Uses the structural-affect theory of stories to predict that primary school children prefer narratives that involve suspense to those that fail to stimulate a pleasant affective response. Finds that suspense stories are liked better than mundane scripts or scripts with nonintegrated exciting events. (RS)

Reviews several theoretical perspectives and presents data pertinent to what makes a story likable. Examines the contribution of two story characteristics to adults' and elementary students' ratings of story liking and storyhood: the importance of the goal the protagonist pursues and the difficulty of attaining that goal. (JAD)