This special issue compiles a set of five research-based articles that examine the role of morphological representations in learning to read: modeling morphological processing, uncovering morphological awareness, finding units of analysis, and contrasting implicit vs. explicit learning. The focus is on the role of morphology in learning to read in three alphabetic languages: English, Dutch, and French. As such, the findings from the large body of studies on the acquisition of reading and spelling in English is cross-validated with research evidence from two other languages.