Mention teachers' practice of reading aloud to their students and a typical image comes to mind: In a cozy corner of an elementary classroom, youngsters are gathered on a rug, listening intently to "Charlotte's Web." But, in fact, many teachers across the country are reading to students in middle and high schools, too, and some education researchers say more teachers of adolescents ought to be using the same strategy. Many teachers made reading aloud a regular practice after attending sessions at education conferences by Jim Trelease, a journalist and the author of the "Read-Aloud Handbook." "If the only thing a teacher shares is from a textbook, how are you going to get students excited about reading?" he said. Other teachers found by trial and error that reading aloud worked for adding interesting content or making literature come alive for students. And some educators say they read to their classes to model good reading, such as by asking comprehension questions as they go along, or simply because students love it. This article discusses the research findings about reading aloud and explores how teachers use read-alouds at the middle school level.