Visual attention and active engagement during shared book reading are important for facilitating emergent literacy learning during the preschool years. Children on the autism spectrum often show difficulties in language and literacy development, yet research investigating potential indicators of shared book reading engagement, including visual attention and verbal engagement, for this group of preschoolers is currently limited. To better understand the relationship between children's visual attention and verbal engagement during shared book reading, parent shared book reading behaviors, and children's emergent literacy skills (e.g. receptive vocabulary and letter-name knowledge), we observed 40 preschoolers on the spectrum and their parents sharing an unfamiliar storybook. Videos of the shared book reading interactions were transcribed and coded for child and parent behaviors using observational coding schemes. Strong significant associations were found between children's visual attention, verbal engagement, and parents' use of questions and/or prompts during the shared book reading interaction. Contrary to expectations, children's visual attention was not related to their emergent literacy skills. Overall, our findings emphasize the interplay between parent behaviors and how preschoolers on the spectrum engage in this important literacy-related context and provide directions for future research.