Current theory posits that comprehension and meaning involve not only text but also what the reader brings to the text and the contextual elements of the reading. A study investigated how eight students in grade 9 read and created meaning from short story assignments in their English classrooms. Concurrent think-aloud protocols from four short story readings were the primary data source, and these were supplemented by classroom observations and three interviews. The teacher also participated in three interviews. Results indicated that students used their experiences with written texts, personal texts, and sociocultural texts to create meaning for assignments given in this classroom context. These texts formed the basis of the coding system and included some overlapping codes for those responses drawing upon several textualizations. Classroom influences in the form of intertextual substances and processes related to which texts readers selected and used in their short story readings. In addition to these classroom elements, individual reading styles also were represented in the protocols. Findings suggest that communities, whether classroom, social, or cultural, influence not only the construction of texts but also how those texts are used by members of these groups to create meaning. (Contains 16 references.) (RS)