Includes bibliographical references (p. 313-332) and index.

Reading is thinking -- Reading is strategic -- Effective comprehension instruction: teaching, tone and assessment -- Tools for active literacy: the nuts and bolts of comprehension instruction -- Text matters: choice makes a difference -- Monitoring comprehension: the inner conversation -- Activating and connecting to background knowledge: a bridge from the new to the known -- Questioning: the strategy that propels readers forward -- Visualizing and inferring: making what's implicit explicit -- Determining importance in text: the nonfiction connection -- Summarizing and synthesizing information: the evolution of thought -- Content literacy: reading and understanding social studies and science -- Topic studies: a framework for research and exploration -- Reading to understand textbooks -- The genre of test reading -- Appendix A: great books for teaching content in history, social studies, science, music, art, and literacy -- Appendix B: magazines and web sites -- Appendix C: professional journals for selection of children's books -- Appendix D: assessment interview with fourth graders.