On what is read, shared, and felt: parent-child conversation about stories

Picture book reading is a forum for early language development and for the development of relationships, as reading a story evokes connections between the narrative, the reader, and the child, and invites shared understanding of the story as it intersects with the child's experience. The study by Teufl and colleagues poses interesting questions about the nature and influence of parent-child discourse around picture books and how it changes developmentally. It also raises provocative questions about how we assess the relative influence of maternal and paternal attachment relationships. These issues are the focus of this commentary.