Describes a research project investigating whether at-risk kindergarten children's emergent literacy would improve if their parents were instructed on the importance of reading aloud to their kindergarten children and given books to read aloud to them on a daily basis. Notes limitations. Finds no significant differences on emergent literacy tests…

Offers a list of more than 50 books, in picture book and board book format, that are best suited to the developmental needs and interests of infants and preschool children. Books are listed under the following headings: identification of objects, rhythm and rhyme, pattern and repetition, and contrast and opposition. (AEF)

Reviews the benefits of early exposure to books for infants and toddlers. Benefits include language and vocabulary development and creation of an emotional connection to books and reading. Offers suggestions on reading to infants and toddlers, advice on selecting appropriate books, and tips for making simple homemade books. (TJQ)

Discusses the benefits of reading informational books with young readers. Topics include how to choose books that will interest young readers; books for reading aloud or reading alone; and collaborative reading, which connects an informational book to a recent experience, or connects a fiction book with a book of information. (LRW)

Examines how parents from different cultural groups mediated a simple narrative text to their 4-year-old children. Suggests when reading is less important for the parents personally, they are less inclined to deviate from the text to negotiate meaning. Notes the ethnic groups differed in how the parents interacted with their children, but these…

Used an ethnographical approach to study naturally occurring events when 3- to 6-year-olds in a Montessori school used books alone or with other children. Found that teacher practices encouraged the frequency and variety of book events, and that book events reflected the larger classroom and community cultures and underscored the value of…

Describes the eight-week "Reading is Fun" summer program, one of several ways the Metropolitan Library System serves Oklahoma County's at-risk youth. A lesson plan was developed that called for borrowing library books that related to a weekly theme, reading aloud to children, and hands-on activities. Other projects for at-risk youth are…

Describes some findings from the Books for Babies project, a central strand of Derbyshire's county-wide literacy initiative, Read On--Write Away! (ROWA!). Indicates that there are additional benefits for other family group members when a Book Start project includes follow-up activities and is connected to wider ranging community literacy…

This study investigated the effects of teaching mothers of low socioeconomic status (SES) to use decontextualized language during storybook reading with their preschool-age children. A multiple baseline design across behaviors and participants evaluated the effects of the intervention for five dyads. Mothers' and children's use of decontextualized…

Single-task and dual-task versions of verbal and spatial serial order memory tasks were administered to 120 students tested for working memory capacity with four previously validated measures. In the dual-task versions, similarity between the memory material and the material of the secondary processing task was varied. With verbal material, three…

This study examined whether distractor choices functioned differently for students without learning disabilities than they functioned for students with learning disabilities who received no accommodation, students with learning disabilities who received a read-aloud accommodation, and students with learning disabilities who received some form of…

The risk of tobacco use during adolescence may be traced back to early childhood, the time when a child is most vulnerable to environmental influence. We examined daily-life enrichment during pre-kindergarten period as a predictor of initiation of cigarette smoking among Asian American and Hispanic/Latino children during adolescence. Survey data…

The primary pedagogical principle of Reader's Theatre is that it "dramatizes" literature to provide both a visual and an oral stimulus for students who may be unaccustomed to using their imagination to experience literary works like novels, poems, essays, or short stories. Promoting a suggestive, "theatrical mind" approach to…

Shared book reading in families is strongly linked with successful school literacy and thus with identity, belonging and participation in literate societies. From an "emergent" perspective, literacy is recognised as beginning from birth. However, despite exceptions such as research into the UK program, "Bookstart", most…

Children often become deeply immersed in stories. Just as often, however, they may resist reading, or reading certain types of texts. The authors present a typology of six ways in which young children resist stories. Though educators may be inclined to view such opposition as a roadblock to understanding, children's resistance may be the occasion…