The question of whether children should be taught to read before first grade has long been discussed, but never settled. As the educational level of the people and the demands of industry increase, the rate of functional illiteracy also rises, provoking criticism of school programs and creating a need to find new ways of dealing with the problems. A search of the literature related to early and beginning reading reveals that children vary in their degrees of readiness for reading and that readiness experiences now provided do not provide for the needs of many children. That some children, at least, are ready to read before age 6 can be seen in the success of Head Start and Sesame Street and in the results of research on early reading. If the needs of children are to be met, it will be necessary to provide instructional opportunities for younger children and to find ways of determining individual children's readiness levels and of using these levels to design instruction for them. The real question in early reading is one of how to include such provisions in an instructional program. References are included. (MS)