A study investigated children's recall and representation for multiple episode stories differing in terms of goal structure. Subjects were 36 third and fifth grade students reading below grade level, and 48 students from the same grades who were identified as average readers. The students read or listened to stories containing embedded and sequential goal structures. Comprehension was assessed through recall and "why" questions. Results showed that average fifth grade readers had greater recall than did the third grade and less skilled readers. The older, more skilled readers' representations tended to resemble the hypothesized goal structures, while the younger and less skilled readers' representations for both goal structures contained embedded goals. (FL)