The purpose of this study was to explore the connections between young children's oral language vocabulary and children's reading of written language in beginning reading books. Oral language has been viewed as the foundation for emergent reading development as it provides the semantic base, syntactic base and phonological base for successfully moving from oral to written language. In fact in the years before school the development of children's oral language in the home environment is viewed as an important factor for early reading success. The research reported in this study involved children in their first year of school in a socioeconomically diverse community. The findings revealed disconnections between children's receptive oral language vocabulary and early reading. Children with English as a Second Language scored low on oral language vocabulary but high on reading levelled texts. Children with high scores on oral vocabulary scored low on reading levelled texts and a small group of Aboriginal children scored low on both oral and written measures. This study raises questions about the view that oral language neatly underpins reading development and suggests that learning to read is akin to learning a second language for all children. (Contains 2 tables and 3 figures.)