This theme issue explores the development of memory and creativity in very young children. The first article, "The Guy Who Went Up the Steep Nicken: The Emergence of Story Telling during the First Three Years" (Susan Engel), describes the developmental stages of children's story telling. The reasons children tell stories and strategies for encouraging story telling are provided. "Shrinking Trolls and Expanding Minds: How Very Young Children Learn To Understand and Use Symbols" (Judy DeLoache) discusses research which indicates that children only gradually appreciate that entities should be responded to as representations of something other than themselves. A conceptual model of young children's understanding and use of symbols is presented. In "Children's Memory for Personal Experience: Individual and Cultural Variations in Development" (Katherine Nelson and others), different kinds of memory are described as well as the impact of talking about an experience on memory. The influences of parenting style and cultural factors on children's retention of memories are also explored. "Pain and Creativity: The Complex Interplay" (Barbara Young) investigates the role that suffering plays in creativity in early childhood. Spontaneous or natural creativity in young children is described in "Creativity in the Youngest" (Lois Barclay Murphy). (Individual articles contain references.) (CR)