Review of The Cambridge handbook of literacy.

Reviews the book, The Cambridge handbook of literacy by David R. Olsen and Nancy Torrance (see record 2009-03310-000). This handbook sets out to examine literacy in its widest sense; to examine both the visual signs for linguistic forms, and the social and personal uses of these signs, from the mundane to the literary, both historically and currently. It aims to address a gap that it identifies in the literature: the lack of an authoritative text on literacy as a field in itself, and in providing such a text, further aims to provide scope for future interdisciplinary work. The book is divided into five parts (Literacy as a Scientific Subject, Literacy and Language, Literacy and Literatures, Literacy and Society, and Literacy and Education), described in the preface as representing “transformations in our understanding of literacy.” Overall, the handbook feels more like a set of separate chapters than an integrated work, with very little cross-referencing across the chapters. This book includes many examples of chapters that build from generally known linguistics, cognitive and developmental theories to make their ideas accessible. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)