Using Take Home Stories is one method of providing success-oriented independent reading materials to reinforce basic vocabulary from any reading program. Most easy-to-read trade books have too many words that are not in the beginning reader's reading vocabulary. Take Home Stories can be written to be used after completion of an entire basal reader, after a unit within a reader, or after specific stories or lessons. Two criteria need to be employed when writing Take Home Stories: only the vocabulary that students have been taught may be used and all of the new vocabulary for a particular lesson should be included. Because they are inexpensive, consumable, and contain the exact reading vocabulary learned in the basal program, the stories are an ideal tool for parents to use in helping children at home. A variety of activities can be used with the stories including word recognition and meaning, word analysis, recalling details, locating answers, visual memory, sequence of events, drawing conclusions, finding the main idea, and using context clues. (TJ)