Two experiments concerned with memory and comprehension of prose passages were conducted with children from second through seventh grade. In both experiments the major variable was the provision of appropriate frameworks for comprehending ambiguous sections of the passages. In the initial experiment, recognition of theme-congruent and theme-incongruent foils was the main measurement, while, in the second experiment, intrusions in recall and postrecall interviews were used to measure the influence of preexisting expectations on story comprehension and recall. The main effect was the striking absence of developmental trends: children behaved like adults in both the recall and recognition studies. Recall of ambiguous passages was enhanced if a relevant framework was given, intrusions reflected the prior orientation, and the subjects had difficulty distinguishing between their own embellishments and the actual story content. Under recognition conditions, children treated theme-congruent foils as if they were target items and incongruent foils as if they were distractors. It is argued that, for children as well as for adults, schemata provide the interpretive framework for comprehending discourse. (Author)