Discover teacher-tested ideas, resources, and activities that will instill in your students a lifetime love of literature. Adapt these examples of literature-based instruction to your own curriculum and ignite the spark that will turn your students on to reading and inspire them to express their literary understanding in their writing.

Introduction -- A checklist for choosing nonfiction trade books / Peg Sudol, Caryn M. King -- Creating and using a database of children's literature / Alice P. Wakefield -- On time and poetry / Joanne Durham -- Text sets: One way to flex your grouping: in first grade, too! / Michael F. Opitz -- Come alive stories / Elizabeth J. Dewey -- Authors are a big deal / Ally McArdle, Mary Buchholz -- Author birthday celebration / Lauren J. Behar -- More predictable books: Gateways to a lifetime of reading / Marianne C. Saccardi -- Cultural diversity + supportive text = Perfect books for beginning readers / Michael F. Opitz -- Exploring bias using multicultural literature for children / Jim Barta / Martha Crouthers Grindler -- "Monstruos," "pesadillas," and other frights: A thematic unit / Carol Evans -- Defining the "multi-" in "multicultural" through children's literature / Lara L. Hillard -- Internationalism in Danish children's literature / Mary E. Blake, W. Gale Breedlove -- Introducing art history through children's literature / Rita Greco -- Activities from a tall tales unit / Jaynie Nesmith -- Promoting world peace and understanding: The Batchelder Award-winning books / Rosie Webb Joels, Jackie K. Barnette -- Choosing picture books about ecology / Audrey Rule, Joan Atkinson -- Using children's books as an intervention for attention-deficit disorder / Beth Fouse / Jane Ann Morrison -- Readers' workshop in a kindergarten classroom / John W. Bryan -- Caldecott Medal books and readability levels: Not just "picture" books / Julia Chamberlain, Dorothy Leal -- A Newbery Medal-winning combination: High student interest plus appropriate readability levels / Dorothy J. Leal, Julia Chamberlain-Solecki -- Should we travel by plane, car, train, or bus? Teacher/child collaboration in developing a thematic literacy center / Carolyn Ann Walker, Donna Allen, Debbie Glines -- Emerging literacy: Message boards in preschool / Barbara Laster, Betty Conte -- Encouraging young students to use interesting words in their writing / Megan S. Sloan -- The important thing: Connecting reading and writing in the primary grades / Karl A. Matz -- Reading and creating counting books / Joan C. Fingon -- Partner writers: A shared reading and writing experience / Lyn Bajtelsmit, Helen Naab -- Navigating the writing process: Strategies for young children / Candace C. Poindexter, Irene R. Oliver -- An author's storyboard technique as a prewriting strategy / Suzanne L. Harrington -- What's in a name? / Sandy K. Biles -- Fairy tales: a vehicle of literacy / Maggie Hoagland -- Phantasy Phacts: Creative writing from another perspective / Roman Taraban, Cynthia Orengil -- Form poems for tired words / Terry Henkelman -- Surprise me: The poetry of wet paint / David M. Salyer -- Choose-your-own writing / Dian G. Smith -- Writing to music / Linda George Scott -- Beyond the classroom: Publishing student work in magazines / Karen Bromley, Diane Mannix -- Beyond the classroom: Publishing student work in newspapers / Karen Bromley, Diane Mannix -- Student portfolios: Building self-reflection in a first-grade classroom / Lindy Vizyak -- Readers Theatre and the writing workshop: Using children's literature to prompt student writing / Loretta T. Stewart -- Students as authors / Anita Rinehart Nedeff, Nancy Brady, Barbara Maxwell, / Ruth Oaks, Mary Anne Seckel -- Nancie, you lied! With special thanks to Nancie Atwell / Dianne Dodsworth -- Enhancing reading and writing through competitions / Frances A. Karnes, Tracy L. Riley -- Appendix A / Providing books and other print materials / for classroom and school libraries: A position statement / of the International Reading Association -- Appendix B.