Reading for Life is shaped by two research-based assumptions: students are most engaged when the material is revelant to their lives and students are most successful when they are active learners. To support the first premise, author Corrine Fennessy brings a career topic into focus for each chapter and uses carefully chosen Oreal-worldO reading selections so that students can start to think about possible careers, set goals, and recognize the relevance of reading to their everyday lives. For the latter principle, Fennessy engages students in activities-based learning in order to help students master key reading skills. Students learn by doing, not by reading extensively about how to do something. The end result is students mastery of key reading skills and strategies while discovering connections among readings, themselves, and everyday life.