To determine what happens to a student's reading interests in an open classroom setting, three studies were conducted into the expressed reading interests of 1,078 first and second grade children in twelve public schools located in the urban and suburban areas of New York, Detroit, and Los Angeles. The children were interviewed individually and were asked initially to draw a picture showing what they would like most to read about or have read to them. In the nation-wide study it was found that first graders were more interested in fiction while second graders were more interested in factual topics. In the study of a first grade open classroom in Culver City, California, the choices of topics reflected a greater interest in scientific material, particularly animal subjects. And in the study of a traditional-turned-open classroom in Glen Cove, New York, it was found that the four topics receiving the greatest degree of preference included three which were categorized as realistic fiction and one categorized as imaginative fiction. It was decided that no clear-cut conclusions as to the influence of open classrooms on the reading interests of first grade children could be drawn from the three studies described. (HOD)