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Noting that a major issue in education today is the concern about students' ability to read critically and to solve problems, this paper describes an analysis of five texts focusing on reading and learning in the content areas to determine what they had to say about critical reading and strategies for teaching critical reading--specifically, whether current texts treat critical reading as a skill or a process. The five texts discussed are (1) "Reading Strategies for Middle and Secondary School Teachers," by Burmeister; (2) "Reading Instruction through Content Teaching," by Cheek and Cheek; (3) "Reading Improvement in the Secondary School," by Dechant; (4) "Reading and Learning from Text," by Singer and Donlan, and (5) "Content Area Reading," by Vacca. The first section of the paper discusses the definitions of critical thinking and reading given by each of the authors. The second section deals with the strategies for teaching reading comprehension offered by each text, observing that, in general, critical reading is taught as a subskill of comprehension with appropriate exercises to strengthen the component parts of critical reading. The third part analyzes the texts' content, noting that all writers include critical reading as an aspect of comprehension, agreeing with Vacca that reading is a thoughtful, cognitive process. (HTH)

1Boy Crusoe

By Allan Eric

Also published as" A Yankee Crusoe" . A 15 year old hard working and studious farm boy finds the lure of adventure on the seas as a merchant seaman more than he can resist. This is his story. " I was born in a little town in the State of Maine, near the close of the Civil War. My boyhood life did not differ materially from that of the average farmer's son in the remote country districts of New England--except, perhaps, that I read more and thought more. Hard work on the rugged soil, two terms each year in the little yellow country schoolhouse, a day's fishing now and then filled the early years of my life full to over-flowing. " What he gets is enough excitement and adventure to overflow his wildest dreams. How he experiences disaster and uses his wits and knowledge to overcome every problem makes for a great read. - Summary by Phil Chenevert