This study sought to determine whether identification with a storybook hero is a function of physical status of hero and reader and whether friendship preference also is a function of physical status. Physically disabled and nondisabled four-to-seven-year-old children were randomly assigned to two storybook treatments. The control version depicted two nondisabled boys; the experimental version depicted one disabled boy and one nondisabled boy. Measures of identification and friendship choice were derived from questionnaires administered on two separate days, before and after hearing the stories. Results indicated that most children had realistic self images and could differentiate themselves from heroes whose physical status was unlike their own. Sex differences in responses were interpreted as indicating that disabled males denied similarity, and established social distance, between themselves and the disabled hero in order to protect their self images; disabled females identified less closely with the male hero and were less threatened. Nondisabled males, on the other hand, responded more positively to the disabled hero than did nondisabled females, who may have rejected him socially because he could not conform to stereotypical standards of masculinity. (Author/AA)