This study, conducted in a junior high school in Canberra, used naturalistic research methodology and idiographic data analysis. As the results obtained in the study were time and context specific, the object was to reveal the personal factors which affected the nature of the reading experience for individual research participants. The theoretical basis of the research was derived from Louise Rosenblatt's transactional theory and focused on the reading experiences of adolescents with whole class novels. Three research techniques were employed in the exploration of aesthetic reader responses to two whole class novels. The techniques: reading journals, small group discussions and creative written responses to the text were implemented sequentially and revealed different levels and stages of individual and group responses from the 'primary spontaneous' to a considered reflective response. Data was explored through the case study mode of analysis which included information relevant to the individual research participants and the study context. The research explored the integration of the individual's evocation of the text with the individual's awareness of self, text, literature and the wider social context. The research data concluded that the employment of classroom practices which focus on a full, individual transaction with a text promotes the development of critical awareness of and familiarity with the text. This sound understanding of the individual's evocation of the text forms a self-aware and firm basis for the development of active, engaged and critical readers of texts.