This study examined whether reading books alone, without adult-led discussions or other intervention, can change children's attitudes toward specific objects. A variation of the semantic differential test was administered to 22 fifth graders to determine their attitudes toward seven countries. England, France, and Holland were regarded as favorable, Russia and Israel as unfavorable, and Spain and Japan as neutral. Books, pictures, cassette recordings of stories in the original languages, folk tales in English, and translated picture books from and about Israel, Russia, France, and Spain were displayed on a table in the classroom. The children were given unlimited access to the materials for three months. Records were kept of the books read by each child. None of the four countries was being studied, and the teacher did not discuss or recommend any of the books. She was also asked to avoid making any comment about any of the seven countries during the experiment. After three months the original test was administered again. Although some minor changes appeared that might imply some individual changes in attitude toward the different countries, no significant difference in attitude appeared that could be clearly attributed to the books and related materials. (TO)