This book is intended to transcend the gap between parents and teachers so that they may work together to benefit the youngsters they share. The intent, focus, and direction of the book are all highly connected and recursive. The intent of the book is to diminish the differences between the roles of parent and teacher so that they may become members of the same team with the goal being the support of learning. The focus of the book is on what should be known about literacy and learning to give support to the young students. The direction of the book will be toward understanding learning as a social, cognitive, emotional, and life-supporting endeavor that starts at home at birth and continues at home, at school, and in the community throughout an individual's entire lifetime. The book is about examining the reading process and the common misconceptions that are held almost equally by both parents and teachers. The book points out that much of learning means getting the idea of learning--thus, learning to read and write means getting the idea of reading and writing and then gaining control over the complexities of reading and writing by reading and writing. The book concludes with a list of publishers of quality children's literature and a list of Caldecott Medal and Newbery Award winners. (NKA)