Discusses several books that make the point that readers do and should read stories that are judged to be truly different from stories that are made up. Argues that the responsibility of reading teachers is to help young readers become thoughtfully engaged in their suspension of disbelief. (RS)

Muses over and responds to several "letters" regarding top 10 lists for reading teachers, political correctness, best sellers, and Howard Gardner on drill and discipline. (SR)

Remarks on recent articles and books regarding literacy and reading in America. (SR)

Discusses Keith Stanovich's essay "Romance and Reality" published in the December 1993/January 1994 issue of "Reading Teacher." Reviews Stanovich's arguments about reading research relating to phonics, reading processes, phonological awareness, and reading difficulties. (RS)

Discusses the enjoyment of sentences and offers numerous examples. Wonders how many books in the reading profession are written to appeal to people who do not really read in the first place, from preschoolers to teachers to post-doc researchers. (SR)

Maintains that, despite their guilt about books they "ought to" be reading, teachers can trust themselves to guide their own reading in worthwhile ways. Offers a personal example of how reading books leads to more books. (SR)

Muses over how many books bought are actually read. Reflects on factors involved in the decision not merely to buy books but to read them. Notes that some people maintain that most of what is actually read is pap. Wonders whether reading teachers should pay more attention to what people read, as well as how people read. (SR)

Discusses the theory-to-practice issue in reading education. (FL)

Discusses Janice A. Radway's "Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy and Popular Literature." Argues that reading educators should consider a more general premise embodied in the book: in order to understand the appeal (or lack of it) of certain books, then educators first need to understand what the books are for the students who read them. (RS)

Presents a humorous treatment of trends in the literacy business: blaming somebody else and tackling complex problems as if they were easy. (SR)

Argues that reading teachers ought to pay as much attention to what students read as to how they read. Illustrates the state of children's publishing with the heavily revised and simplified Hardy Boys series and with sloppy books about dinosaurs. (RS)

Discusses comments about and responses to an article on semiotics by Donald J. Cunningham in the June 1992 issue of the "Educational Psychology Review." Discusses the semiotic method of juxtaposition, juxtaposing a menace being posed to reading teachers with the menace experienced in W. W. Jacobs' classic ghost story "The Monkey's Paw." (SR)

Recounts in an amusing style that a colleague of the author has served as his "muse" by sending him materials on reading instruction that might be of interest, and that she often was not amused at how he used her input in his columns. (SKC)

Discusses the dilemma concerning whether students should be taught specific knowledge or strategic knowledge. Focuses on E. D. Hirsch's position in his book "Dictionary of Cultural Literacy" and a synthesis position presented by David Perkins and Gavriel Salomon in several articles. Argues that students need both specific and strategic…

Warns against tendencies in educational circles to make lists but not check them twice. Discusses Denny Taylor's "Learning Denied" and Bart Kosko's "Fuzzy Thinking: The New Science of Fuzzy Logic," as well as seven education articles. (SR)