A comparative study of the quantitiative leisure reading habits of 85 female public school teachers and a group of 95 women similar to the teachers in demographic and sociological respects is presented. Several relationships were statistically significant at the .01 level as indicated by the Chi Square test of association. A significant relationship existed between the number of books and magazines read by adult females and their occupations. Teachers read more books than nonteachers, and teachers in their twenties read more books than older teachers. Teachers with 1-9 years of experience read more books than teachers with 10 or more years. Among all respondents, education was a major determinant of the number of books read. The study concluded that the teachers and nonteachers were not active in the wider reaches of literate pursuits and that the vast majority of children have little contact with enthusiastic, adult readers. References are included. (RT)