Latest research on learning to read

A recent study of over 250 5-8 year-olds has identified that children who can tell stories verbally will go on to learn to read more swiftly. 'This research found that children who displayed more complex narrative structures in their oral stories tended to perform better on reading tests several months later. This link appears to be independent of the child’s intelligence and understanding of others’ perspectives.'

So rather than the ability to tell stories originating from reading books, it appears to be the other way around - those children who can tell a good story tend to take to reading more easily. Although the article doesn't explore this, I question how the children studied became good storytellers in the first place. My guess would be they had adults around them reading them picture books from an early age to develop their vocabulary and bank of stories in their imagination.
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https://www.psypost.org/new-study-links-oral-narrative-structure-with-reading-skills-in-young-children/