Reading for Life

With the author's characteristic sharpness and wit, this book pulls together the academic, psychological and ideological threads of the enormous literature on reading instruction, drawing on research, personal experience and a broad sampling of the best that has been thought and said on the matter. - Dr Jennifer Buckingham, Director of FIVE from FIVE reading project 'Of making many books there is no end' - that certainly applies to books on the teaching of reading. However, there is always room at the top, which is where this book belongs. Lyn Stone has assembled a highly valuable picture of what it takes learn to read, how best to support struggling readers, and teach reading to best effect. She has also captured the context of the 'tedious debate' about teaching reading and, in so-doing, exposed the fake opposites, which have muddied the waters in this territory for far too long. - Sir Jim Rose, C.B.E., FRSA This is a book that should be read everywhere we require people to read. The tragedy is that anything in this should be contentious or controversial to anyone, given the enormous evidence bases that inform its conclusions, or the precision and care Stone invests in unpacking not just the methodology, but the assumptions and axioms of language transmission. There is a war going on between those who mean well, but promote inefficient methods of reading instruction, and those who also mean well and commit to using the best and most evidenced methods. Stone's book is a fabulous example of the latter, and it is not only a powerful addition to the oeuvre of evidence informed education, but a readable and accessible one too. Read it twice, then pass it on to someone else. - Tom Bennett, Director of researchED On the whole, I see Reading for Life as a useful addition to my bookshelf. In particular, the cheat sheet of major players in the reading wars (p. 50-63) is a great idea, and the author's perspective on dyslexia (p. 128-137) is well expressed. The frequent references to metaphors and the blog-style length and tone of each chapter also make this book a quick and easy reference guide for a variety of topics. - Nicola Bell, Nomanis