Book excerpt: Much has been written on the topic of guided reading over the last twenty years, but no other leaders in literacy education have championed the topic with such depth and breadth as Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell. In the highly anticipated second edition of Guided Reading, Fountas and Pinnell remind you of guided reading's critical value within a comprehensive literacy system, and the reflective, responsive teaching required to realize its full potential. Now with Guided Reading, Second Edition, (re)discover the essential elements of guided reading through: a wider and more comprehensive look at its place within a coherent literacy system a refined and deeper understanding of its complexity an examination of the steps in implementation-from observing and assessing literacy behaviors, to grouping in a thoughtful and dynamic way, to analyzing texts, to teaching the lesson the teaching for systems of strategic actions a rich text base that can support and extend student learning the re-emerging role of shared reading as a way to lead guided and independent reading forward the development of managed independent learning across the grades an in-depth exploration of responsive teaching the role of facilitative language in supporting change over time in students' processing systems the identification of high-priority shifts in learning to focus on at each text level the creation of a learning environment within which literacy and language can flourish. Through guided reading, students learn how to engage in every facet of the reading process and apply their reading power to all literacy contexts. Also check out our new on-demand mini-course: Introducing Texts Effectively in Guided Reading Lessons