This report describes the development of a story-reading program called Story Telling and Retelling (STaR), and its effects on the language and comprehension of disadvantaged prekindergarten and kindergarten children. Following an introduction, an initial section describes the development of this program as part of an urban school restructuring effort, Success for All, a five-year program currently being carried out in Baltimore, and explains the reasons for the choice of story reading as a primary activity. The next section explains the operation of the STaR program, its materials (sequence cards, flannel board materials) and methods (retelling, dramatization), which are intended to facilitate the effective use of stories in classrooms. Evaluation of the program is addressed in the next section: individual students from a matched control group were compared with experimental students, tests (the Merrill Language Screening Test and the Test of Language Development) were individually administered to 206 prekindergarten and kindergarten children (43 and 60 matched pairs, respectively), and results indicated program effectiveness, showing positive effects ranging from effect sizes of .24 to 3.75. In addition, informed and anecodotal evidence showed that the program met with approval from teachers and enthusiasm from the children. A final section briefly discusses issues remaining to be resolved. Two tables of data are included, and 17 references are attached. (SR)