ABSTRACT
For young children, readings are shared between several participants; usually an adult who performs the voice on the page and a child or children who comment, ask and answer questions and perhaps take over the reading. Talk precedes, accompanies and follows the reading and indeed, the reading and the talk surrounding it can sometimes be impossible to disentangle, as children spill forth their responses, predictions and reflections. This chapter talks about a teacher and her reception class, in which she saw her role as crucial at the start of these young children's literary lives. Her approach was based on three essential impulses: to find, read aloud and 'give' to the children the wealth of great stories created for them; create frequent opportunities for children in which she can guide and the children can offer; and help children value being part of a literate community within which it is only a matter of time before they are reading for themselves.
