Directed reading activities found in commercially produced instructional materials usually contain information that is aimed at helping children understand the story as well as helping them to develop other skills. To test the effectiveness of both establishing background knowledge and directing children toward central story content, two commercial directed reading lessons were revised to introduce pertinent information and help children form a "map" of the central story content. Twenty-four third grade children read the story as part of an original commercial lesson, and 24 read it as part of a revised lesson. After each lesson, the children recalled the story and answered 35 questions about explicit and implicit story content. Results indicated that (1) the revised version of the lesson exerted a greater influence on comprehension than did the original commercial lesson, (2) the points at which the revised lesson made direct contact with the story exerted a greater influence on comprehension than did points at which only indirect contact was made, and (3) in the revised lesson, the questions following each segment of the story and the preparation before the story exerted greater influence on comprehension then did other lesson components. (Copies of materials used in the study are appended.) (FL)