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A descriptive study determined whether reading aloud to young children promoted literacy and enhanced their desire to read. Subjects, 20 second-grade children (aged 6 to 7 years) in Avenel, New Jersey, were exposed to read-aloud sessions on a daily basis for a 6-week period. During each week, a specific genre of books was read aloud daily. At the end of each week, the participants were asked to record the title and author of the book they had chosen during their weekly library period. A questionnaire, relating to reading aloud, was also sent to 43 second-grade teachers within the same school district. Results indicated that 20.8 % of boys and 20 % of girls selected books of the same genre read aloud to them. Results also indicated a disparity between teacher views on children's selection of books of a similar genre and research results (68 % of teachers believed students chose books of the same genre, while only 20 % of the students actually did). (Contains 24 references and one table of data; the teacher questionnaire is attached.) (Author/RS) **********fr************************************************************ Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ***********f*****************************************************w****