Reading Recovery was introduced into the UK in 1990 in a climate of growing concern about reading standards; in particular, there was anxiety about the disproportionately long tail of low achievement which exists in the UK. By 1998 about 1,800 teachers had been trained to use its techniques and the programme had reached approximately 25,000 children. About 300 new Reading Recovery teachers are trained every year and 5,000 children receive the programme, four out of every five completing it successfully. This paper reviews its implementation here and considers the effect it has had on children, teachers and schools in the UK; how successful has it been and what role can it play in helping all our children to become literate?