A study explored the lives of families and successful readers within "at-risk" environments. This inquiry sought to identify and understand the home and family characteristics that enable children to defy the myths and become successful readers and literacy users, when individuals and institutions would suggest they would fail. Through structured interviews with children and their families, the study focused on the nature of literacy acquisition in the home as it was reflected in the success the child had demonstrated in school. This qualitative research extends the literature by revealing the intricacies of homes and families that foster children's literacy development, when conventional predictors would suggest they would fail. For the purposes of the study, student success in reading was defined as having achieved grade level or better performance on informal reading measures administered by the teacher, and economically disadvantaged was defined as having qualified to be a recipient of free or reduced lunch. Participants, six fifth-grade students, came from two low-performing elementary schools in a small Southern city where a major state university is located. Some findings are: (1) there is no identified set of conditions necessary for a child to become a successful reader; (2) children from economically disadvantaged families view reading as a skill to be shared with others; (3) progressive optimism and "high literacy press" are constructs that define the attitudes, values, and practices that families put forth to help their children become successful readers; and (4) families were able to apply progressive optimism and high literacy press to create literacy milieus for their children in spite of difficulties. (Contains 97 references.) (NKA)