Recognizing that interest is essential to motivation, this study was designed both to identify and describe the content interest patterns and media preferences (print and television) of middle-grade children and to determine any relationship between these interests and sex, race, or socioeconomic status (SES). An inventory was administered to 250 boys and 282 girls in regular fourth and fifth grades of Hackensack, New Jersey, public schools. Each item was read aloud as students followed and responded first to a four point (3-2-1-0) like-dislike scale and then to media choices. Interest clusters were categorized under fantasy-comedy, informational, social empathy, recreational, excitement-fantastic, excitement-realistic, and artistic. Results showed that (1) social class, not race, affects children's content interests; (2) lower SES children, especially girls, prefer fantasy significantly more than do middle or higher SES children; (3) girls like to read more than do boys; (4) lower SES children like to watch television more than do middle or higher SES children; and (5) all children prefer watching to reading. (References and tables of findings are included.) (JM)