Promoting children's desire to read and write is as important as helping children develop the necessary understandings and skills essential for learning how to read and write. Without motivation, children will read and write relatively little and only what and when they must. This book addresses four main points: what children need to learn in these early years, the strategies that teachers can use to help children acquire these foundations, the features of emergent literacy and language understandings and skills, how to design the physical environment in early childhood classrooms to support language and literacy learning. This book will help early childhood professionals and families support young children in acquiring the understandings, knowledge, and skills needed for later success in learning to read and write.

Previously published as: More than ABCs : the early stages of reading and writing / Judith A. Schickedanz. Washington, DC : National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1986. "List of children's literature cited": pages 203-205.

Introduction: a time to begin -- Part I. Building a foundation for reading -- What's involved in learning to read? -- The beginning : reading with babies and toddlers -- Reading storybooks with preschoolers -- Sharing informational books with preschoolers -- Young children and literacy skills development -- Part II. Building a foundation for writing -- What's involved in writing? -- Babies and toddlers leave their mark -- Writing during the preschool years.