Five commonly used basal readers from grades one through three were studied to determine how they portrayed and represented older adults. It was hypothesized that older adults would be portrayed as active, contributing, and productive members of society and that they would be represented in the basals in proportion to their numbers in the population. The basals examined were (1) "Shoulder High," The Economy Company; (2) "Glad to Meet You," Ginn; (3) "Magic Times," Macmillan; (4) "Ten Times Round," Ginn; and (5) "Weavers," Houghton Mifflin. Each story in each basal was read, and pictures accompanying the stories were studied to see how the aged were portrayed--their physical appearance and hair coloration, and work and life style. The frequency with which stories of the aged appeared in the basals was also analyzed. The results indicated that the number of stories about older adults increased with grade level, so that the third grade basals were statistically more accurate in portraying the aged in proportion to their population numbers. The older adult's physical appearance did not seem to be realistically portrayed. Most of the men wore pants with suspenders, and the women were usually portrayed as obese, unattractively dressed, and wearing an apron signifying kitchen work. The first and second grade basals rarely showed the elderly engaged in productive work, while the third grade basals were more realistic in portraying active, working senior citizens. (A summary of research related to attitudes toward the aging in education, industry, and society concludes the document.) (HTH)