ABSTRACT
Th ere is a new baby in our family-Kaleigh-my wife’s niece, who will turn 1 year old as I write this. We bought her board books for her birthday, which were engineered for biting and mouthing, texts with a circulation that expects teeth marks to be added to the print and pictures. She also has books made of fabric, which have doors, pockets, and pop-outs. Th e one she likes best at the moment is about a kitten. It has pages of soft fur for petting and a sandpaper tongue that feels rough to the touch. She also has some of the usual kinds of books, with words and pictures, or sometimes just pictures, that stay fl at on paper pages that turn in the customary manner. She will probably, when no one is looking, amend some of these books like commonplace books, making her marks alongside those of the authors and illustrators. She will arrive at school, as most children do, with some conception of literacy-that there are things with words in them, which people read and make.
