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Specialized in word recognition, the visual word form area (VWFA) is located in the posterior fusiform gyrus of the left hemisphere, regardless of one’s writing system. To test the hypothesis that this consistent location is determined by specific connections to linguistic regions, we studied 6-7year old children throughout the process of learning to read. Using diffusion and functional MRI, we analysed the white-matter connectivity of cortical regions processing visual categories (words, houses, faces, tools). We showed that the emerging VWFA has specific and stable connections to the inferior-dorsal parietal cortex, and these connections exhibit microstructural maturation related to reading improvement.