With the introduction of the Literacy Hour in 1998, the case for harnessing parental involvement in promoting children’s literacy was stronger than ever. Originally published in 1999, this book offered a detailed and practical approach, based on three key concepts: keeping the child in the driving seat, continuing support from the school to the parents and daily reading at home. It is presented in an accessible manner and offers practical advice to teachers in running and evaluating a scheme. It also gives parents a chance to think about the nature of their involvement at word, sentence and text levels, introducing them to the framework of the National Literacy Strategy.

Good reading skills are essential for access to the wider curriculum, yet above all, reading is fun. This book helped teachers, parents and children to work together to make reading at home more enjoyable. It was also to help ensure that children achieved the standards of literacy expected for their age by 2002. Today it can still be used to help children learn to read.