The purpose of this study was to investigate children's comments on stories. Through a series of interviews the study sought to elicit comments from six 8 year old and six 11 year old children on evaluating literature, both their own and others and on how they compose stories. A classification system was applied to these comments so as to represent them as set of propositions, constructs or concerns about evaluating and composing stories. The system of classification applied was derived from the children's comments rather than use pre-determined categories. Propositions for evaluation were represented as a list of 'traits' and those for composing as a list of 'facets of the composing process.' These propositions were then compared and contrasted by age and mode (evaluation of reading or writing and comments on composing). This analysis led to the identification of some common concerns and patterns of response as well as distinctions according to age and the topic discussed. Video taped writing episodes were used to investigate the composing process. The children were asked to comment whilst writing and this was replayed for them to invite further comment and explanation. All other interviews were recorded on audio tape. Finally consideration is given to further applications of the analysis and methodology to children's comments.