Montessori Read and Write: A Parent's Guide to Literacy for Children

From Amita Morton Morton Montessori@waitrose.com


A storehouse of practical ideas.   July 14, 1999
 23 out of 25 found this review helpful

There is a great need for the Montessori approach to literacy to be more widely known and implemented. Now, at last, we have an effective tool for this in Montessori Read and Write, A Parent's Guide to Early Literacy for Children. This how-to-do-it, step-by-step guide to the Montessori way of promoting early literacy is what we have all been waiting for.

As a resource book Montessori Read and Write will prove indispensible, not only to parents, but to anyone running a Montessori classroom, because the activities suggested are easy to understand and set up, and do not require any extensive, or expensive investment in specialised equipment. For students, too, this book should be essential reading because of the masterful way in which language development for children is interwoven with a presentation of the Montessori approach and useful references at the end.

With such a storehouse of practical ideas at her disposal, many of which have been included in the book, Mrs Lawrence is to be commended for having the wisdom to focus at length on the underlying factors that predispose pre-school children to develop, not just the ability to read and write, but the desire, the urge to become readers and writers, and to have highlighted the key role that parents must play in assisting this process from birth.