The twofold purpose of this study was to determine the reasons and motivations for the choice of favorite books made by fifth grade children and to determine whether teachers and librarians were able to identify the reasons influencing the children in this selection. Results showed that primary interest areas were animals, mystery and ghost stories, fantasy and science fiction, sports and sport biography, friends and school life. The data suggest that fifth grade children read widely, both for information and pleasure; that friends and peer groups are influential in children's book choices; that teachers are slightly more influential than librarians in these choices; that television and movies have the least influence compared to other motivations studied; that children identify authors as a reason for book selection; that teachers were better able than librarians to identify reading motivations; that animal stories are the favorite type of reading for all children, girls favoring horse stories and boys reading horse stories and other types of animal stories. (Author/DI)