The following statements were ratified by members of the Literature Panel on behalf of the associations they represent. Together, they create a common rationale for the use of literature in Alaskan schools.

Literature is enjoyable for people of all ages and has lifelong importance for all people; therefore, it should be the goal of Alaskan schools to produce lifelong readers and writers.

• People learn to read by reading, by being read to, and by writing and discussing literature.
• Reading instruction, particularly initial instruction, should be based on literature.
• Students at all grade levels should be read to every day.
• Parents are a child's first teachers and should be encouraged to be models and active partners in the child's learning to be a lifelong reader.

Access to quality literature and other materials and services in a professionally staffed school library that meets Alaska School Library/Media standards is an essential component in any school curriculum.

• Literature should be integrated across all subjects of the curriculum.
• Reading, writing, listening. and speaking should be taught as integrated processes at elementary and secondary levels.
• Students should read representative community, local, regional, national, and world literature.

• All languages, cultures, and geographic areas have noteworthy oral and/or written literature.
• Literature exists in many languages and, when possible, should be read in the original language, as it was written.
• A culture teaches through its literature.
• Literature helps us better understand the human condition and our communal lives.
• American literature is multi-ethnic and must be recognized as such.
• A given text can support many interpretations.

• Specific grade level designation attached to primary literature recommendations are relative. The suitability of selection depends on a child's development and on individual differences; therefore, students should be given the opportunity to read books at various grade levels and in various interest areas.
• Teachers must provide regular opportunities for students to read self-selected materials.

Professional development must be provided for Alaskan teachers on teaching and using literature in their classrooms. We must teach teachers in the same way we want them to teach the students, modeling ongoing collaboration and inquiry, reading diverse pieces of literature, discussing and writing about their meaning and intent, discovering ways to enrich the reading and lives of the students they teach.