For all first graders, "high level of functioning" includes both continuing oral language development and new competencies in reading and writing. With young children in their preschool years, conversations can happen easily and frequently with familiar adults. According to one recently-reprinted earlier study, British psychologist Barbara Tizard found that "familiarity" is an important facilitator of those conversations. The principle underlying the importance of familiarity is its role in helping child and adult achieve in their conversation a "Meeting of Minds"--the apt title of the 2002 book by New Zealander Stuart McNaughton (keynote speaker at the 2005 National Reading Recovery & Early Literacy Conference). In this article, the author talks about the value of conversations for language development and reading comprehension and offers some suggestions for Reading Recovery teachers.