ABSTRACT
Becoming literate starts long before children enter school. Yet although early introduction to books and early participation in literate or literacy-related interactions in the home environment are seen as most important to prepare young children for literacy instruction at school, the widespread consensus about the importance of home literacy is not supported by the available evidence. This will become clear below, when the validity of these strong claims regarding home literacy is examined in a multicultural context, using families and communities that have traditionally different attitudes toward the “culture of literacy.”
