The child's world is full of print, and sooner of later the child will notice it. Hundreds of children have learned to read from advertisements on hardings. Many a non-reader has failed just because he did not link the way he looked at advertisements on his way to school with what he had to look at on the school noticeboard. Everything that children, eat, wear, play with or pass in the streets has a sign or a symbol.

Learning to read was first published in 1982, and quickly became a classic text for anyone interested in how or why children learn to read. Drawing on her own experience as a parent and teacher, Margaret Meek explains what happens when a child is taught to read and how parents or teachers can help when a child has reading problems.

Each chapter deals with a different stage of learning: each has examples of the kinds of questions that parents ask, together with Margaret Meek's answers. In this revised edition here is a new introduction and an unpdated book list.