Offering instructional strategies in an informal, easy-to-read, yet scholarly approach, this book presents instructional strategies and activities for children who are having difficulty learning to read. In contrast to other books that offer highly analytic and prescriptive approaches, the activities in the book are arranged around general areas of focus and are meant to nurture and develop proficiencies within that broad area. Chapters in the book are (1) New Perspectives on Helping Students; (2) The Instructional Framework; (3) Developing Positive Attitudes about Reading; (4) Word Recognition; (5) Nurturing Fluent Reading; (6) Building Vocabulary; (7) Comprehension Development with Narrative Text; (8) Comprehension Development with Expository Text; (9) Writing Development; (10) Putting It All Together: Making Reading Programs That Work; (11) Involving Parents in Children's Reading; and (12) Determining Instructional Needs: Observing Readers in Action. Contains 131 references. Appendixes present lists of award-winning books, poetry and rhymes for reading, predictable pattern books, series books, and alphabet, number and other concept books; a list of common word families; examples of maze and cloze activities; a chart of meaningful prefixes, suffixes, and word parts; names and addresses of magazines for children; bookmaking ideas; a sample letter to parents; and names and addresses of 9 professional periodicals. (RS)