Meaning does not reside in the text or the reader but results from interactions between text, reader, and the interpretive communities that the readers belong to or that influence them. These interpretive communities are those communities or authorities that influence the reader/writer in interpreting texts, with resulting ideational, interpersonal, and personal effects. The interpretive communities serve seven functions: (1) selecting (topic, book, project for performance); (2) gathering additional information/collaborating; (3) integrating reading, writing, illustrating, and performing; (4) analyzing readership/authorship; (5) interpreting (getting/giving meaning); (6) taking a stance/perspective; and (7) evaluating/questioning (self-others). For a child, the interpretive communities consist of the intrapersonal, or the child's relationship between the self as reader and the self as writer as authorities and influences during interpretation. It also consists of the interpersonal, or the child's relationship with teachers, peers, family, and others as authorities and influences. The reading and writing logs and thinksheets of one little girl, Jill, at Atkinson Academy (New Hampshire) reveal several important roles that interpretive communities play. For Jill, a positive attitude toward herself as an author depended on her stories making sense and being considered great by her interpretive communities. Peer interpretive communities seem to play a much stronger role for writing than for reading in most areas, especially for interpreting texts. (HOD)