Building on one aspect of a large-scale longitudinal investigation, a study examined first graders' engagement with literature. Subjects, five Euro-American students (two males, three females), were videotaped during two 30-minute storybook reading sessions one week apart. During the reading session, child and adult sat side-by-side in an effort to recreate a parent-child storybook reading session. Before reading, and throughout each of the four stories, the adult encouraged communication about the text and/or the reading experience. Children's verbal and nonverbal actions were analyzed using a modified constant comparative method. Results indicated the individuality of each child's engagement pattern, although commonalities across all respondents surfaced in three areas: (1) the children frequently commented on or pointed to story-related pictures; (2) all children predicted story events when prompted through open-ended questions; and (3) children responded easily to end-of-story requests for evaluative comments. Findings suggest that at least one type of engagement for first-grade children involves a three-way interaction among a text, a child, and a social representative, and that this engagement varies according to the individual. (A figure representing a model of first grade engagement, and a figure representing a possible model of general engagement for one subject are included.) (RS)