Featuring contributions from a unique mix of authors--classroom teachers, teacher educators, and children's book authors--this volume explores the value of stories in promoting children's language and literacy learning. Major sections cover the most fundamental and critical foundations for language and literacy growth--including first language learning, multilingual learning, and literacy development--and then focus on the forms and functions of story from infants and toddlers to the upper elementary grades. "Here's the Story" is a practical text that offers the conceptual and theoretical background for promoting new ways of bringing narrative to the forefront of children's current language and literacy learning. Book features include: (1) Original examples of exemplary instruction from multilingual and multicultural settings; (2) Practical suggestions and ideas for caregiving and teaching; and (3) Interviews with celebrated children's books authors Nina Crews and Elisa Klevin. This book is divided into three parts. Part I, Stories and Children's First Language Learning, contains: (1) From Zero to Three: The Value of Stories for Young Children's Language Learning (Erica Almaguer and Gena Wilson); (2) Using Story Drama with Young Preschoolers (Todd Wanerman); (3) The Superhero Project: Language, Stories, and Critical Thinking (Patricia Sullivan); and (4) Telling Stories and Learning to Tell Stories: Lessons from a Professional Storyteller (Nadia Jaboneta). Part II, Stories and Children's Multilingual Learning, contains: (5) How Social Stories Support the Early Literacy Learning of Toddlers (Kim Hughes); (6) Pictures in Our Lives: Using Wordless Picture Books with New Language Learners (Nathan Weber); (7) Personal Stories as a Home-School Link in a Bilingual Kindergarten (Lori Oldham); and (8) The Book After a Book Project: Aspects of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (Inas Deeb and Valerie Jakar). Part III, Stories and Children's Literacy Development, contains: (9) "Once Upon a Time There Was a ...": Forms and Functions of a Story Dictation in Preschool (Jeff Daitsman); (10) The Art and Artistry of Nina Crews: Picture Books as Springboards for Dictation in Preschool (Daniel R. Meier); (11) Magic and Imagination in Children's Picture Books: An Interview with Elisa Kleven (as told to Daniel R. Meier); and (12) When Is a Story a Story? The Fragmentation of Story in a First-Grade Classroom (Rebecca Akin). An index is included. [Foreword by Maria de la Luz Reyes.]