Offers a classroom lab approach for motivating students to read and for helping them to achieve higher levels of reading skill and enjoyment. (PRA)

Describes a ninth grade class's field trip to a bookstore. (PRA)

Shares numerous short descriptions from readers of this journal describing their ideal reading classroom. Includes specific "creative and engaging" ways to teach reading in those classrooms. (SR)

Shares four working generalizations on what it takes for middle school students with persistent reading difficulties to become successful readers: (1) access to materials that span the gamut of interests and difficulty levels; (2) opportunities to share reading experiences with teachers and classmates; (3) real purposes for reading; and (4)…

Considers the significance of the disappearance of close reading. Looks briefly at the devastation wrought by certain "gangster theories"--indeterminacy, misreading, and the idea that people all tell stories (all knowledge is determined by the situation in which people find themselves). Suggests that close reading and close observation…

Reflects on the author's own personal background as a reader, including how television led her to more books and sparked her interest in a literary career. Discusses why, in a technological society, people care about literature. Argues that the Internet has its valuable uses, and that literature and technology can be good friends. (SR)

Tells the story of Mario, a high school student who struggled with school and with anger, but who found a story (by Ray Bradbury) which engaged his interest, a connection which helped him, in a key moment, look to a hopeful future rather than a difficult past. (SR)

Notes several kinds of book clubs (for adults, children, and both) and the joys of sharing reading with others. Discusses 32 children's books (books of poetry, lessons for young writers, on the realities of young people's lives, and books that lead to talk about real heroes) that lend themselves to passionate and spirited book talk. (SR)

Reminds readers what a deeply problematical exercise teaching Shakespeare can be. Describes teaching "Romeo and Juliet" to a mixed ability year 10 class. Argues that Shakespeare should not be obligatory in the secondary classroom; that there is no excuse for the elitist attitudes around Shakespeare; and that Shakespeare should be treated…

Describes how a reading resource specialist in a middle school borrows advertising techniques to market books to students (a tough audience). Describes conducting a marketing analysis and making a marketing plan. Gives one example of giving a book talk that proved to be quite successful with a targeted group of students. (SR)

Presents the comments of an 11-year-old and his mother regarding what is so magical about the Harry Potter series of books. Notes the child enjoyed the fantasy aspects and the animals in the books; and the mother appreciates the sheer fun of reading the books and that the characters show sensitivity and caring for each other. (RS)

Presents a set of questions that are offered as suggestions to help students think and define themselves as readers. Notes that to encourage thoughtful, well developed responses, the questions should be spread out over a number of days or weeks. (RS)

Presents an assignment in which students look through a handful of poetry collections or anthologies, seeking 20 poems they like and thus understand or want to understand to some extent. Describes the benefits of this assignment, including honing students' interpretive skills, dispelling their misconceptions about the genre, and continuing their…

Highlights key findings of a study of secondary school boys' literate lives in and out of school. Suggests boys valued school in general and reading in particular, and that they pursued literate activities out of school in interesting and complex ways. Notes they often rejected school-based reading because it was not characterized by qualities of…

Considers what it means to be "bothered" by errors. Transforms the study of error from mere textual issues to larger rhetorical matters of constructing meaning. Presents a study of 14 business people that indicates a range of reactions to errors. Reveals patterns of qualitative agreement--certain ways in which these readers constructed a negative…