Cognitive-informed reading education research utilises models that are underpinned by the notion that reading is a mental process of word recognition multiplied by language comprehension. Examples of these models include the Simple View of Reading, the Cognitive Foundations Framework, the Reading Rope and the Active Model of Reading. These models are grounded in a Science of Reading-informed approach to reading education that encourages learners to focus on the language meaning system. These models have been influential and productive in supporting teachers and students to teach and learn to read printed words. Yet, cognitive reading models offer limited guidance about how to read and comprehend multimodal texts that convey meaning through more than just written language. Multimodal reading interpretation requires readers to draw on information in the language and accompanying images. In this paper, we use systemic functional semiotics to track the meanings conveyed in language and images in two multimodal picturebooks to show how intermodal theoretical tools can inform multimodal reading of texts. We raise implications for the teaching of multimodal reading interpretation.