To gain additional information about how young children actually develop and use literacy before entering school, four young children were studied indepth by means of family questionnaires, reading age tests, diagnostic subskill tests, and miscue analysis. Five months later, the children were again tested to see if reading age had increased and if miscue patterns and reading subskill proficiencies had changed. An analysis of the findings suggests that the more proficient readers (1) were motivated to learn to read because of the intrinsic value of reading rather than because of social expectations, (2) had drives for self-motivated practice and monitoring within the framework of their own creative play, (3) could recognize phrases quickly and accurately, and (4) varied their strategies in accordance with different task demands. The subskill weaknesses exhibited by the less proficient included naming (as opposed to sounding) capital and lower case letters, spelling, and syllabication. (HOD)