This article focuses specifically on an aspect of Grade 1 children's literary understanding--the textual associations made by the students as they discussed nine picture books. This work extends the small body of research that has examined the responses of Grade 1 children (e.g., Kiefer, 1993; McGee, 1992; Sipe, 2000a), and also contributes to previous research by describing the types and uses of textual connections articulated by Grade 1 children during small-group and whole-class read-aloud sessions.