The purpose of this book on reading instruction in the elementary school is twofold: firstly, to share with colleagues some of the significant works of research and theory that suggest answers to important questions about reading instruction, and secondly, to describe specific teaching strategies implied by these answers. The book assumes that reading is a normal human activity in which children may easily engage, sees reading always within the context of the other language arts, tends to deemphasize reading skills and hierarchies of skills, and focuses more than some books on children's literature and content-area reading. After a brief preface and introduction, the 9 chapters deal with the following topics: (1) early reading; (2) reading familiar words; (3) reading unfamiliar words; (4) reading to comprehend; (5) reading stories; (6) reading in the content areas; (7) reading to study; (8) reading and the other language arts; and (9) organizing for instruction. Each of the chapters ends with an Idea Box, which presents a variety of suggested strategies for improving reading instruction, and appropriate references for further reading and study. (SR)