Wells (education, the University of California-Santa Cruz) reports on his study following the development of children from different language backgrounds from their first words to the end of their primary schooling. The study offers many examples of the children's experiences of spoken and written language, recorded in naturally occurring settings in their homes and classrooms, and shows the active role that children play in their own development as they both make sense of the world around them and master the linguistic means for communicating about it. This second edition sets the findings of the original study in the context of recent research in the sociocultural tradition inspired by Vygotsky's work, and includes examples of effective teaching drawn from the author's 8-year collaborative action project with teachers in Toronto. The book is distributed in the US by UTP Distribution. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)