This article is a synthesis of early literacy research organized according to critical lessons that delineate our shared knowledge base that we name a ‘transactional perspective on early literacy development.’ The critical lessons are grouped into three sets to present the continuum of methodological stances that interpretive researchers take as they design and carry out early literacy studies. This synthesis is particularly timely now – as children and teachers in classrooms around the world struggle to maintain control over literacy learning and teaching within narrow governmental agendas and mandates. Given current governmental agendas (i.e. No Child Left Behind in the USA, the National Literacy Strategy in the UK, among many), it is critical to remember that we share a robust theory, a transactional view of early literacy development that explains how young children come to be literate members of society.

The authors share how, through reading, writing, and art experiences around picturebooks, children learned to read and communicate multimodally through art and written language and also grew as critical thinkers.The pictures explained the story a little more. Like in the biking picture it didn't mention in the book that they were going so fast but in the illustration it did. And I looked at the words too. Sometimes I didn't know what something was in the illustrations, and it explained it in the words. (Allie) Prisca Martens is a professor at

Learn how to use global literature to help students understand their personal cultural identities, their responsibility to take action in their worlds, and how to express these understandings in art.

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