This book treats a critical but often overlooked element in the development of strong reading skills in children. Namely, it exposes the vital importance of the home - not just as a support to the school, but as a foundational source from which literate behavior emerges. This is not a "teach your child how to read" book. Rather, it is a book that examines how the development of reading ability in children can be a part of their natural development in the culture of the home in which they grow up. The book begins by discussing three basic elements that are important for success in any endeavor, including reading, and showing that the home is the critical place where these important foundations for reading are best developed. Along with these basic ideas, readers are reminded that in order to help others develop reading skills, it is important to understand the reading process and how it works. This idea brings readers into a key element of the book by taking the reader inside the reading process, showing what is happening as a child is processing print while reading. This explanation not only gives interesting and exciting insights into what is happening while a child is reading, but also shows that the most important elements that promote success in reading are things that are happening naturally in the child's home environment. These chapters equip the reader with essential understandings that can promote powerful and positive influences on children's experiences with literacy by examining questions such as what is reading? what is happening when the child is reading? where does word power come from? and where does meaning come from? Equipped with these understandings, the reader is led to discover how the home can be a vital factor in helping the child acquire and practice a collection of skills and attitudes that make him an effective and powerful member of a literate society. In fact, this is the heart of the book -- the importance of developing a culture of literacy in the home and enabling the child see himself or herself as a natural and powerful member of a literate culture. This is something that is desperately needed in today's world. The book ends by examining some challenges and opportunities that emerge when we engage with this notion of creating a literate culture in the home. Pulling the ideas presented in the book all together, we see that treating children as members of a literate culture unleashes an amazing potential for children to experience the power and the joy of literacy in their lives, which is critical to the well-being of our children as individuals and of our society as a whole.
