The picture book is a simple yet profound tool for teaching peace. Picture books are nearly pieces of art--with rich text accompanied by illustrations, paintings, and photographs that speak to the spirit of the child. They are an ideal peace resource, in part because they are readily accessible for all age levels. Books can be borrowed through…

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine the impact that a teacher-guided library selection program had on overall reading scores and how this program may or may not promote reading improvement of fourth-grade students at a small suburban school in western New York. Forty fourth graders were used as the sample population, which was…

This study is based on 72 children's and young adult books that met the criteria of being about Muslims and published and circulated here in the U.S. They can be divided into the varied genres as 49 contemporary realistic fiction, 6 historical fiction, and 17 autobiographies, biographies, and memoirs. In-depth reading and coding were used to…

The aim of this study was to examine reading media (braille, cassettes, screen-reader, screen-magnifier, large print, low vision aids, CCTV) used by visually impaired adults. This article reports the results of a research project involving 100 people with visual impairment. The participants were interviewed and asked to fill in a questionnaire to…

Little is known concerning the incidence or importance of various types of reading materials. (CK)

This study investigated the decision-making process used by teachers of students with visual impairments in determining the literacy media of students who are deaf-blind. Data were collected using an online survey. The findings included the sporadic use of learning media assessments. (Contains 4 tables.) [This research was supported by Florida…

As the end of the calendar year approaches, many begin to think about the holiday season. Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and New Year's all bring an opportunity to bring family and friends together. Libraries will be stocked with titles to help folks remember classic stories and introduce them to new tales as well. Educators can use holiday books…

Educators know that an achievement gap exists between students of low-income and middle-income families, a gap that is especially evident in fourth grade and beyond. This essay explores issues related to this gap, including primary-level children being immersed in narrative text and, therefore, unprepared for the challenges of informational text…

This article explores the reading behaviours of 10 young competent nursery and reception children, The 10 children were selected from a group of 54 case study children involved in the national Bookstart evaluation study, "Bookstart: Planting a Seed for Life" (2005). This group of young readers, from different socioeconomic groups, were…

Teachers know the value of reading aloud to support children's learning and to foster a love of books (Glazer & Giorgis, 2005). In fact, many teachers have dozens, if not hundreds, of books on a vast number of topics. However, for reasons that range from lack of time to curriculum constraints, teachers may not always carefully examine what they…

This activity is designed to help build a bridge between the practical and the theoretical and lay the groundwork for students to assess and evaluate both communication theory and popular press titles. This activity is very effective in demonstrating that communication theory can be practical and applicable to real-life advice about work, home,…

This article traces historical uses of the phrase "why girls go wrong" to provide a context for analysis of Progressive Era reading guidance for girls and then turns to actual girls' responses to reading. The historic context depicts the milieu in which young women and the advisors who sought to guide them lived and read as a time of intense…

In this article, the author shares how she follows the policy developed by the Library Advisory Council (LAC) when she acquires new books for her school library. LAC is a group of fifty or so teaching librarians from all five New York City boroughs. They meet four times a year to help the Office of School Library Services focus on issues important…

Readers' advisory (RA) librarians use appeal to translate between readers and books, to make connections between readers and myriad other title possibilities based on the effects of the story. Appeal addresses the elements of books that readers respond to, the features that "draw a reader into a book" and help shape a particular reading…

With the pileup of responsibilities that range from programming to outreach to web management, more and more librarians are finding vendor-based book selection enticing. Most librarians see vendor-based selection as an option to relieve the pressure and still provide good collections to their patrons. However, using vendors to help facilitate…