Joanne Larson, associate professor and chair, teaching and curriculum, edited the Handbook of Early Childhood Literacy (Sage Publications, October 2003). Larson also worked with Warner doctoral student Shira May Peterson to contribute a chapter of the handbook, which is designed as an analytical literature review that brings together the most recent research in key areas of early childhood literacy.

The handbook brings together an impressive body of leading literacy researchers who examine the current field of literacy and explore contemporary political, cultural, and cognitive understandings of early childhood literacy. Contributions focus on literacy as a socially situated and global experience, one that is evolving in relation to changes in contemporary culture and technological innovation.

Larson and Peterson’s chapter, “Talk and Discourse in Formal Learning Settings,” presents a careful review of the research on talk in discourse in early childhood and focused on formal school learning settings.
The book includes sections on perspectives on early childhood literacy; early childhood literacy in families, communities, and cultures; and researching early childhood literacy.

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