Literacy in the early years. There are many ways we can prepare young children for school. One of the keys to academic success is strong literacy skills, or the ability to read and write. A child’s journey towards literacy begins at birth, although it may be several years before they are actually ready to read and write. When infants and toddlers scribble with crayons or play with their books by lifting the flaps or pointing to pictures, they are already building emergent literacy skills. As professionals who work with young children, there are many emergent literacy skills that we can support in these early years that pave the way to later literacy success.