In the primary classroom, approaches to the teaching of reading continue to be a focus for professional debate. "Readers and Texts" examines the ways in which readers respond to different texts. The word "response" occurs throughout the English National Curriculum, but is not defined in any precise sense and the aim of the book is to develop an awareness of the issues involved for primary teachers. The book explores the responses of a variety of readers, from four-year-old Dominic, sharing a picture book with his father, to adults reading a poem by Ted Hughes. It draws out the implications for primary teachers, both in terms of giving status to what child readers take to their reading and helping them develop the awareness necessary to deal with texts of increasing complexity.

The central message of the book is that it is only by gaining knowledge of children's pre-school experiences with books and print and an idea of how a child 'views the task of learning to read' that schools will then be able to provide the most appropriate support tochildren and parents. -English 4-11