This review of literature presents research about young children's (ages 2-8) early experiences with comprehension. Using a theoretical framework for emergent comprehension, the review demonstrates how each research study contributes to a holistic theory of emergent comprehension. Influences on emergent comprehension such as children's development, relationships and social interactions, and experiences with multiple texts and multimodal symbol systems are discussed. This review includes contemporary peer-reviewed research articles (spanning the decade from 2000-2010) involving multiple methodologies and representing multiple English-speaking countries.