This study was inspired by the literary elements of "cuentos tipicos" (culturally-relevant stories). The book "Prietita y la llorona" ("Prietita and the Ghost Woman") written by Anzaldua (1995) is a good example of a "cuento" that provides information about medicinal herbs and also includes "consejos" (advice). The plot stems from a well-known Mexican story that is traditionally told orally and passed on through generations. Reading this book validates the parents' background knowledge of medicinal herbs and provides a forum for their animated discussion, enthusiastic contributions, and elaboration of shared information. This context thus inspired a community of learners, which in turn facilitated the parents' participation and performance of the protocol-based literacy tasks the authors assigned them. The Family Institute for Early Literacy (FIELD) is housed on two university campuses in Texas. FIELD seeks to examine how multiple literacies from home and school interconnect to increase support for the literacy development of young children. In this study, Mexican-American and Mexican immigrant parents were invited to attend a weeklong workshop with their three-to-four-year-old child. FIELD primarily seeks to hear what parents' perceptions are about the type of learning that the school requires for their young child as well as to identify specific family cultural practices that could support academic learning. The results of this study indicated that parents of Mexican heritage performed and shared a range of literate behaviors in relevant and authentic ways with their young children. While the findings are limited to this specific sample of parents and young children, the results highlight the distributive effects of using culturally-relevant literature to validate parents' background knowledge. (Contains 1 figure and 2 notes.)