An instrument structured around Kenneth Burke's "dramatistic pentad" (agent-act-scene-agency-purpose) was used to analyze and compare children's stories in Indian and Canadian fourth, fifth, and sixth grade reading series. The selections included 77 stories from the Madhya Pradesh, India, reading series and 196 stories from two reading series used in Ontario, Canada. Overall, the study had important methodological implications for the analysis and evaluation of children's reading materials. The data revealed several differences and similarities across the reading series, including the following: (1) Adults outnumbered children in the Indian sample, with the opposite true in the Canadian sample. (2) Both literatures were male dominated. (3) Group agents figured more often in the Canadian than in the Indian stories. (4) Neither sample accurately reflected the society's present occupational and political structure. (5) There was no dominant act-motif in the Ontario readers, while many of the Indian stories depicted the acts of doing good, survival under difficult circumstances, and achievement of one's aim. (6) Acts involving deference to another person, usually an authority figure, occurred substantially more frequently in the Indian than in the Canadian sample. (7) Canadian stories were more likely to happen within one setting, while Indian stories tended to combine spaces, such as nature with home. (8) Canadian stories tended to show recreational aims, while Indian stories tended to show moral aims. (RL)