Literary Gaps Invite Creative Interaction.

Literary gaps were identified by Wolfgang Iser in 1974 as "vacant pages" that invite the reader to reflect and enter into the text thereby motivating students to experience the text as reality. Arthur Applebee, in 1979, identified three categories to distinguish children's types of interaction with stories: (1) the complexity of literary and personal experiences, (2) a mastery of techniques and conventions of literary forms, and (3) the relationship between the experience of the work and the reader's own life. To determine the types of interaction that occur with modern fantasy, a picture story book was read to children in first, fourth, and sixth grades. They were then asked to fill in the literary gaps with their own writing. The examples of children's writing revealed that they draw upon their experiences with literature and life to interact with the work and this supported the literary theories of Iser and Applebee. (A list of steps for teachers to use to elicit creative responses from children and a booklist of modern fantasies for children age six through twelve are included.) (SRT)