“Maybe . . . 97.4 percent of kids’ books are crud.” —Mac Barnett, from Make Believe: On Telling Stories to Children When the famed children’s book author and National Ambassador for Young People’s literature asserted this in his first foray into adult literature, the children’s literary community showed up in force to declare their outrage at such betrayal by one of their own. To be fair, Barnett’s actual thesis is that authentic children’s literature is complex and psychologically important...

The Love of Reading One post-school afternoon, a passing parent popped her head into my classroom, introduced herself as Zach’s mother, and thanked me for teaching her son “to appreciate literature.” This memory was triggered recently by a headline, “Only 10% of boys aged 14–16 read daily for pleasure, National Literacy Trust.” Following this line of logic, Zach was one of the 90% or so when he reached 16 or 17 years of age, but something happened during the course of his American Literature...

Why Images Remain an Important Element of Literacy Instruction By Shelley Evans-Marshall, MA, with Gladys Rosa-Mendoza The photograph, like the one shown here, is black and white. The subject’s expression is stoic. Mexican artist Frida Kahlo sits crouched on a step outside a doorway. She wears her characteristic Tehuana dress and layered jewelry. Her right hand clasps her left wrist. Her left elbow anchors her leg. Her left hand—rings on every finger—cradles her face, eyes cast downward. The...