In this article, the authors (a mathematics educator and a literacy educator) offer a framework to engage students with mathematics and children's literature through a read-aloud experience in which teacher and students engage with the text while problem solving. The authors describe the narrative-first approach as a strategy during which the teacher starts with a piece of children's literature and reconstructs it through a mathematical lens, enacting the narrative-first approach in five sequential steps. During the first step, the teacher reads the story aloud to students; following that, the teacher asks connecting questions relating the story to the mathematical concept to be studied. For the third step, once connections have taken place, the teacher then poses the mathematical problem. For the fourth step, the students complete the initial problem; they broaden their thinking with an extension problem, which challenges them further. The fifth and last step is a reflective discussion during which teacher and students reflect on mathematical learning. The authors aim to adapt this framework to integrate literature and mathematics with children ages 6-9, taught in a virtual setting.