This review of research with children aged two to six on their reading, writing, and oral language development speaks of five roots of a tree of literate life that require nourishment in the soil of a written language environment. The roots discussed are the development of print awareness in situational contexts, the development of print awareness in connected discourse, the development of the functions and forms of writing, the use of oral language to talk about written language, and metacognitive and metalinguistic awareness about written language. Examples of children's responses are used to support the concepts presented. Conclusions call for the need to be aware of the social, cultural, and economic forces that influence the development of literacy, to stop preparing children to read but rather to expand on their immersion in all kinds of reading and writing activities, and to recognize that literacy develops naturally in all children in a highly literate society. (AEA)