This content analysis study examined 99 basal reading narratives from three publishers: Harcourt, SRA-McGraw Hill, and Scott Foresman. The stories were classified according to the ethnicity of the major characters. The observed frequencies were compared to expected frequencies to indicate over representation, adequate representation or under representation based on the ethnic breakdown of the student population on the state of Tennessee and national levels. The stories identified "African American" (n = 18) were investigated further to determine if the elements of quality African American literature (Hefflin & Barksdale-Ladd, 2001) were present. Cohen's Kappa indicated strong agreement between the 2 raters (k = 0.88). The study indicates African American students observed occurrences were less than the expected occurrences based on the student population on the state level in both the Harcourt and Scott Foresman text; SRA-McGraw Hill observed occurrences were equal to expected occurrences on the state level. On the national level, Harcourt observed occurrences were less than expected occurrences based on student population and SRA-McGraw Hill and Scott Foresman were greater than the expected occurrences on the national level. The total sample of stories identified as African American exhibited the qualities of African American children's literature. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]