In the 1970s and 1980s the white Australian author Patricia Wrightson's cross-cultural fantasies concerning the conflict of White characters with Aboriginal folk spirits struck a chord with many adolescent and adult readers who judged these novels to be outstandingly successful. A classroom-based study examined the responses of a class of seventh grade, upper middle class, urban White Australian readers to two of Wrightson's novels. Students listened to daily chapter readings of "A Little Fear," then used introspective recall to formulate written responses immediately after each chapter. An intensive case study was then conducted of three readers selected from the mixed-ability class because of their fluency in articulating responses and enthusiasm to continue the study. These three readers read the second novel, "The Narqun and the Stars," silently and in individual daily sessions, and wrote responses to each chapter using introspective recall. Results indicated that there was a widespread lack of congruence of most students' interpretations of major elements of the novels. The study demonstrated the role of the reading community in facilitating or hindering a personal evolution of concepts necessary to allow readers to understand and accept a new and unexpected cultural literary interpretation. When interacting with challenging, multi-layered texts, young readers need time for reflection, a forum for negotiating meaning, and encouragement to make connections between existing constructs to expand and enrich their world representations. (Seventeen references are attached.) (RS)