“It’s Easier When It’s Personal”: What Made Reading Real for Two Tweens with Learning Disabilities

Through a series of interviews with teachers, parents, and the students themselves, this article explores the unique experiences of how two African American adolescent readers with learning disabilities made personal connections to literature during their middle school years. Participant voices then tell the story of how these two individuals became more motivated readers in early adolescence, an occurrence that coincided with measurable gains in reading achievement.