THE CHILD'S ABILITY TO PERCEIVE THE DIFFICULTY OF READING MATERIALS WAS ASSESSED. A STRATIFIED RANDOM SAMPLE OF 60 FIFTH GRADERS IN MASSACHUSETTS WITH A MEAN IQ OF 115 SERVED AS SUBJECTS. MATERIALS WERE 32 SHORT, GRADED READING SELECTIONS IN 8 INTEREST CATEGORIES AND A COMPREHENSION TEST. SELECTIONS WERE AT VARIOUS LEVELS OF READABILITY. SPEARMAN'S COEFFICIENT OF RANK CORRELATION AND ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE WERE USED TO ANALYZE THE DATA. THERE WAS LITTLE CONSISTENCY IN THE SUBJECTS' CHOICE OF EASIEST AND HARDEST MATERIAL. SUBJECTS WITH LOW COMPREHENSION SCORES RECEIVED HIGH MEAN SCORES ON THE EASY-CHOICE TASK. EVIDENCE FROM THE CORRELATION ANALYSIS INDICATED THAT THERE WAS A POSITIVE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEVEL OF COMPREHENSION AND LEVEL OF MATERIALS CHOSEN. THIS PAPER WAS PRESENTED AT THE AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE (NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 1967). (BK)