ILANA ELKAD-LEHMAN SPINNING A TALE: INTERTEXTUALITY AND INTERTEXTUAL APTITUDE ABSTRACT. Literature teaching aims at providing the tools for meaningful read- ing. This relies on active reading which, in turn, is based on background knowledge of language, culture, and literature and on thinking habits and dispositions. Inter- textuality expands the scope of text interpretation beyond the reader, carrying it to the meeting place of texts. The term intertextuality disrupts notions of meaning. Using in-depth, synoptic reading of ‘‘Sigi & Threads’’ (Zarch, 1995), this study presents intertext in children’s literature. The complex challenge of developing in- tertextual aptitudes in learners has conceptual, curricular, and methodological per- spectives. In addition to constructing knowledge of literature and culture, the instructional processes should include repeated modeling of thinking in the act of intertextual reading, accompanied by coaching in metacognitive processes. Fur- thermore, instruction should foster thinking development, the use of broad lateral thinking, associative thinking, focusing, and critical thinking. The challenge is to arrive at a state of mindfulness, using intertextual aptitudes frequently and sponta- neously until such use becomes a habit of mind. KEY WORDS: Associative thinking, Fostering thinking skills through Literature, Hilla Havkin (illustrator), Intertextual aptitudes, Intertextual reading, Literature teaching, Metacognitive processes of intertextual reading, Modeling of thinking, Nurith Zarchi (poet), Teacher education 1. Instruction of Literature and Intertextuality ‘‘It has to be short and sweet...because if they get it, they’ll come and get it.’’ Sigi the spider, the main character in Zarchi’s story Sigi & Threads (1995), was thinking of a name for a store when she used these words. I use these words, and this story to illustrate my concept of literature and intertextual instruction. Currently, most children and adolescents who read say, ‘‘it has to be short;’’ they seek facility: ‘‘if they get it, they’ll come and get it.’’ This paper presents a concept of instruction in literature that expects more from stu- dents. From my vantage point as a teacher and a teacher educator, literature instruction provides students with complex and thoughtful reading experi- ences, engages them in broad and varied cultural worlds, develops reading abilities and establish a feeling of self-efficacy. L1 – Educational Studies in Language and Literature (2005) 5: 39–56 Ó Springer 2005 DOI 10.1007/s10674-005-4953-z