This article provides a case study perspective of one child's literacy learning over the first semester of first grade. This young learner moves from creating stories for picture books to reading, and from stringing letters to using letter names and spelling sight words. Drawing from this data, a cross-analysis of "what was going on at the same time" looks at both reading and orthographic development. The analysis includes information on the books self-selected by the child (Jen) and field notes on her reading. The data shows how Jen "tries literacy on" as she both pretends to read and then begins to read a variety of books while creating written text in her journal. The analysis demonstrates the ebb and flow of reading and writing for one young learner.