Discusses the narrative role of images in three prize-winning children's books. Argues that the contribution of images to interpretive possibilities of the narrative are typically not sufficiently addressed in reviewing picture books. Suggests reviewers and teachers should take an approach described as "reading images." (PM)

Reviews "Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning about Print," a book which reviews and synthesizes decades of research on beginning reading. (MG)

Describes how using a flashlight to read language experience chart stories can provide a concrete way to build a foundation for many emergent reader concepts, such as directionality. (SR)

Investigates the effect of teaching kindergarten children orthographic analogies based on onset and rime units. Finds that analogy training specifically based on onset-rime units is an effective method to assist children as they move into reading, benefiting children differently depending on their prior segmentation level. (SR)

Recounts the author's experiences as a 2-year-old Elvis Presley fan who learned how to recognize, retrieve, and play a large number of his favorite 45 rpm recordings. (RS)

Describes using reading centers, called Reading Choices, placed around a kindergarten room to provide kindergarten students with more opportunities to read and interact with stories and with print. (SR)

Reviews some basic knowledge of phonics all teachers should know. Provides instructional activities to incorporate phonics within a balanced literacy program. Recognizes different approaches to teaching phonics and the importance of phonics. Discusses the use of consonants, blends and digraphs, short vowels, long vowels, and other strange vowel…

Explores early stages of reading acquisition, specifically the relation of phoneme blending and letter recoding to individual differences in word decoding. Examines the ability to recode letters, blend phonemes and decode words in Dutch children. Indicates that results are consistent with the self teaching hypothesis and other theories that imply…

Compares a traditional basal approach with a guided reading approach. Demonstrates that the fundamental difference between the two approaches lies in pitching instruction to the child's literacy level and the need for dynamic grouping of children for instruction. Gives a Vygotskian perspective of the transactions that occur between the teacher and…

Investigates the relationship between phoneme segmentation ability and the development of orthographic representations. Finds that children who were most well equipped to perform phoneme segmentation tasks acquired the new reading vocabulary significantly faster than those who were less phonemically aware. Provides strong support for the thesis…

Conducted a quantitative meta-analysis evaluating the effects of systematic phonics instruction compared to unsystematic or no phonics instruction on learning to read using 66 treatment-control comparisons derived from 38 experiments. Results show that systematic phonics instruction is effective and should be implemented as part of literacy…

Considers how there is no orthographic analogy effect for words with common end patterns (e.g. beak-peak). Assesses a group of beginning readers' phonological awareness and vocabulary. Indicates that while rime-based analogies seem to be phonological rather than orthographic in nature, beginning readers are able to use an orthographic analogy…

Comparison of the reading of rhymes by 20 children with cognitive disabilities (Down syndrome or autism) and 20 typically developing children (all matched for word recognition skills) found both groups were more similar than dissimilar in their rhyme-recognition accuracy, miscues, and grapheme-phoneme knowledge. (Contains references.) (Author/DB)

Critiques the work of leading reading researcher, Reid Lyon, who is the Director of Research at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), raising concerns about the following issues: "valid" and "reliable" science; the alphabetic principle; the naturalness of learning to read; neuroimaging of reading; and the political…

The purpose of this article is to describe how increasingly intensive, multilevel interventions can be used to ensure the increase in number of children who learn to read. We first review the promise and limitations of empirically validated best practices for mainstream classrooms. We then discuss results from a recent multilevel intervention…