A Library Study Of Free Reading Habits Of Three Hundred And Twenty-Nine Students Of Blackshear Elementary School, Austin, Texas

In the Blackshear Elementary School, as in a large number of schools, the textbook is the major instrument used in the teaching of reading. Yet, it is in no wise intended that guidance in the development of reading proficiency be limited to the basal text, for it is important that children form the habit of reading extensively. The modern basal reading program makes provisions for children to read three general types of materials; (a) those which report actual experiences, episodes, and incidents, (b) those which are true to life but do not report actual occurrences; and (c) those which make no pretense of being anything other than fanciful. There is, however, a fourth type of material that educators should wish to have youth disregard in their choices of readings. They are the materials which pretend, but fail to relate true occurrences or to be true to life, such as cheap adventure stories. The many libraries now flourishing in the elementary schools throughout the nation give conclusive evidence of the importance of providing pupils with a wide variety of reading materials from which the individual pupil may be permitted to choose. Through library offerings, reading can be tailored to individual abilities, interests and needs. Very definitely, the quality and quantity of reading materials voluntarily read by boys and girls are recognized as problems of vital concern to those persons who are responsible for the personal development of youth. The extent and the nature of children\u27s reading interests have become of immediate concern to educators as well as others concerned in any way with child development, since the advent of the gaudy products of the press, the comic books, some twenty-five years ago. The press, the radio, television, parent groups, and professional meetings have brought to fore many controversial issues in this regard. This widespread interest may well be regarded and interpreted as an expressed desire for the improvement of reading instruction in the schools of the nation. Educators are agreed that the development of worthwhile reading interests and tastes constitutes one of the major goals of reading instruction