This study compared childrens' apprehension of an unfamiliar story either read to them from an illustrated book or presented as a comparable televised film. Subjects were 48 children, 24 of them six to seven years old, and 24 nine to ten years old, who were randomly assigned to one medium condition and individually presented the story. Response measures examined recall of story content as well as inferences about characters and events. Children exposed to the televised story remembered more story actions, used physical gestures more often to illustrate their verbal retelling, and relied more on visual content as the basis for inferences. In comparison, children who were read the story in picture book form recalled more story vocabulary, based their inferences more on textual content, general knowledge and personal experience, and made more use of the storytelling situation as an opportunity to ask questions and make comments. (Author/CHC)