When I read a professional book with a powerful message I just have to shout it from the rooftops!  This one’s a keeper. You may see the title and think, “Oh no, now they are pushing down the teaching of reading to pre-schoolers!” But don’t worry that’s not what this book is about. Kathy Collins and Matt Glover are talking about a different aspect of reading with preschoolers, kindergarteners, and first graders.  They realize that even before conventional reading and decoding words, children can be reading texts.  Their definition of reading is “an interaction with a text during which the reader uses a variety of resources within the text (words, pictures, graphic elements) and within themselves (schema, skills, strategies) to make meaning” p. 10. Their main purpose is to “help children love books, to read widely, and develop a lifelong enthusiasm for learning” p. 76.

The authors talk about three categories of reading texts – familiar (like Pete the Cat that the children have heard many times), unfamiliar (books a child has never seen or heard read to him before) and informational books (any non-fiction book that the child is drawn to by the cover, pictures, or topic.) The focus of their teaching is how to read this type of book.  Within each of the three categories they have come up with 3-4 language levels as to how the child reads the text. They have worked with hundreds of children to inform their decisions and provide you with ways to view videos of their work throughout the text. As they listen to children read, they think about the child’s level and then give us ideas of how to proceed and support each child further. I love the cautions they write about “leveling” as their view is similar to the one that Katie and I present in our Catching Readers book – “levels are tools for gathering information about children’s understandings rather than tools for labeling them” p. 30.

Collins and Glover are teaching us how to support children in developing a healthy reader identity before reading conventionally. They are not deemphasizing the importance of teaching letters and sounds. They acknowledge the importance of that teaching. Here’s what they have to say about their expanded view of what it means to be a reader.

“…the act of reading is made up of much more than just decoding the words on the page even though so much of the instructional focus and adult concern for our youngest readers is about getting them to decode. Although this is certainly an obvious and important part of becoming a well-rounded reader, a narrowly centered focus on teaching young children to decode at the expense of other kinds of experiences with texts may actually strip away their very early sense of agency (Johnston 2004) and comfort with books.”

This book presents a multitude of ideas for working with preK- 1st grade children (and ELL students in any grade). It answers the question, ‘what else can we be doing to support young children in developing an image of themselves as readers, whether or not they can read the words yet.’ When you read the authors’ belief system (p. 107-8) I think you will agree!  I hope you enjoy the book.