This book is written for teachers, caregivers, and family child care providers who are working with children from birth to five. It presents research on child development and on effective teaching practices to foster very young children's ability to become literate. The book also provides practical suggestions for implementing research-informed messages and activities in center-based and home-based child care. The authors point out the importance of relationships in children's literacy development and provide practical examples of how to establish the kinds of loving and responsive relationships with individual children that support their development. Topics covered in 13 chapters include: supporting children's language development through conversations, intentional teaching, and reading together; helping children develop the skills and knowledge that researchers have identified as important to emergent literacy; using art, music, dance, and drama to enhance emergent literacy; observing and assessing the emergent literacy process of individual children; and developing partnerships with families. The authors provide teachers and caregivers with numerous practical and fun activities to promote phonetics, phonetic awareness, alphabetic knowledge, and fluency. The book also includes vignettes from the field, often told with humor to emphasize a point, as well as lists of resources and questions for reflection.