Community-based volunteer programs to support children's book reading have existed in Japan for the past 70 years or so. Recently, because of the national emphasis on providing child-rearing support for families with young children, more programs are being offered to encourage parent-child shared book reading starting when children are very young. These activities have been both volunteer in nature and government-supported. This article describes three programs in Japan: a strictly volunteer program, kodomo bunko; book-reading sessions included in government-supported programs; and a project from England, Bookstart, that is both volunteer and local government-supported. All of the activities in the nation have increased attention on young children's book reading. (Contains 1 table and 1 note.)