ABSTRACT
How should we think about book reading in preschool classrooms? How are books being used in early childhood classrooms that serve low-income children? These are the twin questions-the ideal versus the real-that this chapter addresses. Despite the longstanding attention paid to reading, we believe that the view typical among researchers-ourselves included-has been piecemeal, either narrowly focusing on large-group reading or considering environmental aspects of book use. To help counteract this tendency, we propose a framework for examining book reading that encompasses what we see as the full range of features that one would ideally want to consider when examining book practices. Drawing on this framework, we report data suggesting that what is known about the value of books is not consistent with current practice, even in the relatively high-quality classrooms that Head Start provides for low-income children.
