The complete texts of 250 trade books for children in the primary grades were analyzed by computer in order to identify recurring two- and three-word strings. Of the 202,763-word sample that resulted, 89 two-word strings occurred 100 times or more, and only two three-word strings occurred more than 100 times. These frequencies represent, respectively, 10.5% and 0.15% of the total number of strings in the sample. The investigators propose that these results are directly applicable to classroom reading instruction, and suggest that beginning readers can be taught such word strings in much the same manner as common sight words are presently taught in initial reading instruction. (RL)