'Forrester is to be congratulated for orchestrating a fruitful dialogue between two apparently incompatible voices: the ethnomethodologist and the psychoanalyst. The result is a sparklingly original account of the interplay between what the child does and what the child feels. This is an empirically-based, scholarly tour de force that will fascinate anyone interested in how children develop behaviourally, cognitively and emotionally.' Charles Antaki, Loughborough University 'By deftly and conscientiously applying two very distinct paradigms, the author generates perspectives on early social interaction which are strikingly intricate in both depth and detail: features that are arguably lacking from the majority of accounts of such phenomena. In my mind, this is the most original and invigorating work on young children's language and emotional development of the past decade.' Tom Muskett, Lecturer and Speech and Language Therapist, University of Sheffield 'In his inimitable style Forrester brings together very different strands of thought and inquiry - from pragmatism, ethnomethodology and participant-observation to culture and selfhood - in this intriguing and entertaining book. With the unusual use of one child's recorded speech over a long period of time, the book makes an important contribution to the field of language and self development.' Vasudevi Reddy, University of Portsmouth '... a novel approach to examining a child's entrance into the social world ... Recommended.' J. F. Heberle, Choice