This remarkable book explores the many advantages of using books as bridges between home and school. It offers teachers strategies for using "touchstone" books to link school literacy conversations and activities with home literacy conversations and activities.

Books as Bridges introduces a process for using key children's books to explore four guiding principles -- predictable structures, nonfiction, comprehension, and imagination and language play. Each guiding principle is described in terms of a series of strategies, which are highlighted by their use with specific touchstone books, and supported by lists of related books to consider.

This practical book shows teachers how to encourage parents and caregivers to

• create an enjoyable and nurturing environment that establishes daily routines that foster the reading "habit"
• use nonfiction texts to build and expand a strong knowledge base from which children can draw when reading
• help children see reading as a meaning-making activity that improves comprehension
• engage in language play to explore how language works, fostering children's imagination and problem-solving abilities.

Based on convincing research that parents play a vital role in raising a reader, Books as Bridges offers an effective and efficient way to use touchstone texts, including children's picture books, to help create a common reading experience for the class that can be extended to the home.

Numerous reproducibles and send-home materials, as well as suggestions for supporting families for whom English is not the first language, complement this timely resource.