“Judith Lindfors once again helps us better understand the complex relationships between children’s language, their learning, and the teacher to see new possibilities for supporting literacy. This is a valuable resource for teacher educators.”
—Gail Perry, New Books Editor, Young Children

“Children’s Language offers a return to sanity in children’s early literacy development—an appeal for ‘joy in a literate community’ with logic and evidence to support it.”
—Peter Johnston, the University at Albany-SUNY

“Once again, with her unique insights, Judith Lindfors describes and updates children's oral and written language development to inform those of us who work with young children.”
—Yetta M. Goodman, Regents Professor Emerita, University of Arizona, College of Education

“Children’s Language gives us a front row seat at a spectacular show. This book should appeal to anyone who has ever been intrigued by young children’s language learning.”
—Carole Edelsky, Arizona State University

“Judith Lindfors, whose widely used texts on early language acquisition have informed generations of college students, returns in this book to her own one-on-one collaboration with children. Her newest book informs and educates us, but, above all, it inspires us all to become better teachers.”
—From the Foreword by Vivian Gussin Paley

The more teachers understand about how children learn to talk, the more they can help children become avid, joyful readers and writers. Drawing on a large body of research and her own volunteer work at a family shelter, Lindfors concisely identifies several important commonalities across oral and written language. Taking the compelling perspective that it’s all language, she traces children’s emergent literacy from infancy through the early school years. The book incorporates abundant examples from a diverse range of children engaged in authentic literacy experiences. Lindfors describes a set of language principles that teachers can build on as they help young students learn to read and write using the oral language processes they already know.

Book Features:

• A new, more positive “language acquisition perspective” on children’s linguistic and literary capacities.
• Fascinating and insightfully framed quotes, writings, and drawings from children.
• An Appendix containing an interview with shelter staff from SafePlace and offering basic information on how to identify children who are living in situations of violence and what teachers can do about it.

Judith Wells Lindfors is Professor Emerita at the University of Texas at Austin. She is the author of Children’s Inquiry: Using Language to Make Sense of the World.