This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 20 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: the teaching of children's literature; the study of American Indian literature and Biblical literature at the college level; the relationship between response to emotion-oriented poetry and emotions, interests, and personal needs; the use of role-playing, improvisation, and performance in the teaching of literature; children's preferences with regard to elements of humor, illustrations, and types of first-person protagonists in literature; the effect of reading on attitudes toward the elderly; the perception of literature by silent readers and oral interpreters; features of comic book formulas; award-winning translated children's books; effects of a fantasy literature program on kindergarten children's creativity; effects of selected black literature on the self-concept and reading achievement of black male students; fairy tales; hero archetypes; children's moral responses to literature; and such themes of realistic fiction as alcohol consumption and achievement and affiliation motives of male and female characters. (GW)