Learning to read is one of the most intense and important aspects of schooling. The act of reading is a sophisticated and complex set of actions, interactions, responses and dispositions. Teaching reading is equally, if not more, complex, requiring extensive specialist knowledge. One way researchers and practitioners try to grapple with these complexities is through the use of ‘models’. These are theories, often accompanied by diagrams, that aim to meaningfully convey a great deal of information about what experienced readers do, what readers need to learn, or what teachers of reading need to consider..