diff --git a/packages/validate/README.md b/packages/validate/README.md
index 9b86e68c..dd890cdb 100644
--- a/packages/validate/README.md
+++ b/packages/validate/README.md
@@ -28,15 +28,30 @@ its usage in `package:test`):
 var positiveNumberField = IntField('pos_num').match([isPositive]);
 ```
 
+A `MapField` can embed a `Form` (forms covered below), and when combined with
+`Field.deserialize`, can be used to deserialize structured data as a body field:
+
+```dart
+app.post('/map_field', (req, res) async {
+  var form = Form(fields: [
+    MapField('todo', todoForm).deserialize(Todo.fromMap),
+  ]);
+
+  var data = await form.validate(req);
+  print(data['todo'] is Todo);
+});
+```
+
 There are several included field types:
-* `TextField`
-* `BoolField`
-* `NumField`
-* `DoubleField`
-* `IntField`
-* `DateTimeField`
-* `FileField`
-* `ImageField`
+* `TextField` - Standard text input.
+* `BoolField` - Checks if a field is present; used for checkboxes.
+* `NumField` - Base class that parses input as a number.
+* `DoubleField` - Specialization of `NumField` for doubles.
+* `IntField` - Specialization of `NumField` for integers.
+* `DateTimeField` - Parses an input as an ISO-8601 date.
+* `FileField` - Validates a file in `req.uploadedFiles`.
+* `ImageField` - Uses `package:image` to decode an `UploadedFile` into an image.
+* `MapField` - Validates a Map using a Form.
 
 # Forms
 The `Form` class lets you combine `Field` instances, and decode
@@ -55,9 +70,15 @@ var todo = await todoForm.deserialize(req, TodoSerializer.fromMap);
 // Same as above, but with a Codec<Todo, Map> (i.e. via `angel_serialize`).
 var todo = await todoForm.decode(req, todoSerializer);
 
+// Same as above, but returns the plain Map without any deserialization.
+var todoMap = await todoForm.validate(req);
+
 // Lower-level functionality, typically not called directly.
 // Use it if you want to handle validation errors directly, without
 // throwing exceptions.
+var result = await todoForm.read(req);
+print(result.isSuccess);
+print(result.errors.length);
 
 @serializable
 class _Todo {
diff --git a/packages/validate/example/main.dart b/packages/validate/example/main.dart
index 9a54f3ab..199316a2 100644
--- a/packages/validate/example/main.dart
+++ b/packages/validate/example/main.dart
@@ -72,13 +72,18 @@ Future<void> main() async {
     </html>
     ''');
   });
-  
-  app.post('/b', (req, res) async {
+
+  // You can use a [MapField] to embed one [Form] with another.
+  // In this example, we embed the [todoForm], but also call `.deserialize`,
+  // so that the final value we see is a [Todo] instance, rather than a [Map].
+  app.post('/map_field', (req, res) async {
     var form = Form(fields: [
-      MapField('todo', todoForm),
+      MapField('todo', todoForm).deserialize(Todo.fromMap),
     ]);
-    var data = await form.read(req);
-    return data;
+    var data = await form.validate(req);
+    var b = StringBuffer();
+    b.write(data);
+    return b.toString();
   });
 
   app.fallback((req, res) => throw AngelHttpException.notFound());
@@ -103,4 +108,7 @@ class Todo {
   static Todo fromMap(Map map) {
     return Todo(map['text'] as String, map['is_complete'] as bool);
   }
+
+  @override
+  String toString() => 'Todo($text, $isComplete)';
 }
diff --git a/packages/validate/lib/src/field.dart b/packages/validate/lib/src/field.dart
index 6d6eb8ea..a18713e3 100644
--- a/packages/validate/lib/src/field.dart
+++ b/packages/validate/lib/src/field.dart
@@ -115,7 +115,9 @@ class _MatchedField<T> extends Field<T> {
   Future<FieldReadResult<T>> read(
       Map<String, dynamic> fields, Iterable<UploadedFile> files) async {
     var result = await inner.read(fields, files);
-    if (!result.isSuccess) {
+    if (result == null) {
+      return null;
+    } else if (!result.isSuccess) {
       return result;
     } else {
       var errors = <String>[];
@@ -149,7 +151,9 @@ class _DeserializeField<T, U> extends Field<U> {
   FutureOr<FieldReadResult<U>> read(
       Map<String, dynamic> fields, Iterable<UploadedFile> files) async {
     var result = await inner.read(fields, files);
-    if (!result.isSuccess) {
+    if (result == null) {
+      return null;
+    } else if (!result.isSuccess) {
       return FieldReadResult.failure(result.errors);
     } else {
       return FieldReadResult.success(await converter(result.value));