Suggesting that every child has the right to know first-hand the power and possibility that comes from being a literate individual, this textbook offers prekindergarten through primary education preservice teachers the opportunity to participate in the thinking and decision making that face teachers of young children. Selected theoretical foundations for developmental reading and writing are presented; knowledge that is considered most basic to classroom learning for children in prekindergarten through primary grades. The first part of the book (chapters 1 through 5) provides the theoretical foundation. The second part (chapters 6 through 14) provides strategies for implementing literature-based practice, emphasizing Readers' and Writer's Workshops as well as effective strategies for individual, small-group, and whole-group teaching. Chapters in the book are: (1) Developing Competent Readers and Writers: An Introduction; (2) Thinking about Learning To Read: Making Meaning with Print; (3) Thinking about Learning To Write: Making Meaningful Print; (4) Thinking about and Learning Words: Meaningful Patterns in Print; (5) Preparing To Teach with Children's Literature; (6) Read-Aloud and Independent Reading: Absolute Musts!; (7) Writer's Workshop and Beyond: Putting the Writing Process to Work; (8) Language Experience Approach: Using Children's Language for Reading and Writing; (9) Literature-Based Reading: An Overview of Possibilities; (10) Shared Reading: Literature-Based Reading for Emerging Readers; (11) Whole Class Study, Literature Circles, and Reader's Workshop: Literature-Based Reading for Developing Transitional Readers; (12) Developmental Word Study: Word Recognition and Spelling Development; (13) Working with a Basal Reading Series; and (14) Teaching with Units: Integrating Learning Experiences. Appendixes contain picture cards for sorting activities; sample word lists and word sorts; and recordkeeping forms for stages of word knowledge development. (RS)