'Supposing': Reading between the lines: An allegorical account of contemporary debates on literacy acquisition

Telling stories is a basic human activity. It enables us to organise, evalu ate and transform what we see going on around us. It allows us to make sens e of what is happening, to defy what is ephemeral in our experience. In sho rt, it helps us to read the signs and between the lines. In the story that follows, we shall watch how Little Monster struggles with the apparently ra ndom and inexplicable and strives to make order out of chaos. He is fortuna te to have a mother who regards storytelling as a significant determinant o f his psyche-social well-being Indeed, there are those who would argue that engaging in the construction of narrative is a precondition for literacy d evelopment, academic success and enhanced life chances. Our second story be gins here, as we exploit the potential of narrative to function as a develo pmental turning-point in our understanding of contemporary debates an early literacy acquisition in the context of the National Evaluation of the Earl y Intervention Programme in Scotland.