Susanna, a young girl from a low-income Chinese immigrant family, develops her oral language proficiency quickly in Head Start and kindergarten; however, she needs more support in her reading and writing. This case study examines an unusual journey of Susanna's learning to read and write in English. Observations in her home indicate a home with limited print, whereas Head Start and kindergarten provide not only print rich environment but also teachers' and peers' support so that she moves from an English language observer to an English language user. However, she still struggles with the use of decontextualized language. Susanna's difficulties are explained from a social-cultural and psycholinguistic perspective. Instructional implications are drawn from the findings.