A Sample of 576 children participated in a study to determine the manner in which children retain narrative material, what information they retain, and the effects of sex and age upon these aspects of memory. The children, ranging in age from six to eight years, listened to a tape recorded story in individual sessions. Half of them were asked to retell the story immediately after hearing it and half were not. Each child was then assigned to an experimental condition consisting of an interval of two days, two weeks, or two months. Following the interval, the children were asked to retell the story. They were also asked a series of questions to identify material remembered but not included in their spontaneous recall. The results indicate that retelling a story immediately after hearing it facilitates subsequent recall. They further show that the focus of developmental change in narrative recall shifts as a function of age but not of sex. Analysis of the children's responses to questions posed after the designated interval suggests that the length of the interval had a decisive influence on the recall of specific detail. (Data gathering instructions and recording procedures and copies of the stories used in the study are appended.) (FL)