over a two year period and their opinions of the books they read. Suggests that for students of that age, creative written responses to writing are the most imaginative. (JC)

Suggests that viewing aesthetic reading as a process whereby readers and writers attempt to "make contact" and collaborate in making meaning forces one to adopt research strategies that go beyond measuring reading comprehension, and offers two studies to illustrate these ideas. (JC)

Summarizes results of a survey on an ethical dilemma about whether a teacher should meet the needs of a working mother or those of her four-year-old son in terms of naptime. Educator Lilian Katz and philosopher Kenneth Kipnis comment on the dilemma. (BB)

Describes the fundamentals of reader response theory, focuses on the aspects most relevant to reading instruction, and presents a method of teaching using reader response as a vehicle for improving student ability to learn from text. (NKA)

Concludes that young people are reading less and are less influenced by reading than their counterparts of almost a decade ago. (EL)

Shows the unexpected consequences of being a part-time guidance counselor and a part-time English teacher at the same time. Shares two experiences, in literature and in composition, that show a greater understanding of students' reactions. (EL)

Argues, in a discussion of the benefits of collaborative writing, that teaching writing as a solitary activity belies actual experience and research pointing to it as a collaborative effort. Shows how to use peer response groups to introduce students to collaborative writing. (EL)

Presents lists of exercises to be done in conjunction with students' independent reading that emphasize the affective domain. Includes activities that were developed for high school literature and college poetry classes. (MM)

Examines students' difficulties in reading literature and suggests methods for helping them to develop and improve skills necessary for the mature reading of literature. (MM)

A two-year ethnographic study of dialogic literary circles in Spain explored the learning experience of adults who participated in them. In a dialogic society, educational projects providing real opportunities for transformation and overcoming inequalities usually had a dialogic orientation and promoted instrumental learning as well as critical…

This resource book contains reviews, written by children, of 375 "can't put down" children's books. Reviews were selected from over 10,000 submissions, the results of a national survey in which children reviewed their favorite books. The book makes it easy to locate books by listing: (1) title; (2) author; (3) number of pages; (4) genre…

The electronic storybook may be one tool that can simulate the read aloud story by a human reader. If the electronic story can serve to provide some of the elements derived from a human book reading experience, then time spent with these electronic stories can give children some building blocks that will aid in their literacy acquisition. A study…

This study explored 22 ninth-grade English students' reading engagement and interpretation of a young adult multicultural novel dealing with biethnic identity development. The descriptive multicase study charted students' literary engagement in an urban technology magnet school and a rural Hawaii high school. The research question was: What are…