In this article, the author shares the reflections of second graders at PS 11, an elementary school in the Chelsea section of Manhattan, on their identities as readers and writers through a photo essay. It is through these two mediums that they are coming to know themselves as learners and as human beings. One example of student comments is, Billy Holloway, age 8, who says that writing is very hard because he has to think of what to write and write just what he is thinking of.