Literature Exposure and Desire for Closure

According to a study, the need for cognitive closure has been found to be associated with a variety of suboptimal information processing strategies, leading to decreased creativity and rationality. When compared to participants in the essay condition, participants in the short story condition experienced a significant decrease in self-reported need for cognitive closure. The effect was particularly strong for participants who were habitual readers (of either fiction or non-fiction). These findings suggest that reading fictional literature could lead to better procedures of processing information generally, including those of creativity.

Djikic, M., Oatley, K., & Moldoveanu, M. C. (2013). Opening the closed mind: The effect of exposure to literature on the need for closure. Creativity Research Journal, 25(2), 149-154. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2013.783735

Librarians' images in children's literature study

This article provides an exploration of children's literature
featuring contemporary and historical images of libraries as settings
for empowering diversity and influencing reading attitudes and
behaviors. The featured selections focus on personal, family,
community, and international library experiences and events. The
protagonists represented include individuals of racial, ethnic, and
language diversity. Both women and men are featured as librarians and
both girls and boys as library patrons. The featured selections,
representing a variety of genres, provide empowering images and
positive messages about the love of reading, specifically in the
context of the library community.
Monroe, S. (2008). Check It Out: Diverse Images of the Library Experience in Children's Literature. School Libraries Worldwide, 41(1).

Teen knowledge survey

Survey Finds Teenagers Ignorant on Basic History and Literature Questions
In a phone survey of U.S. teens, researchers found that a significant proportion of teenagers live in “stunning ignorance” of history and literature.
Hess, F. (2008). What students don't know, even now. Washington, DC: Common Core.
http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.27576,filter.all/pub_detail.asp