A 1-year investigation of writing took place in an urban second grade and focused on three low-income African American children with different reading abilities in their third year of whole language instruction. Data collection included written artifacts, structured interviews at the beginning and end of the school year, and field notes. Artifacts revealed the ways the children structured their texts and used written language features. What children wrote also captured information about the connection between writing and their intellectual and social lives. Interview data focused on gaining understanding about how these children saw themselves as writers and what they know about writing itself. Findings indicated that all three children experienced growth as writers in this teacher's classroom. Individual differences in reading made a difference in the writing they produced. However, the writing of less and more proficient children did not differ greatly. Results also demonstrated that these children were highly engaged and courageous writers. This finding cuts across ability with no differences among the three children. The data studied indicated that writing was a rich source of social and intellectual stimulation that gave rise to literate thinking and action. (Contains 54 references; appendixes contain rubrics for text structures and written language characteristics, and the interview questions.) (Author/RS)