A 3-year longitudinal study combined research in emergent storybook reading with research in parent-child interaction across income and cultural groups. In San Antonio, Texas, 8 families (4 each of low and middle income, with 2 families in each group being of Mexican-American heritage and 2 of Anglo heritage) tape recorded 1 storybook reading session with their children. Findings of the descriptive studies of parent-child interactions include: (1) storybook reading is an integral part of family life; (2) storybook reading interaction becomes internalized; and (3) children spontaneously engage in storybook reenactments. In the Chicago, Illinois, area, a number of studies were conducted in which storybook readings were elicited from large numbers of preschool and kindergarten children, focusing upon low income children recently immigrated from rural Mexico and placed in bilingual classrooms in a large suburban school district. After their teachers read storybooks repeatedly to them in both languages, the children were asked to read books in both English and Spanish. Readings were audiotaped and transcribed in both languages. One cohort was followed from preschool until November of kindergarten, and another was followed throughout kindergarten. Results indicated that children in both cohorts displayed an increase in emergent reading ability across time. Results also indicated that children produced reading attempts that fit the Sulzby Classification Scheme in both languages. Findings suggest that children discover the interrelationships between oral and written language within their culture during the period from birth to the time when they are conventionally literate. (Four tables of data and excerpts from a transcribed interview are included; 155 references and family demographic data are attached.) (RS)