This article explores the factors behind the success of a reading workshop at the Center for Teaching and Learning in Edgecomb, Maine. In the workshop, teachers start by being honest with students about what they do as readers. They acknowledge the guilt many of them grew up with--the feeling that there's a proper, rigorous way to read and that somehow they're not doing it right--so they can help their students navigate books with pleasure and confidence. Teachers in a reading workshop help children choose books, develop and refine their literary criteria, and carve out identities for themselves as readers.