Discusses a literature-inspired model of teaching writing and two scenarios of reading and writing connections in the classroom. Presents several reading and writing lessons drawn from the children's book "The Bat Boy and His Violin" by Gavin Curtis. Discusses Curtis' craft and demonstrates how to use this book to teach writing. Includes brief…

Argues that the way teachers and students transact with a piece of literature needs to change if teachers are to change the way students read and see themselves as readers. Suggests teachers need to support a variety of responses and avoid the tendency to reduce discussion to a search for a single main idea. Includes a brief response by Susan…

Presents a literature cluster composed of stories about schools that are adaptable to readers' theater and appropriate for use with grades 3-6 students. Presents a synopsis of each text (a book of poetry, 2 nonfiction books, 6 novels and 2 picture books) along with suggestions for adapting and presenting them as readers' theater. Includes a brief…

Discusses how to bring up and discuss the issues of race and class. Explores how to approach, in the classroom, the idea of the white supremacists and the anti-white name-calling in the book "Maniac Magee" by Jerry Spinelli. Proposes that educators who are involved with children's literature must rethink how they read children's literature. (SG)

Discusses the use of literature clusters (8 to 12 children's books on a particular topic) to enhance learning and instruction. Concludes that the process of developing a literature cluster on intergenerational relationships will result in a cluster that expresses both the participants' experiences and their understanding of the intended audience.…

Presents one first-year teacher's experience with incorporating literature into her fifth grade class. Notes the lack of support from the administration and fellow teachers. Observes that when readers talk together about books, their "socially" constructed meanings can represent the range of their experiences, ideas, and backgrounds. Aims to…

Explores the relationship between literary theory and children's literature in teacher-education classrooms, positioning itself in the gap between books and children, texts and readers, and theory and practice in literature. Concludes by offering the author's experience as an example of the richness the use of literary theory brings to an…

Discusses a need for "post picture books" (which do not contain an orderly progression of story elements) to be evaluated and understood using different criteria. Considers how literary theory provides a structure for ordering the chaos. Discusses how new metafictive books reflect new literary codes and a new dynamic reading process of…

Reviews perspectives on how children's literature is used in the classroom, and how literature contributes to a broader conception of literacy. Deals with literature as a tool for the development of various sorts of literate abilities, and literature as the enabler of literary understanding. Offers a concrete example involving first and second…

Describes how literature is used in elementary classrooms, and is a problem in pedagogical practice. Argues for the need to place a greater emphasis on the study of literature as a subject in the reading program and to help students develop "literary literacy." Suggests a holistic approach to teaching literature that combines transactional and…

Clarifies the "efferent" and "aesthetic" stance on Louise Rosenblatt's theoretical continuum by relating her model to the plot, characters, and scenes in Lois Lowry's "The Giver." Shows that Rosenblatt's view applies to the ways readers read texts and to the way characters in the texts read their text-worlds. Presents implications for aesthetic…

Presents annotations of 30 notable children's books in all genres (published in 1996). Includes suggestions of experiences, activities, and related literature for each work of literature. (RS)

Argues that teachers should facilitate and promote the admission of children into the "literacy club," but notes that many teacher-education students are not yet active, passionate members of the literacy club. Describes using "reading clubs" in teacher-education courses to expose preservice teachers to the passion and joy of children's…