diff --git a/lib/soupselect.js b/lib/soupselect.js
index 1f1142b..2b23fae 100644
--- a/lib/soupselect.js
+++ b/lib/soupselect.js
@@ -55,12 +55,11 @@ htmlparser.DomUtil.* calls
 */
 exports.select = function(dom, selector) {
     var currentContext = [dom];
-    var found, tag, options;
+    var found, tag, options, recurse = true, childSelector = false;
     
     var tokens = selector.split(/\s+/);
     
     for ( var i = 0; i < tokens.length; i++ ) {
-        
         // Attribute selectors
         var match = attrSelectRe.exec(tokens[i]);
         if ( match ) {
@@ -71,7 +70,7 @@ exports.select = function(dom, selector) {
             
             found = [];
             for (var j = 0; j < currentContext.length; j++ ) {
-                found = found.concat(domUtils.getElements(options, currentContext[j]));
+                found = found.concat(domUtils.getElements(options, currentContext[j], recurse));
             };
             
             if ( tag ) {
@@ -96,9 +95,9 @@ exports.select = function(dom, selector) {
                 // the document has no child elements but tags do so we search children to avoid
                 // returning the current element via a false positive
                 if ( typeof currentContext[k].children !== 'undefined' ) {
-                    el = domUtils.getElementById(id_selector, currentContext[k].children);
+                    el = domUtils.getElementById(id_selector, currentContext[k].children, recurse);
                 } else {
-                    el = domUtils.getElementById(id_selector, currentContext[k]);
+                    el = domUtils.getElementById(id_selector, currentContext[k], recurse);
                 }
 
                 if ( el ) {
@@ -137,7 +136,7 @@ exports.select = function(dom, selector) {
                     // don't recurse in the case we have a tag or we get children we might not want
                     found = found.concat(domUtils.getElements(options, context, false));
                 } else {
-                    found = found.concat(domUtils.getElements(options, context));
+                    found = found.concat(domUtils.getElements(options, context, recurse));
                 }
                 
             };
@@ -148,8 +147,10 @@ exports.select = function(dom, selector) {
         // Star selector
         else if ( tokens[i] === '*' ) {
             // nothing to do right?
+        }      
+        else if ( tokens[i] == '>' ) {
+            childSelector = true;
         }
-        
         // Tag selector
         else {
             if (!tagRe.test(tokens[i])) {
@@ -161,15 +162,17 @@ exports.select = function(dom, selector) {
             for ( var m = 0; m < currentContext.length; m++ ) {
                 // htmlparsers document itself has no child property - only nodes do...
                 if ( typeof currentContext[m].children !== 'undefined' ) {
-                    found = found.concat(domUtils.getElementsByTagName(tokens[i], currentContext[m].children));
+                    found = found.concat(domUtils.getElementsByTagName(tokens[i], currentContext[m].children, recurse));
                 } else if (i === 0) {
-                    found = found.concat(domUtils.getElementsByTagName(tokens[i], currentContext[m]));
+                    found = found.concat(domUtils.getElementsByTagName(tokens[i], currentContext[m], recurse));
                 }
 
             };
             
             currentContext = found;
         }
+        recurse = !childSelector;
+        childSelector = false;
     };
     
     return currentContext;