A study examined young children's emergent reading abilities through analysis of their assisted storybook interactions. Twelve storybooks were read to 41 preschool children during a two-week period preceding interviews. During the interviews, each child was asked to "read" a favorite storybook aloud to a stuffed animal and to the examiner. In 11 cases in which the child did not respond to this initial prompt, additional encouragements were given by the examiner, including reading the story aloud with the child. The videotaped interviews were examined for features thought to be related to knowledge about written language and reading. Preliminary analysis of the assisted storybook interactions indicated a variety of responses. Some children responded only nonverbally, for example, by pointing to the picture. In contrast, other children became very involved verbally, recreating the story with adult assistance. Storybook interactions also varied in the type of language the children used. The responses of some children reflected oral language, containing conversational characteristics, while others resembled written language and contained fragments of the exact wording of the text. During further analysis of the assisted storybook interactions, responses appeared to fall into five categories: nonverbal, conversational, semantically equivalent, echo-like, and verbatim-like. (Examples of interactions are included in the text.) (HTH)