Book excerpt: Based on a cognitive skills approach, these student-centered reading skills texts help students go beyond rote learning to develop the solid reading skills good readers take for granted. You'll find the following skill development areas: -- Reading for Pleasure -- encourages students to master new reading strategies and broaden their vocabularies by helping them select books appropriate to their level and enjoy them on their own. -- Reading Comprehension Skills -- emphasizes strategic reading skills such as skimming, scanning, recognizing topics and main ideas, understanding sentences, and making inferences. -- Thinking Skills -- provides targeted practice in inference and analytical skills. -- Reading Faster -- uses high-interest short fiction and nonfiction passages to help students develop speed and flexibility in their reading. The four sections are intended to be used concurrently. Challenging excerpts from short stories, plays, encyclopedias, and articles help studentsexpand their developmental reading skills. Additional exercises focus on improving reading rate and reading for pleasure.