[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] As education priorities in the United States continue to be debated and legislated, perhaps this is the best time to examine how the very influential piece of legislation known as No Child Left Behind (U.S. Department of Education, 2002a) has influenced U.S. schools, teachers, and students. In looking forward to future legislation and possible reiterations of NCLB, it also might be instructive to look back to the beginnings of the NCLB legislation. First, the National Reading Panel (2000) worked to examine and synthesize effective elementary reading instruction and released their findings to include five basic building blocks or pillars, upon which all reading instruction would be based. Then, legislation based on the National Reading Panel's findings was introduced, leading to President Bush signing into law the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 on January 8, 2002. As the authors considered this background and the law's implications, they pursued the following research question: How often were concepts related to "books, free reading, or children's literature" considered in developing this important legislation? This study focused on the role of children's literature and the concepts of free reading in the development and implementation of NCLB.
