According to recent research, there is a strong relationship between the amount of out-of-school reading a student engages in and his or her success in school in reading (Anderson, Fielding, & Wilson, 1988; Stanovich, 1986; Taylor, Frye, & Maruyama, 1990; Walberg & Tsai, 1984). This relationship reveals the importance of investigating why so few children choose to read outside-of-school. The purpose of this study was to investigate why some children choose to read out-of-school and others do not, focusing not only on factors that contribute to intermediate grade students' decisions to read, but also on the students' perspectives about these factors. The results of this study revealed several significant factors related to the decision to read. Using regression analysis, three of the variables studied proved to be statistically significant: self-concept as a reader, television viewing, and organized activities. The qualitative data helped to further explain factors related to voluntary reading. Children who came from homes where voluntary reading was promoted had parents who read aloud to them, modeled reading themselves for recreational purposes, recommended good books, and discussed books at home that they and their children were reading. It was also discovered through these same interviews that students who were in schools where they were given opportunities to read self-selected materials and were given access to materials that they were personally interested in reading were more likely to engage in voluntary reading than those in classrooms where these practices were not evident. This study also found that caution should be taken when relying on external rewards to motivate and promote voluntary reading.