Outlines a reading program based on the premises that adults need to model good reading habits for students, and that students will read what they like to read. (PRA)

Examines a broad spectrum of college students' understanding of reading. Finds that students of lower ability characterized good readers as those who read quickly and often, and they characterized the reading process as a passive activity; more capable readers viewed reading as an interactive process. (RS)

Discusses the attitudes and issues of reluctant readers by describing the author's son Jonathan, an intelligent young man who came to hate reading. Offers advice for teachers from Jonathan regarding how they can help students enjoy reading more. Presents annotations of 11 new or overlooked young adult books worth reading. (SR)

Describes how a fourth-grade teacher uses a favorite picture book (Julius Lester's "John Henry") to lead students into reading like writers, thus giving them the opportunity to make the connection between published writing and their own. Shows how working with a brief passage from the book does this. Offers a brief list of books to be mentored by.…

Examines and refutes six myths about beginning and developing reading instruction. Discusses importance of teaching phonological awareness and decoding in beginning reading and of teaching syllable patterns and morpheme patterns from Anglo-Saxon, Greek, and Latin roots and affixes in developing reading. (Author/JDM)

Presents an imaginary correspondence between a journal editor and a potential author, which both presents arguments for the use of audio books (describing their great potential for heightening students' pleasure in literature and increasing access to books) and exposes many educators' continued resistance to the use of audio books in school…

Describes one second-grade student's interaction with the picture books of Gerald McDermott. Describes the classroom context, and discusses McDermott's work. Describes the child's thoughtful and creative responses to McDermott's picture books in a classroom that supported students' explorations. Notes the importance of engaging children in…

Describes how two fifth-grade boys developed and sustained a love of fantasy books. Describes how these two discriminating readers have developed taste and a social context for their reading experience. Shows how their experience demonstrates important principles about reading and about reading curriculum. (SR)

Finds that, in making "good reader" judgments, upper-elementary children mentioned 15 separate criterial categories, clustered into four major category groupings, most frequently referencing the "public performance/fluency" category (word recognition, word analysis, and reading rate), but also mentioning "teacher practices,""affect," and…

Explores the role of literacy and curriculum in identity construction among fifth graders. Suggests: (1) there was a coherence of perspectives about six of the students while there was less agreement for the other six students; (2) literacy was a more important feature of some students' identities than others; and (3) the literacy curriculum…

Describes activities associated with Teen Read Week in October, 1999 in which young adult author Adam Rapp was the first Author-in-Residence at Ridgewood High School, near Chicago, Illinois. Notes students in the English Skills class (for students who need extra help) seemed genuinely interested in the book and the author. Describes how funding…

Describes an activity in which students generate questions they ask themselves with regard to reading, becoming aware of their own inner dialog and thus of what they can do to be successful and what they unwittingly do to inhibit their own success. (SR)

Reports a study that examined the long-term stability of the construct of children's attitudes toward reading. Elementary students completed the Elementary Reading Attitude Survey twice over three years. Results indicated that children's attitudes about reading exhibited a consistent decline; girls expressed more positive attitudes toward…

Presents students' responses when the author asked whether or not it was worthwhile to study King Lear. Recognizes that she could not sell Shakespeare to her students and that most of them will never read another of his plays. (SG)

Finds adult readers' efforts at and enjoyment of reading tasks varied depending on the texts and purpose for reading. Notes most readers relied on activating prior knowledge, rereading of text, and note taking. Finds a significant three-way interaction between reading source, setting, and occupation only. Illustrates how specific social context…