ABSTRACT
'The main emphasis should be on the encouragement of wider reading in order to develop independent, responsive and enthusiastic readers.' Different readers probably have different needs but there seem to be some important common essentials. They need access to this material in classrooms, in libraries, in displays, in bookclubs, bookfairs, bookshops and, especially, at home. Groups can be given responsibility for classroom display areas and given regular opportunities to provide oral updates on the progress of their work for the rest of the class. Another concern which many teachers raise when faced with the prospect of teaching the prescribed lists at Key Stages 3 and 4 is the specific issue of boys' attitudes to and achievement in English in secondary schools. For teachers concerned to find a place for women writers in a National Curriculum in which they are apparently peripheral, an exploration of the origins of tales of the supernatural is an ideal place to begin.
