This case study explores the perspectives of a group of sixth-grade language arts students concerning their views of the contexts of reading and responding to books in school. The researcher took the role of participant-observer and characterizes this study as a qualitative interpretive case study. As participant-observer, the researcher collected data in the form of fieldnotes, interviews, and written responses; the researcher analyzed data using the constant comparison method. Results of the study indicated that in this setting children respond to texts differently in the contexts under which they read and write about books. There were four different classroom contexts for responding to books in school: “silent” reading, book selection, writing, and aesthetic activity. Three conclusions were drawn from the study and make up an emerging grounded theory: (a) Children respond to books in patterns specific to school contexts, (b) Classroom contexts for reading and responding to books are socially constructed through children's interactions, and (c) Children constructed a community of readers by interacting with one another to respond to books in socially constructed contexts serving as information networks.
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