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Free Booklet Offers Tips for Helping Preschool Children Succeed—Helping Your Preschool Child, one of a series of booklets for family and caregivers published by the U.S. Department of Education, offers ideas for activities that will help children—from infancy through age five—acquire the essential building blocks for learning. The activities use materials found in the home or free of charge from a local library. They are designed to be fun and help create an environment rich in literacy interactions and full of opportunities for children to use language constantly. In addition, the booklet covers topics that include What About Kindergarten?, which offers school preparation strategies, Taking Charge of TV, and Choosing Child Care. For an online copy, visit http://www.ed.gov/parents/earlychild/ready/preschool/part_pg3.html or call the Department's publications center at (877) 4ED-PUBS with identification number EK0455P for a paper copy while supplies last.

A Child Becomes a Reader, a series of booklets, draws from many research studies on early literacy development to reveal how children learn the spoken and written language through common, daily activities. "You don't need special training or expensive materials" in teaching children at home, advises the booklets' authors. The booklets offer ideas that include fun language games along with additional resources to help parents turn everyday interactions into learning opportunities. Each booklet of A Child Becomes a Reader is age-specific. For an online version, visit www.nifl.gov/partnershipforreading.

Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children by Catherine E. Snow, M. Susan Burns, and Peg Griffin examines factors that put children at risk for poor reading. It explores in detail how literacy can be fostered from birth through kindergarten and the primary grades, including evaluation of philosophies, systems, and materials commonly used to teach reading. Washington DC: National Academy Press, 1998, www.nap.edu.

Brochures From the National Association for Education of Young Children (NAEYC)—

• A Caring Place for Your Infant— NAEYC order #548.
• A Caring Place for Your Toddler—NAEYC order #509.
• A Good Preschool for Your Child—NAEYC order #517, in Spanish #517S.
• Finding the Best Care for Your Infant or Toddler by L.L. Dittman—Order #518.
• Choosing a Good Early Childhood Program: Questions and Answers—
  NAEYC order #525.
• Including All Children: Children with Disabilities in Early Childhood
  Programs—NAEYC order #514.
• Raising a Reader, Raising a Writer: How Parents Can Help—NAEYC order #530, in Spanish order #530S.
• Ready to Go: What Parents Should Know About School Readiness—
  NAEYC order #554.
• What Are the Benefits of High-Quality Early Childhood Programs?—NAEYC order #540.

Books From The National Association for Education of Young Children (NAEYC)—

• Learning to Read and Write, Developmentally Appropriate Practices
  for Young Children—NAEYC order #161.
• Much More Than The ABCs, The Early Stages of Reading and Writing—NAEYC order #204.

Contact: The National Association for Education of Young Children (NAEYC), 1509 16th St., N.W., Wash-ington, DC 20036-1846, naeyc@naeyc.org, www.naeyc.org.

A Parent’s Guide, Accessing Programs for Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers with Disabilities is designed to help families learn how to get help for their young children with special needs. This resource presents questions and answers about early intervention, special education programs and services for preschoolers with disabilities, and programs and services for rural, Native American, adoptive/foster, and military families and their young children with disabilities. Contact the National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities, P.O. Box 1492, Washington, DC 20013-1492, (202) 884-8200 (Voice/TTY), (800) 695-0285 (Toll-free, Voice/TTY), www.nichcy.org/pubs/parent/pa2txt.htm.

The Voice of Evidence in Reading Research, released by the Baltimore-based Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., features essays by 30 researchers, educators, and policy experts, including several members of the National Reading Panel and others aligned with the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The volume includes sections on methods, evidence-based instruction, brain research, and the use of science in crafting reading policies. In four of the 19 chapters, members of the National Reading Panel explain their findings on such matters as the teaching of basic skills, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. The book costs $29.95 and can be ordered at www.brookespublishing.com.

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