ABSTRACT
Learning to read should be easy. There are TV shows such as Sesame Street and the Electric Company that give lots of attention to the ABCs. Even supermarkets sell children's books, magnetic letters, crayons, and pencils. Yet strangely enough, the vast majority of children start school with only a very basic idea of what reading is about. They may recognize a few signs in the street, such as McDonalds and Pizza Hut. They may also know that books tell a story and that books contain “words.” But most preschoolers have not yet figured out the alphabetic principle, that is, that there is a set of letter-sound rules, and these rules enable us to read the print on the page.
