Educational and developmental researchers suggest that children who have experienced homelessness suffer both in self-esteem and in literacy development, although early research is not complete. The Reading Connection (TRC), a community-based nonprofit organization in northern Virginia, focuses on the social aspect of reading, rather than portraying it as simply a matter of decoding. Once a week volunteers visit shelters, read aloud with children, and conduct reading-related activities or crafts. Over the years, TRC has developed partnerships with the shelters it serves. TRC and First Book, another children's literacy organization, recently joined forces to create a book club that provides recently homeless families with a monthly package containing two books for each child, literacy tips and activities, and an order form, book list, and self-addressed stamped envelope. Both the shelter-based program and the book club have faced some challenges during their implementation. Areas in which TRC can increase its practical application of literacy research include focusing on parents, writing, and various cultural traditions that include oral language. Lessons and ideas that can be taken from this model to support literacy development in homeless children globally include: homeless families need encouragement to draw on their oral language traditions to bolster oral language development; and the presence and availability of reading materials are essential for children's continued literacy development. By investing in the literacy development of homeless children and families, such programs can help homeless children and families can experience both success during and after the crisis of homelessness. (Contains eight references.) (RS)