Amazon.com description: Product Description: Evidence from research in a number of countries including Australia, France, Singapore and England is used to provide practitioners with information about young children's learning and about the shared understandings of literacy held in different societies. The ways in which children can learn through play about literacy in the years before formal schooling, so that their experiences are meaningful and enjoyable are presented here. The personal and professional issues which early childhood educators encounter in considering such developments are a key aspect of this text.