This report describes the plans for, implementation of, and results of a reading club program conducted at a middle school. This program was a modification of an unsuccessful one that was criticized by the staff and students for lack of structure and meaning. The literature supported the need for students taking time out of the school day for pleasure reading. Krashen (1993), Atwell (1998), and Irvin (1998) all have recommended that students should be permitted to read appropriate reading materials of their choice and that they should be provided with a wide range of materials from which to choose. Therefore, a revised club program, the Take Time To Read Club, designed to offer an alternative to pullout clubs, was agreed upon by a club revision committee. Three objectives were established. The 1st objective was to increase the amount of time students spent reading for pleasure. The 2nd objective was to improve the perception of the reading club program as measured by an 80% positive response rate to a faculty survey. The 3rd objective was to increase reading achievement levels by at least 5% as measured by Metropolitan Achievement Test and Grade 8 Early Warning Test (New Jersey State Department of Education, 1997) scores. None of the 3 objectives was completely realized as the result of this practicum. However, increases did occur in pleasure-reading times in instances when motivational factors were present. Also, teachers' positive perceptions did increase by 22% to 57%. There were slight increases in test scores in the 6th and 7th grades.

The diploma thesis deals with free-time reading and is conceived in two parts. The theoretical part deals with reading, leisure time, pubescent readership, influences on children's readership, and support for leisure reading. It also deals with readers' clubs and research in the field of reading. The practical part consists of research in the readers' clubs at elementary schools and kindergartens in T. Šobra in Písek, J.K. Tyl and Záhoří in order to discover what kind of relationship children had to reading prior to attending the reading club and what reading relationship they have after a certain period of time of visiting such a club.

O objetivo dessa pesquisa foi lançar luz à questão da experiência estética da leitura literária dialógica e seus efeitos para os sujeitos, no âmbito da prática social de clubes de leitura. Para tal, buscou-se compreender como se dá essa experiência, descrever suas características e compreender a influência de seus efeitos na subjetividade e sociabilidade dos leitores e leitoras, procurando revelar como sujeitos comuns a vivenciam no cotidiano. Foi utilizado o método fenomenológico em pesquisa qualitativa aplicado a três grupos de pessoas de ambos os sexos e com idades entre 23 e 52 anos (considerando apenas os participantes fixos), integrantes de três clubes de leitura com perfis e preferências literárias variadas, em funcionamento na capital e região metropolitana de São Paulo. A discussão de resultados foi realizada por meio de um diálogo interdisciplinar entre teóricos da fenomenologia, da antropologia, da estética e da teoria literária. Os achados da pesquisa envolvem questões relativas à peculiar relação das mulheres com a leitura e com a literatura; a possibilidade de ampliação das formas de subjetivação a partir do encontro com o livro e do diálogo com outros leitores e leitoras e a criação de novos espaços de pertencimento propiciados por esses encontros / The aim of this research was to shed light on the question of the aesthetic experience of literary reading and its effects on subjects within the social practice of reading clubs. To do this, we sought to understand how this experience is given, to describe its characteristics and to understand the influence of its effects on the subjectivity and sociability of readers, trying to reveal how common subjects experience it in everyday life. The phenomenological method in qualitative research was applied to three groups of people of both genders and aged between 23 and 52 years (considering only the fixed participants), members of three reading clubs with varied literary profiles and preferences, operating in the capital and metropolitan region of São Paulo. The discussion of results was carried out through an interdisciplinary dialogue between autors of phenomenology, anthropology, aesthetics and literary theory. The findings of the research involve questions related to women\'s peculiar relationship with reading and literature; the possibility of expanding the forms of subjectivation from the encounter with the book and the dialogue with other readers and the creation of new spaces of belonging provided by these meetings