GRADE 6

BOOK 2

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SHOULD GIRLS BE ALLOWED TO PLAY HIGH SCHOOL
FOOTBALL?
In many American schools, girls are prevented from playing high school football, which
has been traditionally thought of as a sport for boys. Some people believe this is unfair,
while others disagree. In this 2013 article by journalist Josh Bean, locals in an Alabama
community put forth their opinions on this debate.
As you read, take notes on how the author addresses the debate.
[1]Should girls be allowed to play high school football? At least three schools in
Alabama — Morgan Academy in Selma, St. Clair County in Odenville and Lee High
in Huntsville — have girls handling place-kicks and extra points this season.
Morgan Academy’s Lauren Rutherford made her first career field goal in a game against
Wilcox Academy last week, and she’s handled the team’s kicking duties for the last two
seasons.
All three female kickers — Rutherford, Lee’s Kenysha Coulson, and St. Clair County
freshman Kylee Harrell — have made extra points this season.
Coulson, Harrell, and Rutherford continue the legacy of female kickers in Alabama. In
1939 and 1940, Luverne “Toad” Wise Albert kicked for Escambia County High in
Atmore. She is believed to be the first girl to play high school football in the United
States.Q1
[5]But AL.com readers this summer appeared torn on the issue of whether girls should
be allowed to play tackle football. More than 2,000 votes were cast in a poll asking,
“Should girls be allowed to play tackle football?” and 44.31 percent voted no and 44.05
percent voted yes with no restrictions.
The issue bubbled to the surface after a 12-year-old girl in Georgia was kicked off her
middle-school football team because teammates were “lusting” for her.
But does the recent success of Rutherford, Coulson, and Harrell — and their acceptance
by their male teammates — make a difference? In all three Alabama cases this season,
the girls clearly fill a void because the teams lacked a consistent kicker. Does that
matter?
And is high school football different than other age groups when it comes to allowing
girls to play? Or is there a reason to prevent this gender-bending activity?

DRAGON, DRAGON
John Gardner (1933-1982) was an American author, poet, and professor who was
influenced by medieval literature. "Medieval" refers to a period in Western history,
namely in Europe, that spans from the 5th century into the 15th. It is sometimes called
"The Middle Ages." Gardner wrote with the purpose of encouraging his readers to
always do and be better. "Dragon, Dragon" combines medieval fantasy and modern

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humor to teach a lesson. As a dragon ravages the kingdom, who will step up to defeat
him, and what will it take?
As you read, take notes on character traits of the cobbler’s sons and how the
author uses them to develop the plot of “Dragon, Dragon.”
[1]There was once a king whose kingdom was plagued1 by a dragon. The king did not
know which way to turn. The king’s knights were all cowards who hid under their beds
whenever the dragon came in sight, so they were of no use to the king at all. And the
king’s wizard could not help either because, being old, he had forgotten his magic spells.
Nor could the wizard look up the spells that had slipped his mind, for he had
unfortunately misplaced his wizard’s book many years before. The king was at his wit’s
end.2
Every time there was a full moon the dragon came out of his lair and ravaged3 the
countryside. He frightened maidens and stopped up chimneys and broke store windows
and set people’s clocks back and made dogs bark until no one could hear himself think.
He tipped over fences and robbed graves and put frogs in people’s drinking water and
tore the last chapters out of novels and changed house numbers around so that people
crawled into bed with their neighbors.
He stole spark plugs out of people’s cars and put firecrackers in people’s cigars and
stole the clappers4 from all the church bells and sprung every bear trap for miles around
so the bears could wander wherever they pleased.
[5]And to top it all off, he changed around all the roads in the kingdom so that people
could not get anywhere except by starting out in the wrong direction.Q1
“That,” said the king in a fury, “is enough!” And he called a meeting of everyone in the
kingdom.
Now it happened that there lived in the kingdom a wise old cobbler5 who had a wife
and three sons. The cobbler and his family came to the king’s meeting and stood way
in back by the door, for the cobbler had a feeling that since he was nobody important
there had probably been some mistake, and no doubt the king had intended the meeting
for everyone in the kingdom except his family and him.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” said the king when everyone was present, “I’ve put up with
that dragon as long as I can. He has got to be stopped.”
All the people whispered amongst themselves, and the king smiled, pleased with the
impression he had made.
[10]But the wise cobbler said gloomily, “It’s all very well to talk about it — but how
are you going to do it?”
And now all the people smiled and winked as if to say, “Well, King, he’s got you there!”
The king frowned.
“It’s not that His Majesty hasn’t tried,” the queen spoke up loyally.

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“Yes,” said the king, “I’ve told my knights again and again that they ought to slay that
dragon. But I can’t force them to go. I’m not a tyrant.”
[15]“Why doesn’t the wizard say a magic spell?” asked the cobbler.
“He’s done the best he can,” said the king.
The wizard blushed and everyone looked embarrassed. “I used to do all sorts of spells
and chants when I was younger,” the wizard explained. “But I’ve lost my spell book,
and I begin to fear I’m losing my memory too. For instance, I’ve been trying for days
to recall one spell I used to do. I forget, just now, what the deuce6 it was for. It went
something like —
Bimble,
Wimble,
Cha, Cha
CHOOMPF!
Suddenly, to everyone’s surprise, the queen turned into a rosebush.
“Oh dear,” said the wizard.
[20]“Now you’ve done it,” groaned the king.
“Poor Mother,” said the princess.
“I don’t know what can have happened,” the wizard said nervously, “but don’t worry,
I’ll have her changed back in a jiffy.” He shut his eyes and racked his brain for a spell
that would change her back.
But the king said quickly, “You’d better leave well enough alone. If you change her
into a rattlesnake we’ll have to chop off her head.”Q2
Meanwhile the cobbler stood with his hands in his pockets, sighing at the waste of time.
“About the dragon...” he began.
[25]“Oh yes,” said the king. “I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll give the princess’ hand in
marriage to anyone who can make the dragon stop.”
“It’s not enough,” said the cobbler. “She’s a nice enough girl, you understand. But how
would an ordinary person support her? Also, what about those of us that are already
married?”
“In that case,” said the king, “I’ll offer the princess’ hand or half the kingdom or both
— whichever is most convenient.”
The cobbler scratched his chin and considered it.
“It’s not enough,” he said at last. “It’s a good enough kingdom, you understand, but it’s
too much responsibility.”
[30]“Take it or leave it,” the king said.
“I’ll leave it,” said the cobbler. And he shrugged and went home.
But the cobbler’s eldest son thought the bargain was a good one, for the princess was
very beautiful and he liked the idea of having half the kingdom to run as he pleased. So

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he said to the king, “I’ll accept those terms, Your Majesty. By tomorrow morning the
dragon will be slain.”
“Bless you!” cried the king.
“Hooray, hooray, hooray!” cried all the people, throwing their hats in the air.
[35]The cobbler’s eldest son beamed with pride, and the second eldest looked at him
enviously.7 The youngest son said timidly, “Excuse me, Your Majesty, but don’t you
think the queen looks a little unwell? If I were you I think I’d water her.”
“Good heavens,” cried the king, glancing at the queen who had been changed into a
rosebush, “I’m glad you mentioned it!”
Now the cobbler’s eldest son was very clever and was known far and wide for how
quickly he could multiply fractions in his head. He was perfectly sure he could slay the
dragon by somehow or other playing a trick on him, and he didn’t feel that he needed
his wise old father’s advice. But he thought it was only polite to ask, and so he went to
his father, who was working as usual at his cobbler’s bench, and said, “Well, Father,
I’m off to slay the dragon. Have you any advice to give me?”
The cobbler thought a moment and replied, “When and if you come to the dragon’s lair,
recite the following poem:
Dragon, dragon, how do you do?
I’ve come from the king to murder you.
Say it very loudly and firmly and the dragon will fall, God willing, at your feet.”
“How curious!” said the eldest son. And he thought to himself, “The old man is not as
wise as I thought. If I say something like that to the dragon, he will eat me up in an
instant. The way to kill a dragon is to out-fox8 him.” And keeping his opinion to
himself, the eldest son set forth on his quest.Q3
[40]When he came at last to the dragon’s lair, which was a cave, the eldest son slyly
disguised himself as a peddler and knocked on the door and called out, “Hello there!”
“There’s nobody home!” roared a voice.
The voice was as loud as an earthquake, and the eldest son’s knees knocked together in
terror.
“I don’t come to trouble you,” the eldest son said meekly. “I merely thought you might
be interested in looking at some of our brushes. Or if you’d prefer,” he added quickly,
“I could leave our catalogue with you and I could drop by again, say, early next week.”
“I don’t want any brushes,” the voice roared, “and I especially don’t want any brushes
next week.”
[45]“Oh,” said the eldest son. By now his knees were knocking together so badly that
he had to sit down.
Suddenly a great shadow fell over him, and the eldest son looked up. It was the dragon.
The eldest son drew his sword, but the dragon lunged and swallowed him in a single

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gulp, sword and all, and the eldest son found himself in the dark of the dragon’s belly.
“What a fool I was not to listen to my wise old father!” thought the eldest son. And he
began to weep bitterly.
“Well,” sighed the king the next morning, “I see the dragon has not been slain yet.”
“I’m just as glad, personally,” said the princess, sprinkling the queen. “I would have
had to marry that eldest son, and he had warts.”Q4
Now the cobbler’s middle son decided it was his turn to try. The middle son was very
strong and was known far and wide for being able to lift up the corner of a church. He
felt perfectly sure he could slay the dragon by simply laying into him, but he thought it
would be only polite to ask his father’s advice. So he went to his father and said to him,
“Well, Father, I’m off to slay the dragon. Have you any advice for me?”
[50]The cobbler told the middle son exactly what he’d told the eldest.
“When and if you come to the dragon’s lair, recite the following poem.
Dragon, dragon, how do you do?
I’ve come from the king to murder you.
Say it very loudly and firmly, and the dragon will fall, God willing, at your feet.”
“What an odd thing to say,” thought the middle son. “The old man is not as wise as I
thought. You have to take these dragons by surprise.” But he kept his opinion to himself
and set forth.
When he came in sight of the dragon’s lair, the middle son spurred his horse to a gallop
and thundered into the entrance swinging his sword with all his might.
But the dragon had seen him while he was still a long way off, and being very clever,
the dragon had crawled up on top of the door so that when the son came charging in he
went under the dragon and on to the back of the cave and slammed into the wall. Then
the dragon chuckled and got down off the door, taking his time, and strolled back to
where the man and the horse lay unconscious from the terrific blow. Opening his mouth
as if for a yawn, the dragon swallowed the middle son in a single gulp and put the horse
in the freezer to eat another day.
[55]“What a fool I was not to listen to my wise old father,” thought the middle son when
he came to in the dragon’s belly. And he too began to weep bitterly.
That night there was a full moon, and the dragon ravaged the countryside so terribly
that several families moved to another kingdom.
“Well,” sighed the king in the morning, “still no luck in this dragon business, I see.”
“I’m just as glad, myself,” said the princess, moving her mother, pot and all, to the
window where the sun could get at her. “The cobbler’s middle son was a kind of
humpback.”Q5
Now the cobbler’s youngest son saw that his turn had come. He was very upset and
nervous, and he wished he had never been born. He was not clever, like his eldest

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brother, and he was not strong, like his second eldest brother. He was a decent, honest
boy who always minded his elders.
[60]He borrowed a suit of armor from a friend of his who was a knight, and when the
youngest son put the armor on it was so heavy he could hardly walk. From another
knight he borrowed a sword, and that was so heavy that the only way the youngest son
could get it to the dragon’s lair was to drag it along behind his horse like a plow.9
When everything was in readiness, the youngest son went for a last conversation with
his father.
“Father, have you any advice to give me?” he asked.
“Only this,” said the cobbler. “When and if you come to the dragon’s lair, recite the
following poem.
Dragon, dragon, how do you do?
I’ve come from the king to murder you.
Say it very loudly and firmly, and the dragon will fall, God willing, at your feet.”
“Are you certain?” asked the youngest son uneasily.
[65]“As certain as one can ever be in these matters,” said the wise old cobbler.
And so the youngest son set forth on his quest. He traveled over hill and dale and at last
came to the dragon’s cave.Q6
The dragon, who had seen the cobbler’s youngest son while he was still a long way off,
was seated up above the door, inside the cave, waiting and smiling to himself. But
minutes passed and no one came thundering in. The dragon frowned, puzzled, and was
tempted to peek out. However, reflecting10 that patience seldom goes unrewarded, the
dragon kept his head up out of sight and went on waiting. At last, when he could stand
it no longer, the dragon craned11 his neck and looked. There at the entrance of the cave
stood a trembling young man in a suit of armor twice his size, struggling with a sword
so heavy he could lift only one end of it at a time.
At sight of the dragon, the cobbler’s youngest son began to tremble so violently that his
armor rattled like a house caving in. He heaved with all his might at the sword and got
the handle up level with his chest, but even now the point was down in the dirt. As
loudly and firmly as he could manage, the youngest son cried —
Dragon, dragon, how do you do?
I’ve come from the king to murder you!
“What?” cried the dragon, flabbergasted.12 “You? You? Murder Me???” All at once he
began to laugh, pointing at the little cobbler’s son. “He he he ho ha!” he roared, shaking
all over, and tears filled his eyes. “He he he ho ho ho ha ha!” laughed the dragon. He
was laughing so hard he had to hang onto his sides, and he fell off the door and landed
on his back, still laughing, kicking his legs helplessly, rolling from side to side, laughing
and laughing and laughing.

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[70]The cobbler’s son was annoyed. “I do come from the king to murder you,” he said.
“A person doesn’t like to be laughed at for a thing like that.”
“He he he!” wailed the dragon, almost sobbing, gasping for breath. “Of course not, poor
dear boy! But really, he he, the idea of it, ha ha ha! And that simply ridiculous poem!”
Tears streamed from the dragon’s eyes and he lay on his back perfectly helpless with
laughter.
“It’s a good poem,” said the cobbler’s youngest son loyally. “My father made it up.”
And growing angrier he shouted, “I want you to stop that laughing, or I’ll — I’l l—”
But the dragon could not stop for the life of him. And suddenly, in a terrific rage, the
cobbler’s son began flopping the sword end over end in the direction of the dragon.
Sweat ran off the youngest son’s forehead, but he labored on, blistering mad, and at last,
with one supreme heave, he had the sword standing on its handle a foot from the
dragon’s throat. Of its own weight the sword fell, slicing the dragon’s head off.
“He he ho huk,” went the dragon — and then he lay dead.Q7
The two older brothers crawled out and thanked their younger brother for saving their
lives.
[75]“We have learned our lesson,” they said.
Then the three brothers gathered all the treasures from the dragon’s cave and tied them
to the back end of the youngest brother’s horse, and tied the dragon’s head on behind
the treasures, and started home. “I’m glad I listened to my father,” the youngest son
thought. “Now I’ll be the richest man in the kingdom.”
There were hand-carved picture frames and silver spoons and boxes of jewels and chests
of money and silver compasses and maps telling where there were more treasures buried
when these ran out. There was also a curious old book with a picture of an owl on the
cover, and inside, poems and odd sentences and recipes that seemed to make no sense.
When they reached the king’s castle the people all leaped for joy to see that the dragon
was dead, and the princess ran out and kissed the youngest brother on the forehead, for
secretly she had hoped it would be him.
“Well,” said the king, “which half of the kingdom do you want?”
[80]“My wizard’s book!” exclaimed the wizard. “He’s found my wizard’s book!” He
opened the book and ran his finger along under the words and then said in a loud voice,
“Glmuzk, shkzmlp, blam!”
Instantly the queen stood before them in her natural shape, except she was soaking wet
from being sprinkled too often. She glared at the king.
“Oh dear,” said the king, hurrying toward the door.Q8
1. Plague (verb): to continually cause trouble or distress to (someone or something)
2. “At wit’s end” is a phrase that means puzzled, frustrated, and ready to give up.
3. Ravage (verb): to damage or harm very badly

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4. a small piece inside of a bell that makes it ring
5. a person who makes or repairs shoes and other leather goods
6. a phrase that expresses confusion, frustration, or surprise
7. Enviously (adverb): feeling or showing a desire to have what someone else has
8. a term meaning to defeat or trick someone by being more intelligent or clever
9. a farm machine used to dig into, break up, and turn over soil
10. Reflect (verb): to think seriously and carefully about
11. Crane (verb): to stretch toward something
12. Flabbergasted (adjective): feeling or appearing very shocked or surprised

WOMEN WHO SPOKE UP

In this informational text, Andrew Matthews discusses women throughout American
history who fought to be a part of change.
As you read, take notes on the different women discussed in the text and the
movements to which they contributed.
[1]Women have had to fight to be heard. For most of history, women were expected to
keep silent. In their traditional1 roles as wives and mothers, their sphere of influence
was home and family. That sphere kept them out of the public eye. Some determined
women refused to be prevented from participating2 in public life. Even when they
risked being accused of unacceptable female behavior, women began to speak up. In
the 19th century, women were the moving force behind a number of reform issues.
Many of those issues related to their sphere of influence: the home and what was in the
best interest of families. Women worked to end slavery and child labor. They supported
women’s rights and temperance.3 In the 20th century, women’s roles in society changed
more dramatically. More women spoke up. They addressed larger and broader
audiences. Here are a few women whose public words are remembered today as
particularly inspiring and courageous.
Sojourner Truth — whose slave name was Isabella Baumfree — was born into slavery
in 1797. She escaped to freedom in 1826. She lived at a time when neither African
Americans nor women were viewed as full citizens. She was both. She was deeply
religious, and her faith called her to travel across the free states preaching the gospel.
Contemporaries4 noted that she had “a heart of love” and “a tongue of fire.” She used
her voice to fight slavery and to support women’s rights and temperance. After several
lectures in New York City, one abolitionist5 wrote that, she “poured forth a torrent of
natural eloquence, which swept everything before it.” She gave her most famous — and
unprepared — speech in Ohio in 1851. It is known today as her “Ain’t I a Woman”
speech, but historians now question whether she ever used those exact words. She
pointed out the inequality that existed between the races and the genders.

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“I am a woman’s rights. I have as much muscle as any man, and can do as much work
as any man. I have plowed and reaped and husked and chopped and mowed, and can
any man do more than that? I have heard much about the sexes being equal; I can carry
as much as any man, and can eat as much too if I can get it. I am as strong as any man
that is now. As for intellect, all I can say is, if woman have a pint and man a quart —
why can’t she have her little pint full? You need not be afraid to give us our rights for
fear we will take too much — for we can’t take more than our pint’ll hold.”Q1
As an African-American woman journalist living in the South, Ida B. Wells-
Barnett had her life threatened for the work she did. She led a one-person campaign
against lynching.6 She did that by gathering stories. She studied the information. She
produced facts and statistics. And she spoke about it. In 1909, she gave a speech to the
newly created National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
“This Awful Slaughter” presented hard facts about a subject that others refused to
address publicly. Wells-Barnett forced people to face the reality of the horrors of
lynching. She called on her listeners and the NAACP to do more to end it.
[5]“[Lynching] is national — a blight7 upon our nation, mocking our laws and
disgracing our Christianity. ‘With malice8 toward none but with charity for all’ let us
undertake the work of making the ‘law of the land’ effective and supreme upon every
foot of American soil — a shield to the innocent; and to the guilty, punishment swift and
sure.”Q2
When Clara Lemlich was a teenager, her Jewish family fled from the Ukraine to escape
religious persecution.9 The family settled in New York City. Lemlich found work in a
textile factory.10 Factory employees worked long days — more than 10 hours — and
six days a week. They earned only a few dollars. The terrible conditions motivated
Lemlich to join the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union. She became a leader
in the effort to fight for workers’ rights. She organized several strikes. On November
22, 1909, she was part of a crowd listening to male organizers offer advice to workers.
She insisted on speaking to the crowd. Her words sparked a massive strike known as
the Uprising of the 20,000. Striking factory workers refused to work and protested in
the streets. After more than two months, owners agreed to better pay and shorter
workdays.
“I am a working girl, one of those who are on strike against intolerable 11conditions.
I am tired of listening to speakers who talk in general terms. What we are here to decide
is whether we shall or shall not strike. I offer a resolution that a general strike be
declared — now.”Q3
Mary Harris “Mother” Jones was a labor activist12 at the turn of the 20th century.
She traveled around the country and gave speeches that organized laborers. She spoke
for children, mill workers, coal miners, steelworkers, and immigrants. Those workers

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were paid pennies to work long days under harmful conditions. Sometimes her speeches
were rough and coarse — she referred to herself as a “hell-raiser.” One opponent called
her “the most dangerous woman in America.” But her words energized workers to fight
for better conditions and pay. In 1912, she gave a now-famous speech at a West Virginia
coal mine. Workers had struck to fight for a better contract with the mine owners. She
spoke without notes and directly to the crowd. Her speech survives today because the
mine bosses hired a stenographer to take notes. They hoped to use Jones’ words against
her for inciting13 violence.
“This meeting tonight indicates a milestone of progress of the miners and workers of
the State of West Virginia... You will not be serfs,14 you will march, march, march on
from milestone to milestone of human freedom, you will rise like men in the new day
and slavery will get its death blow. It has got to die. Goodnight.”Q4
[10]Margaret Chase Smith was the first woman to serve in both the House of
Representatives and the Senate. She won election to the Senate in 1948. Two years later,
she bravely spoke up when other public leaders remained silent. At that time, Americans
feared the spread of communism15 and its ties to the Soviet Union. Senator Joseph R.
McCarthy was heading a campaign to identify Communist activity in the United States.
McCarthy’s hunt ruined the careers and lives of the people accused. Smith delivered
her “Declaration of Conscience” on the Senate floor. She did not specifically name
McCarthy. But she commented on the state of fear that had crept into U.S. politics. She
warned against its dangerous anti-American tone.
“I think that it is high time that we remembered that we have sworn to uphold and
defend the Constitution. I think that it is high time that we remembered that the
Constitution, as amended, speaks not only of the freedom of speech but also of trial by
jury instead of trial by accusation.”Q5
African-American civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer gave an electrifying
testimonial in 1964. Hamer was the vice chair of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic
Party. The party wanted to challenge Mississippi’s all-white state delegation to the
Democratic National Convention. Hamer addressed the convention credentials
committee. She shared her personal experience of trying to register to vote in the South.
She described how she had been jailed and beaten. She testified that she been shot at
and verbally abused because she wanted to vote. President Lyndon B. Johnson tried to
prevent her testimony from being aired by making a speech of his own at the same time.
But Hamer’s televised appearance made the news, and it reached a large audience. Her
hope to have some of the Mississippi Freedom Democrats seated at the national
convention did not succeed. But four years later, she was a delegate at the Democratic
National Convention. She was the first woman to represent Mississippi and the first
African American to be seated at a national convention since the 1870s.

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“And if the Freedom Democratic Party is not seated now, I question America. Is this
America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, where we have to sleep with
our telephones off the hooks because our lives be threatened daily, because we want to
live as decent human beings in America?”Q6
1. Traditional (adjective): long-established
2. Participate (verb): to join in doing something
3. the movement against the selling and drinking of alcohol
4. people living during the same time
5. a person who supported the end of slavery
6. the killing of a person by a mob without legal permission or trial
7. a disease
8. Malice (noun): the intention or desire to do evil
9. Persecution (noun): ill-treatment of someone, especially because of their race,
religion, or political beliefs
10. a factory where clothing is made
11. Intolerable (adjective): unbearable; too bad or hard to be accepted
12. one who uses strong actions, such as protests, to help make changes in politics or
society
13. Incite (verb): to stir up or encourage
14. people who were forced to work on a lord’s land during the Medieval period
15. a political theory in which all property is publicly owned

FROM SLAVES TO SHARECROPPERS

After the abolition of slavery, former slaves had to integrate into society as free men
and women. One of the common jobs that former slaves took up was sharecropping, in
which a farmer would get a portion of the crops they harvested for a landowner. In this
informational text, the author explores the difficulties for blacks and whites to adjust to
the time period following the Civil War.
As you read, take notes on how sharecroppers were treated by landowners.
[1]When slavery ended in 1865, 4 million enslaved people were given their freedom.
People who were born into slavery, like Houston Hartsfield Holloway, found that this
important change also created a challenge. In his autobiography, Holloway wrote that
he and other former slaves “did not know how to be free” and that “white people did
not know how to have a free colored person about them.” His words reflect the
difficulties of Reconstruction, a time period that came after the Civil War.
LEGAL FREEDOM
Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. It declared
that all people who were “held as slaves” in the states that had left the union were free.
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It was an important moment in American history, but it did not fully end slavery.
Slavery was finally ended in 1865 after the Civil War was over. In that year, a new
amendment1 was added to the Constitution. This amendment, the 13th, stated that
“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof
the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any
place subject to their jurisdiction.”
Former slaves were known as freedmen. The government of the United States tried to
help freedmen find success in their new lives and set up new programs to achieve this
goal.Q1
CREATING NEW LIVES
The Freedmen’s Bureau worked to set up schools and help former slaves find lost family
members. The Bureau also tried to help freedmen get jobs. Because many freedmen had
not had the opportunity to learn or develop many skills when they were slaves, they
were often only able to get jobs working on plantations where crops were grown. This
meant that sometimes former slaves would end up working for the same families who
had enslaved them. In exchange for a share of the harvest, freedmen would work on
land owned by wealthy white people. This practice became known as sharecropping.
[5]The Freedmen’s Bureau wanted the freedmen to receive better treatment when
sharecropping. They offered suggestions for agreements between sharecroppers and
landowners. These suggestions included giving sharecroppers the holidays off and
requiring landowners to give “good and kind treatment” to sharecroppers. However,
this ideal2 was not usually achieved. Sharecropping contracts were often unfairly
designed to keep poor sharecroppers poor.Q2
MISTREATMENT AND PREJUDICE
Many sharecroppers experienced bad treatment. Sharecroppers were not always given
the promised portions of the crops they helped harvest, or they were not allowed to sell
their share to anyone besides the landowner. Landowners sometimes sold sharecroppers
seeds, shelter, and food for outrageous3 prices, slowly putting the borrowers into debt.
Those who could not pay off their debt found that they could not leave the plantation
until they did. In this way, many black sharecroppers found themselves enslaved once
again. For those who had signed contracts with their former masters, this new system
was especially painful.
By the 1880s, some poor white farmers also started participating in the practice of
sharecropping. Sharecropping remained a major part of agriculture4 in America until
the 1930s. Q3
1. a rule added to the US Constitution
2. Ideal (noun): a standard of perfection or excellence
3. Outrageous (adjective): shockingly bad
13
4. the science or practice of farming

THE WATER OF LIFE

Howard Pyle (1853-1911) was an American illustrator and author of books for young
people. In the following tale, a king asks a faithful servant to bring back the Water of
Life, hoping to win the affections of a beautiful princess. The king, however, learns an
unexpected lesson about hard work.
As you read, take notes on how the young king and the faithful servant respond to
each task.
[1]Once upon a time, there was an old king who had a faithful servant. There was
nobody in the whole world like him,1 and this was why: around his wrist he wore an
armlet2 that fitted as close as the skin. There were words on the golden band; on one
side they said:
“WHO THINKS TO WEAR ME ON HIS ARM
MUST LACK BOTH GUILE3 AND THOUGHT OF HARM.”
And on the other side they said:
“I AM FOR ONLY ONE AND HE
SHALL BE AS STRONG AS TEN CAN BE.”
[5]At last the old king felt that his end was near, and he called the faithful servant to
him and besought4 him to serve and aid the young king who was to come as he had
served and aided the old king who was to go. The faithful servant promised that which
was asked, and then the old king closed his eyes and folded his hands and went the way
that those had traveled who had gone before him.
Well, one day a stranger came to that town from over the hills and far away. With him
he brought a painted picture, but it was all covered with a curtain so that nobody could
see what it was.
He drew aside the curtain and showed the picture to the young king and it was a likeness
of the most beautiful princess in the whole world; for her eyes were as black as a crow’s
wing, her cheeks were as red as apples, and her skin as white as snow. Moreover, the
picture was so natural that it seemed as though it had nothing to do but to open its lips
and speak.
The young king just sat and looked and looked. “Oh me!” said he, “I will never rest
content until I have such a one as that for my own.”
“Then listen!” said the stranger, “this is a likeness of the princess that lives over beyond
the three rivers. A while ago she had a wise bird on which she doted,5 for it knew
everything that happened in the world, so that it could tell the princess whatever she
wanted to know. But now the bird is dead, and the princess does nothing but grieve for
it day and night. She keeps the dead bird in a glass casket, and has promised to marry

14
whoever will bring a cup of water from the Fountain of Life, so that the bird may be
brought back to life again.” That was the story the stranger told, and then he jogged on
the way he was going, and I, for one, do not know whither6 it led.
[10]But the young king had no peace or comfort in life for thinking of the princess who
lived over beyond the three rivers. At last he called the faithful servant to him. “And
can you not,” said he, “get me a cup of the Water of Life?”
“I know not, but I will try,” said the faithful servant, for he bore in mind what he had
promised to the old king.Q1
So out he went into the wide world, to seek for what the young king wanted, though the
way there is both rough and thorny. On he went and on, until his shoes were dusty, and
his feet were sore, and after a while he came to the end of the earth, and there was
nothing more over the hill. There he found a little tumbled-down hut, and within the hut
sat an old, old woman with a distaff,7 spinning a lump of flax.8
“Good-morning, mother,” said the faithful servant.
“Good-morning, son,” says the old woman, “and where are you traveling that you have
come so far?”
[15]“Oh!” says the faithful servant, “I am hunting for the Water of Life, and have come
as far as this without finding a drop of it.”
“Hoity, toity,”9 says the old woman, “if that is what you are after, you have a long way
to go yet. The fountain is in the country that lies east of the Sun and west of the Moon,
and it is few that have gone there and come back again, I can tell you. Besides that there
is a great dragon that keeps watch over the water, and you will have to get the better of
him before you can touch a drop of it. All the same, if you have made up your mind to
go you may stay here until my sons come home, and perhaps they can put you in the
way of getting there, for I am the Mother of the Four Winds of Heaven, and it is few
places that they have not seen.”
So the faithful servant came in and sat down by the fire to wait till the Winds came
home.
The first that came was the East Wind, but he knew nothing of the Water of Life and
the land that lay east of the Sun and west of the Moon; he had heard folks talk of them
both now and then, but he had never seen them with his own eyes.
The next that came was the South Wind, but he knew no more of it than his brother, and
neither the West Wind for the matter of that.
[20]Last of all came the North Wind, and dear, dear, what a hubbub10 he made outside
of the door, stamping the dust off of his feet before he came into the house.
“And do you know where the Fountain of Life is, and the country that lies east of the
Sun and west of the Moon?” said the old woman.

15
Oh, yes, the North Wind knew where it was. He had been there once upon a time, but it
was a long, long distance away.
“So, good! Then perhaps you will give this lad a lift over there tomorrow,” said the old
woman.
At this the North Wind grumbled and shook his head; but at last he said “yes,” for he is
a good-hearted fellow at the bottom, is the North Wind, though his ways are a trifle
rough perhaps.
[25]So the next morning he took the faithful servant on his back, and away he flew till
the man’s hair whistled behind him. On they went and on they went and on they went,
until at last they came to the country that lay east of the Sun and west of the Moon; and
they were none too soon getting there either, I can tell you, for when the North Wind
tumbled the faithful servant off his back he was so weak that he could not have lifted a
feather.Q2
“Thank you,” said the faithful servant, and then he was for starting away to find what
he came for.
“Stop a bit,” says the North Wind, “you will be want to come away again after a while.
I cannot wait here, for I have other business to look after. But here is a feather; when
you want me, cast it into the air, and I will not be long in coming.”
Then way he bustled, for he had caught his breath again, and time was none too long
for him.
The faithful servant walked along a great distance until, by and by, he came to a field
covered all over with sharp rocks and white bones, for he was not the first by many who
had been that way for a cup of the Water of Life.
[30]There lay the great fiery dragon in the sun, sound asleep, and so the faithful servant
had time to look about him. Not far away was a great deep trench like a drain in a
swampy field; that was a path that the dragon had made by going to the river for a drink
of water every day. The faithful servant dug a hole in the bottom of this trench, and
there he hid himself as snugly as a cricket in the crack in the kitchen floor. By and by
the dragon awoke and found that he was thirsty, and then started down to the river to
get a drink. The faithful servant lay as still as a mouse until the dragon was just above
where he was hidden; then he thrust his sword through its heart, and there it lay, after a
turn or two, as dead as a stone.
After that, he had only to fill the cup at the fountain, for there was nobody to say nay to
him. Then he cast the feather into the air, and there was the North Wind, as fresh and as
sound as ever. The North Wind took him upon its back, and away it flew until it came
home again.
The faithful servant thanked them all around — the Four Winds and the old woman —
and as they would take nothing else, he gave them a few drops of the Water of Life, and

16
that is the reason that the Four Winds and their mother each are as fresh and young now
as they were when the world began.
Then the faithful servant set off home again, right foot foremost, and he was not as long
in getting there as in coming.
As soon as the king saw the cup of the Water of Life he had the horses saddled, and off
he and the faithful servant rode to find the princess who lived over beyond the three
rivers. By and by they came to the town, and there was the princess mourning and
grieving over her bird just as she had done from the first. But when she heard that the
king had brought the Water of Life she welcomed him as though he was a flower in
March.
[35]They sprinkled a few drops upon the dead bird, and up it sprang as lively and as
well as ever.
But now, before the princess would marry the king she must have a talk with the bird,
and there came the hitch,11 for the Wise Bird knew as well as you and I that it was not
the king, who had brought the Water of Life. “Go and tell him,” said the Wise Bird,
“that you are ready to marry him as soon as he saddles and bridles12 the Wild Black
Horse in the forest over yonder, for if he is the hero who found the Water of Life he can
do that and more easily enough.”
The princess did as the bird told her, and so the king missed getting what he wanted
after all. But off he went to the faithful servant. “And can you not saddle and bridle the
Wild Black Horse for me?” said he.
“I do not know,” said the faithful servant, “but I will try.”Q3
So off he went to the forest to hunt up the Wild Black Horse, the saddle over his shoulder
and the bridle over his arm. By and by came the Wild Black Horse galloping through
the woods like a thunder gust in summer, so that the ground shook under his feet. But
the faithful servant was ready for him; he caught him by the mane and forelock,13 and
the Wild Black Horse had never had such a one to catch hold of him before.
[40]But how they did stamp and wrestle! Up and down and here and there, until the fire
flew from the stones under their feet. But the Wild Black Horse could not stand against
the strength of ten men, such as the faithful servant had, so by and by he fell on his
knees, and the faithful servant clapped the saddle on his back and slipped the bridle over
his ears.
“Listen now,” says he; “tomorrow my master, the king, will ride you up to the princess’s
house, and if you do not do just as I tell you, it will be the worse for you; when the king
mounts upon your back you must stagger and groan, as though you carried a mountain.”
The horse promised to do as the other bade, and then the faithful servant jumped on his
back and away to the king, who had been waiting at home for all this time.

17
The next day the king rode up to the princess’s castle, and the Wild Black Horse did
just as the faithful servant told him to do; he staggered and groaned, so that everybody
cried out, “Look at the great hero riding upon the Wild Black Horse!”
And when the princess saw him she also thought that he was a great hero. But the Wise
Bird was of a different mind from her, for when the princess came to talk to him about
marrying the king he shook his head. “No, no,” said he, “there is something wrong here,
and the king has baked his cake in somebody else’s oven. He never saddled and bridled
the Wild Black Horse by himself. Listen, you must say to him that you will marry
nobody but the man who wears such and such a golden armlet with this and that written
on it.”
[45]So the princess told the king what the Wise Bird had bidden her to say, and the king
went straightway to the faithful servant.
“You must let me have your armlet,” said he.
“Alas, master,” said the faithful servant, “that is a woeful thing for me, for the one and
only way to take the armlet off of my wrist is to cut my hand from off my body.”
“So!” says the king, “that is a great pity, but the princess will not have me without the
armlet.”
“Then you shall have it,” says the faithful servant; but the king had to cut the hand off,
for the faithful servant could not do it himself.
[50]But, bless your heart! The armlet was ever so much too large for the king to wear!
Nevertheless, he tied it to his wrist with a bit of ribbon, and off he marched to the
princess’s castle.
“Here is the armlet of gold,” said he, “and now will you marry me!”
But the Wise Bird sat on the princess’s chair. “Hut! tut!” says he, “it does not fit the
man.”
Yes, that was so; everybody who was there could see it easily enough; and as for
marrying him, the princess would marry nobody but the man who could wear the armlet.
What a hubbub there was then! Everyone who was there was sure that the armlet would
fit him if it fitted nobody else. But no; it was far too large for the best of them. The
faithful servant was very sad, and stood back of the rest, over by the wall, with his arm
tied up in a napkin. “You shall try it too,” says the princess; but the faithful servant only
shook his head, for he could not try it on as the rest had done because he had no hand.
But the Wise Bird was there and knew what he was about. “See now,” says he, “maybe
the Water of Life will cure one thing as well as another.”
[55]Yes, that was true, and one was sent to fetch the cup. They sprinkled it on the
faithful servant’s arm, and it was not twice they had to do it, for there was another hand
as good and better than the old.

18
Then they gave him the armlet; he slipped it over his hand, and it fitted him like his own
skin.
“This is the man for me,” says the princess, “and I will have none other.” For she could
see with half an eye that he was the hero who had been doing all the wonderful things
that had happened because he said nothing about himself.
As for the king — why, all that was left for him to do was to pack off home again; and
I, for one, am glad of it.
And this is true; the best packages are not always wrapped up in blue paper and tied
with a gay string, and there are better men in the world than kings and princes, fine as
they seem to be.Q4
1. referring to the servant
2. An armlet is a band or bracelet worn around a person’s arm.
3. Guile (noun): clever and usually dishonest methods to achieve something
4. “Besought” is an archaic term used to ask someone urgently to do something.
5. Dote (verb): to give a lot of love or attention to
6. “Whither” is an archaic term meaning “to what place or state.”
7. “Distaff” is a stick or spindle on which wool or flax is spun.
8. “Flax” is a blue-flowered plant used for its seeds and the cloth fibers collected from
its stalks.
9. an old phrase meaning “thoughtlessly silly”
10. A “hubbub” is a situation that causes much noise, confusion, excitement, and
activity.
11. a temporary interruption or problem
12. To “bridle” a horse means to put a harness on its head for the purpose of steering
it.
13. “Forelock” is the portion of hair growing above the forehead.

THE WATER OF LIFE

Howard Pyle (1853-1911) was an American illustrator and author of books for young
people. In the following tale, a king asks a faithful servant to bring back the Water of
Life, hoping to win the affections of a beautiful princess. The king, however, learns an
unexpected lesson about hard work.
As you read, take notes on how the young king and the faithful servant respond to
each task.
[1]Once upon a time, there was an old king who had a faithful servant. There was
nobody in the whole world like him,1 and this was why: around his wrist he wore an
armlet2 that fitted as close as the skin. There were words on the golden band; on one
side they said:

19
“WHO THINKS TO WEAR ME ON HIS ARM
MUST LACK BOTH GUILE3 AND THOUGHT OF HARM.”
And on the other side they said:
“I AM FOR ONLY ONE AND HE
SHALL BE AS STRONG AS TEN CAN BE.”
[5]At last the old king felt that his end was near, and he called the faithful servant to
him and besought4 him to serve and aid the young king who was to come as he had
served and aided the old king who was to go. The faithful servant promised that which
was asked, and then the old king closed his eyes and folded his hands and went the way
that those had traveled who had gone before him.
Well, one day a stranger came to that town from over the hills and far away. With him
he brought a painted picture, but it was all covered with a curtain so that nobody could
see what it was.
He drew aside the curtain and showed the picture to the young king and it was a likeness
of the most beautiful princess in the whole world; for her eyes were as black as a crow’s
wing, her cheeks were as red as apples, and her skin as white as snow. Moreover, the
picture was so natural that it seemed as though it had nothing to do but to open its lips
and speak.
The young king just sat and looked and looked. “Oh me!” said he, “I will never rest
content until I have such a one as that for my own.”
“Then listen!” said the stranger, “this is a likeness of the princess that lives over beyond
the three rivers. A while ago she had a wise bird on which she doted,5 for it knew
everything that happened in the world, so that it could tell the princess whatever she
wanted to know. But now the bird is dead, and the princess does nothing but grieve for
it day and night. She keeps the dead bird in a glass casket, and has promised to marry
whoever will bring a cup of water from the Fountain of Life, so that the bird may be
brought back to life again.” That was the story the stranger told, and then he jogged on
the way he was going, and I, for one, do not know whither6 it led.
[10]But the young king had no peace or comfort in life for thinking of the princess who
lived over beyond the three rivers. At last he called the faithful servant to him. “And
can you not,” said he, “get me a cup of the Water of Life?”
“I know not, but I will try,” said the faithful servant, for he bore in mind what he had
promised to the old king.Q1
So out he went into the wide world, to seek for what the young king wanted, though the
way there is both rough and thorny. On he went and on, until his shoes were dusty, and
his feet were sore, and after a while he came to the end of the earth, and there was
nothing more over the hill. There he found a little tumbled-down hut, and within the hut
sat an old, old woman with a distaff,7 spinning a lump of flax.8

20
“Good-morning, mother,” said the faithful servant.
“Good-morning, son,” says the old woman, “and where are you traveling that you have
come so far?”
[15]“Oh!” says the faithful servant, “I am hunting for the Water of Life, and have come
as far as this without finding a drop of it.”
“Hoity, toity,”9 says the old woman, “if that is what you are after, you have a long way
to go yet. The fountain is in the country that lies east of the Sun and west of the Moon,
and it is few that have gone there and come back again, I can tell you. Besides that there
is a great dragon that keeps watch over the water, and you will have to get the better of
him before you can touch a drop of it. All the same, if you have made up your mind to
go you may stay here until my sons come home, and perhaps they can put you in the
way of getting there, for I am the Mother of the Four Winds of Heaven, and it is few
places that they have not seen.”
So the faithful servant came in and sat down by the fire to wait till the Winds came
home.
The first that came was the East Wind, but he knew nothing of the Water of Life and
the land that lay east of the Sun and west of the Moon; he had heard folks talk of them
both now and then, but he had never seen them with his own eyes.
The next that came was the South Wind, but he knew no more of it than his brother, and
neither the West Wind for the matter of that.
[20]Last of all came the North Wind, and dear, dear, what a hubbub10 he made outside
of the door, stamping the dust off of his feet before he came into the house.
“And do you know where the Fountain of Life is, and the country that lies east of the
Sun and west of the Moon?” said the old woman.
Oh, yes, the North Wind knew where it was. He had been there once upon a time, but it
was a long, long distance away.
“So, good! Then perhaps you will give this lad a lift over there tomorrow,” said the old
woman.
At this the North Wind grumbled and shook his head; but at last he said “yes,” for he is
a good-hearted fellow at the bottom, is the North Wind, though his ways are a trifle
rough perhaps.
[25]So the next morning he took the faithful servant on his back, and away he flew till
the man’s hair whistled behind him. On they went and on they went and on they went,
until at last they came to the country that lay east of the Sun and west of the Moon; and
they were none too soon getting there either, I can tell you, for when the North Wind
tumbled the faithful servant off his back he was so weak that he could not have lifted a
feather.Q2

21
“Thank you,” said the faithful servant, and then he was for starting away to find what
he came for.
“Stop a bit,” says the North Wind, “you will be want to come away again after a while.
I cannot wait here, for I have other business to look after. But here is a feather; when
you want me, cast it into the air, and I will not be long in coming.”
Then way he bustled, for he had caught his breath again, and time was none too long
for him.
The faithful servant walked along a great distance until, by and by, he came to a field
covered all over with sharp rocks and white bones, for he was not the first by many who
had been that way for a cup of the Water of Life.
[30]There lay the great fiery dragon in the sun, sound asleep, and so the faithful servant
had time to look about him. Not far away was a great deep trench like a drain in a
swampy field; that was a path that the dragon had made by going to the river for a drink
of water every day. The faithful servant dug a hole in the bottom of this trench, and
there he hid himself as snugly as a cricket in the crack in the kitchen floor. By and by
the dragon awoke and found that he was thirsty, and then started down to the river to
get a drink. The faithful servant lay as still as a mouse until the dragon was just above
where he was hidden; then he thrust his sword through its heart, and there it lay, after a
turn or two, as dead as a stone.
After that, he had only to fill the cup at the fountain, for there was nobody to say nay to
him. Then he cast the feather into the air, and there was the North Wind, as fresh and as
sound as ever. The North Wind took him upon its back, and away it flew until it came
home again.
The faithful servant thanked them all around — the Four Winds and the old woman —
and as they would take nothing else, he gave them a few drops of the Water of Life, and
that is the reason that the Four Winds and their mother each are as fresh and young now
as they were when the world began.
Then the faithful servant set off home again, right foot foremost, and he was not as long
in getting there as in coming.
As soon as the king saw the cup of the Water of Life he had the horses saddled, and off
he and the faithful servant rode to find the princess who lived over beyond the three
rivers. By and by they came to the town, and there was the princess mourning and
grieving over her bird just as she had done from the first. But when she heard that the
king had brought the Water of Life she welcomed him as though he was a flower in
March.
[35]They sprinkled a few drops upon the dead bird, and up it sprang as lively and as
well as ever.

22
But now, before the princess would marry the king she must have a talk with the bird,
and there came the hitch,11 for the Wise Bird knew as well as you and I that it was not
the king, who had brought the Water of Life. “Go and tell him,” said the Wise Bird,
“that you are ready to marry him as soon as he saddles and bridles12 the Wild Black
Horse in the forest over yonder, for if he is the hero who found the Water of Life he can
do that and more easily enough.”
The princess did as the bird told her, and so the king missed getting what he wanted
after all. But off he went to the faithful servant. “And can you not saddle and bridle the
Wild Black Horse for me?” said he.
“I do not know,” said the faithful servant, “but I will try.”Q3
So off he went to the forest to hunt up the Wild Black Horse, the saddle over his shoulder
and the bridle over his arm. By and by came the Wild Black Horse galloping through
the woods like a thunder gust in summer, so that the ground shook under his feet. But
the faithful servant was ready for him; he caught him by the mane and forelock,13 and
the Wild Black Horse had never had such a one to catch hold of him before.
[40]But how they did stamp and wrestle! Up and down and here and there, until the fire
flew from the stones under their feet. But the Wild Black Horse could not stand against
the strength of ten men, such as the faithful servant had, so by and by he fell on his
knees, and the faithful servant clapped the saddle on his back and slipped the bridle over
his ears.
“Listen now,” says he; “tomorrow my master, the king, will ride you up to the princess’s
house, and if you do not do just as I tell you, it will be the worse for you; when the king
mounts upon your back you must stagger and groan, as though you carried a mountain.”
The horse promised to do as the other bade, and then the faithful servant jumped on his
back and away to the king, who had been waiting at home for all this time.
The next day the king rode up to the princess’s castle, and the Wild Black Horse did
just as the faithful servant told him to do; he staggered and groaned, so that everybody
cried out, “Look at the great hero riding upon the Wild Black Horse!”
And when the princess saw him she also thought that he was a great hero. But the Wise
Bird was of a different mind from her, for when the princess came to talk to him about
marrying the king he shook his head. “No, no,” said he, “there is something wrong here,
and the king has baked his cake in somebody else’s oven. He never saddled and bridled
the Wild Black Horse by himself. Listen, you must say to him that you will marry
nobody but the man who wears such and such a golden armlet with this and that written
on it.”
[45]So the princess told the king what the Wise Bird had bidden her to say, and the king
went straightway to the faithful servant.
“You must let me have your armlet,” said he.

23
“Alas, master,” said the faithful servant, “that is a woeful thing for me, for the one and
only way to take the armlet off of my wrist is to cut my hand from off my body.”
“So!” says the king, “that is a great pity, but the princess will not have me without the
armlet.”
“Then you shall have it,” says the faithful servant; but the king had to cut the hand off,
for the faithful servant could not do it himself.
[50]But, bless your heart! The armlet was ever so much too large for the king to wear!
Nevertheless, he tied it to his wrist with a bit of ribbon, and off he marched to the
princess’s castle.
“Here is the armlet of gold,” said he, “and now will you marry me!”
But the Wise Bird sat on the princess’s chair. “Hut! tut!” says he, “it does not fit the
man.”
Yes, that was so; everybody who was there could see it easily enough; and as for
marrying him, the princess would marry nobody but the man who could wear the armlet.
What a hubbub there was then! Everyone who was there was sure that the armlet would
fit him if it fitted nobody else. But no; it was far too large for the best of them. The
faithful servant was very sad, and stood back of the rest, over by the wall, with his arm
tied up in a napkin. “You shall try it too,” says the princess; but the faithful servant only
shook his head, for he could not try it on as the rest had done because he had no hand.
But the Wise Bird was there and knew what he was about. “See now,” says he, “maybe
the Water of Life will cure one thing as well as another.”
[55]Yes, that was true, and one was sent to fetch the cup. They sprinkled it on the
faithful servant’s arm, and it was not twice they had to do it, for there was another hand
as good and better than the old.
Then they gave him the armlet; he slipped it over his hand, and it fitted him like his own
skin.
“This is the man for me,” says the princess, “and I will have none other.” For she could
see with half an eye that he was the hero who had been doing all the wonderful things
that had happened because he said nothing about himself.
As for the king — why, all that was left for him to do was to pack off home again; and
I, for one, am glad of it.
And this is true; the best packages are not always wrapped up in blue paper and tied
with a gay string, and there are better men in the world than kings and princes, fine as
they seem to be.Q4
1. referring to the servant
2. An armlet is a band or bracelet worn around a person’s arm.
3. Guile (noun): clever and usually dishonest methods to achieve something
4. “Besought” is an archaic term used to ask someone urgently to do something.

24
 5. Dote (verb): to give a lot of love or attention to
6. “Whither” is an archaic term meaning “to what place or state.”
7. “Distaff” is a stick or spindle on which wool or flax is spun.
8. “Flax” is a blue-flowered plant used for its seeds and the cloth fibers collected from
its stalks.
9. an old phrase meaning “thoughtlessly silly”
10. A “hubbub” is a situation that causes much noise, confusion, excitement, and
activity.
11. a temporary interruption or problem
12. To “bridle” a horse means to put a harness on its head for the purpose of steering
it.
13. “Forelock” is the portion of hair growing above the forehead.
A LONELY PLANET PONDERS
John P. Curtin (1967-2012) was a writing professor at DePaul University. He also led
bike tours in Seattle, and on one trip he crashed and broke his neck, leaving him
paralyzed. He wrote the following poem using a voice-activated computer program
when he was asked to show how poetry can communicate information.
As you read, takes notes on what scientific concepts the poet writes about in the
poem.
[1]I'm unleashed but feel a pull; I'm in orbit.
Gravity, my greatest attraction,
Has never let me down.
I am one of several, maybe many;
[5]I'm not sure, I seldom1 see the rest.
I know, though, that there are more like me.
A network, a galaxy;
A universe at work.Q1
As I spin, solitary,
[10]As I wend2 my way through space,
There's design; there's order; there is a pattern.
There are causes and their effects,
And there are reasons that
Such should happen this way
[15]And this should happen in such a way.
Even unpredictability is governed by principle.
Take comfort.
Chance, too, toes a line.Q23

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1. Seldom (adverb): not often
2. “Wend” means to go in a specific direction, usually slowly or by a direct route.
3. “Toe a line” is an expression meaning “follow the rules.”
CHAMELEON
In 2014, David Lopera, an 11th grade student in Boston, wrote this personal essay as a
part of a collection of student-written essays exploring culture and identity.
As you read, take notes on how the meaning of the chameleon metaphor changes
throughout the story.
Our desire to fit in sometimes influences the choices we make. Here, David Lopera
describes what happened once when he went to great lengths to fit in.
[1]High school students are a lot like chameleons. They love to blend into their
surroundings. Walk down the halls of a high school and you will see exactly that:
students trying to fit in. Similar to chameleons,1 high school students do it for the same
reason — survival. Being singled out is a dangerous thing. In a place where reputation
defines you, having anything jeopardize2 that reputation can prove dreadful. In my
freshman year, I was in a group of friends who loved to talk about shoes. Our
conversations consisted of shoes, Call of Duty, shoes, girls, shoes, shoes, and school.
The more they talked about it, the more I saw sneaker trends everywhere I went. It
wasn’t long until I figured out that all the “popular” kids had the most expensive
sneakers, more specifically Jordans. Looking down at my plain, worn-out shoes, I knew
I was no match. How could I expect to survive high school if I had nothing to show on
my feet?Q1
That night, I scrolled through page after page of Jordans. Different designs, different
colors, but all well over $100. Which ones were cool? What designs were best? Didn’t
that one senior wear these? He got a lot of attention at school. Maybe I should get the
same. Nah, probably not. Maybe these? An hour into my search, I finally saw the pair I
wanted — the Royal Blue 10s. This pair not only had my favorite color schemes (blue,
white and silver) but they were, more importantly, “cool” enough for me to be
recognized and accepted. In a jungle of trendsetters3 I was the chameleon trying to
blend in.
I woke up at 7 a.m. on a chilly March Saturday morning. It was the day the Royal Blue
10s were being released.
I waited patiently outside the Champs store for two hours. All the guys around me had
$100+ shoes. They discussed the newest releases and the sneaker trades as I stood there
awkwardly in my $60 Nikes. I felt out of place, and even if I could fit in, I slowly
realized I didn’t want to. My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door opening.
All heads turned toward the employee coming out of the store. Within 30 seconds, those
outside in the cold jam-packed into the small store, dollar bills waving in the air.

26
Stealthily4 sneaking toward the front, I got the shoes, paid, and quickly left with a
vibrant smile on my face. Whatever doubt I had before had gone.Q2
[5]That Monday, I wore the shoes for the first time. As I slipped them on, I could feel
the soft sole press against the bottom of my foot. The new shoe smell flew up my nose.
I could just imagine the look of awe on everyone’s face, the compliments I would get,
and most of all, the recognition. With a delicate hand, I wiped off a minor smudge on
the side of the right one. A smile hit my face as I laced them up. Perfect.
There was a hop to my step that day and my head was held just a little bit higher.
Looking around, I met everyone in the eye expecting to catch one of them staring at my
shoes. First period passed. Nothing. Second period passed. Same thing. No compliments
or anything. By lunch, I embraced my disappointment. I had imagined that I would be
transformed into a new light, but as soon as I stepped through the school door I was still
the same old freshman I was the week before. How could that be? I had the Jordans and
everything. Were they really worth $160 and two hours of my time? Not once did I ask
myself whether I truly wanted the pair. The shoes didn’t represent who I was, but I had
imagined the shoes would help create a better me. What I failed to realize, however, is
that when chameleons try to avoid being singled out, they don’t fit into their
surroundings. They disappear.Q3
1. Chameleon (noun): a lizard that changes its color to match its background
2. Jeopardize (verb): to risk losing something important
3. Trendsetter (noun): a person who leads the way in fashion and ideas
4. Stealth (adjective): secret and quiet

THE HOUSE FALLS APART

This informational text discusses the fall of the Roman empire. The Roman Empire
lasted from 30 B.C.E. to 476 C.E. It had its capital in modern day Rome, in Italy, and
at its height, its territory stretched across the entire Mediterranean Sea. While the
Western Roman Empire fell in 476 C.E., the Eastern Roman Empire, known as the
Byzantine Empire, lasted until 1453 C.E.
As you read, take notes on the major events or people that weakened the Roman
Empire.
[1]This article is brought to you by the year 476 A.D.!
That house is in bad shape. The lawn is flooded, the windows are broken, shingles are
falling off the roof, and one side seems to be sinking into the earth. It looks like a lot of
bad things happened at the same time with that house. If only one thing had been wrong
maybe it could have been fixed, but so many things were not fixed for so long that there
was no hope. You know, this house reminds me of why the Roman Empire1 fell. Too
many things went unfixed, and then they all went wrong at the same time.

27
You need money to fix things or keep them working. That includes everything from this
house that’s falling down to the Roman Empire. At one time, the people who owned
this house paid money to keep the water running and fix anything that was broken. The
Romans also paid money to keep things going. A tax is money people pay to their
government. They can pay this as part of the wages they earn, or as an extra cost on
things that they buy. Rome collected taxes so they could do everything from build roads
to pay the army. Too bad money doesn’t always go where it needs to.Q1
When some people get their hands on money and power, they would rather keep it than
use it for things that need to be fixed, like that house’s roof or the roads of
Rome. Corruption is when people who are in power use that power to help themselves
instead of the people they are supposed to help. Instead of paying the water bill or fixing
the roof, the people who own this house might have bought nice candles. Many leaders
in the Roman Empire kept the taxes they took for themselves. They also gave jobs to
people in their family or to people who gave them money instead of hiring people who
would do the best job for Rome. So what were Roman leaders doing with all the money
they kept?Q2
[5]Just as this house started to lose its roof, its windows, its heating and its water, Rome
also started to fall apart. Of course, the most important part of a house are the walls, the
things that protect it. The Praetorian Guard were soldiers whose job it was to protect
the Roman Emperor. At some point, the guard stopped doing what was right for the
empire and started doing what was best for them. They would kill emperors they did
not like and make anyone who promised to pay them well the new leader. If the new
leaders didn’t pay as well as the guard thought they should, the guard might kill the new
emperor and pick another! It’s no good when your walls are trying to hurt you. So much
for living in that house... or in Rome.Q3
I would bet that this broken house was around for a long time before it started to fall
apart. Look at the holes in those walls though... People must have moved in and out and
not taken very good care of the place. For hundreds of years, Rome had a lot of land
and did very well... but then the guard went bad. A lot of people moved into Rome from
outside. One group, the Germanic Tribes, were people from the Northern part of Europe
who moved into Roman lands and later attacked the city of Rome.2 This was the end of
the empire. These tribes were pushed out of their own homes by other groups of people
that were moving into their lands. Some of them were brought into the Roman army
and trained as soldiers, but they ended up liking their generals3 more than they liked
Rome. This was not good for the Romans. This is when the house started to fall apart.
Nothing lasts forever. We all know that. If money or taxes are used for the right things,
like paying armies and fixing roads or paying the bills and fixing the roof, then empires
and houses can last a very long time. If the leaders decide to keep all of the money, no

28
money will make it to the walls of the house or the people who keep the empire safe,
and it all will come falling down. You don’t think this house was attacked by Germanic
tribes, do you? Neither do I.Q4
1. The Roman Empire lasted from 30 B.C. to 476 A.D. It had its capital in modern day
Rome, Italy and at its height, its territory stretched across the entire Mediterranean Sea,
from England to North Africa to the Middle East.
2. Rome was sacked, or attacked and robbed, by Germanic Tribes three times before
Rome collapsed in 476 BCE. The final attack by Germanic Tribes happened in 455
BCE.
3. a leader of a military group
FRIDA KAHLO
Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) was a famous Mexican painter, known for painting primarily
self-portraits. Kahlo used her art to explore a variety of themes, including gender, class,
and race in Mexican society. In this informational text, Jessica McBirney discusses the
life and artistic career of Kahlo.
As you read, take notes on what Kahlo considered important to her identity and
her art.
[1]Mexican painter Frida Kahlo was born in 1907, but later she told people she was
born in 1910. It’s not that she wanted to seem younger – 1910 was the year of the
Mexican Revolution,1 and Kahlo wanted to identify herself with Mexican culture and
pride. With that goal in mind, she painted self-portraits and other scenes to represent
different aspects of Mexican culture and women’s experiences in that culture. She
would go on to become a popular figure in Mexico and around the world, as a person
who stood against the stereotypes2 and cultural expectations of her time. Kahlo was a
passionate artist who loved her country and valued being true to herself over all else.
She did not behave how women were expected to in the early twentieth century and her
paintings, many of them self-portraits, were of a style never seen before at that time
because she often experimented with the images she produced of herself. Her radical
political beliefs3 and exciting lifestyle also set her apart. Her unique personal style –
dramatic eyebrows, fancy flowery headdresses, and bright colors – is so recognizable
that her portraits still show up on magazine covers and as Halloween costumes
today. Q1
EARLY LIFE
Kahlo grew up at home with her parents in Coyoacán, Mexico, right outside of Mexico
City. She described her childhood as “very, very sad,” because her parents had a bad
marriage and she was often sick. When she was six years old she contracted polio, a
very serious disease affecting muscles and movement. Since the disease left one of her
legs smaller and weaker than the other, her father encouraged her to get outside and
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bike, swim, and play sports, all unusual activities for a little girl at the time. Later she
enrolled at National Preparatory School, one of 35 female students at a school of over
2,000 students.
Kahlo fell in love with drawing at an early age. Her father’s friend Fernando Fernandez
gave her drawing lessons and even employed her as an engraving apprentice.4 He
thought she was an extremely talented artist, but Kahlo never considered art as a career.
However, at the age of 18 Kahlo was riding a bus when it collided with a streetcar, and
she was so badly injured in the ribs, back, and pelvis that she had to spend three months
on bed-rest to recover. She spent those long hours painting, mostly self-portraits and
some portraits of her friends from school. Though she recovered, she would spend the
rest of her life in pain. Because of this, pain was a theme often featured in her
work. Q2
MEXICAN HERITAGE
After she recovered she started socializing with her friends again and joined the
Mexican Communist Party. The political activism the group practiced gave Kahlo
greater appreciation for Mexican culture, especially when it came to the role women
played within it. She continued painting, and in 1928 she met Diego Rivera, a famous
artist and fellow member of the Communist Party. She asked him if her paintings were
good enough to make a living on; Rivera was extremely impressed by her unique work.
Kahlo and Rivera went on to get married the next year.
[5]Over the next few years, Kahlo continued to embrace her traditional Mexican
heritage. She wore traditional dress (long, colorful dresses, fancy headdresses, and
heavy jewelry) and changed her artistic style to reflect traditional Mexican folk art.
Kahlo believed that her lifestyle, fashion choices, and art all reflected her
feminism5 and spirit of Mexican independence.Q3
PASSION FOR LIFE AND ART
Kahlo maintained her style when she and Rivera moved to the United States in 1930.
The couple lived in several cities in just a few years, and both enjoyed success in the art
world. Kahlo displayed her artwork in galleries and became popular with the American
press, who appreciated her strong English and passion for art and her home country.
Sadly, Kahlo suffered from more health problems while living in the United States, as
she would for the rest of her life. She became homesick and convinced Rivera to move
back to Mexico with her.
The couple led a unique and varied life back in a rich suburb of Mexico City. They were
commissioned6 to paint a bridge together; Kahlo painted her half blue and Rivera
painted his half pink and white, and the colors met in the middle. The bridge became a
symbol and meeting place for artists all over the city. They hosted the famous Russian
political refugee Leon Trotsky7 in their house for two years. Kahlo met a French art
30
critic8 who loved her work and offered to host an art show for her in Paris. Although
the show was not as successful as she hoped, she did become the first modern-day
Mexican artist featured in the Louvre, Paris’ world-famous art museum.
Continual relationship troubles with Rivera and never-ending health issues only pushed
Kahlo to paint even more. She produced some of her most famous paintings during the
early 1940s, such as The Two Fridas, Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair, and The
Wounded Table, and her art was featured in galleries from Mexico City to New York.
She also adopted some unique pets, including spider monkeys and parrots. During this
same period, she began teaching at an art school in Mexico City, where she encouraged
her students to be informal with her and taught them more about traditional Mexican
folk art. Kahlo’s paintings became so popular around Mexico that she could usually sell
a painting before even finishing it, and most group art exhibitions in the country featured
at least some of her work.
DEATH AND LEGACY
Unfortunately, by 1950, Kahlo’s health was so bad she was mostly confined to bed. She
lobbied9 for political causes as much as she could. Her nurses observed that a
combination of medicine and increased alcohol consumption changed her painting style
to be much more rushed, colorful, and intense. Her very last drawing was a black angel,
which many people see as a foreshadowing10 of her death in 1954.
[10]Kahlo’s fame only grew after she died. Her family home opened as a museum in
1958, and the feminist movement in the 1970s led to a re-examination of her paintings
as feminist icons. Kahlo’s paintings are a unique mix of Mexican folk art, realistic
portraits and still-life images, as well as gory11 interpretations of history and emotions.
She is, today, one of Mexico’s most famous artists, and is considered to be a woman
who was ahead of her time. Exhibitions of her work have been featured all around the
world, films have been made about her life, and her paintings have sold for a lot of
money. Her self-portraits are so iconic that, today, some people call her “the mother of
the selfie” – so next time you snap a picture of yourself, remember Frida Kahlo and her
passionate commitment to culture and art, which she said was “the frankest expression
of myself.”Q4
1. a major armed conflict that lasted from 1910-1920, resulting in the transformation of
Mexican culture and government
2. Stereotype (noun): a fixed and oversimplified idea about a person belonging to a
specific group
3. beliefs that are considered extreme or different from accepted or traditional forms
4. a person who is learning a trade from a skilled employer
5. the advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes.
6. to appoint or assign to a task
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7. Leon Trotsky was a famous Marxist revolutionary and politician who had to escape
Russia.
8. a person who specializes in analyzing, interpreting and evaluating art
9. to seek to influence a politician on an issue
10. a warning of a future event
11. Gory (adjective): violent or bloody

SIMONE BILES
Simone Biles is widely considered the greatest gymnast of all time. Her 32 Olympic
and World Championship medals makes her tied for the most decorated gymnast in
history. Her seven Olympic medals also ties the most Olympic medals won by an
American gymnast. In this informational text, Marty Kaminsky discusses Biles' early
life and initial success in gymnastics.
As you read, take notes on how Biles became an Olympic gymnast.
[1]The crowd stirs as 16-year-old gymnast Simone Biles mounts the balance beam at
the 2013 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Belgium.
The beam is 4 feet high, 16 feet 5 inches long, and only 4 inches wide. Walking across
its surface would be a challenge for most people, but Simone must do far more than that
to earn a gold medal. During her 90-second performance, Simone must leap high in the
air, spin completely around on one foot, and execute handsprings1 and flips without
falling off the beam or landing awkwardly.
To start her routine, the 4-foot-8-inch athlete pirouettes2 on one foot two and a half
times, then pulls off a flawless split leap. The audience gasps with each move, but
Simone is calm as she dances on the beam. She completes her routine with a full twisting
double back.3 After flying high through the air, Simone lands on her feet, and the crowd
roars.
The judges are impressed, too, rewarding Simone with her first All-Around4 title.Q1
MAKING HER MARK
[5]Since then, Simone has taken the gymnastics world by storm. She is the first female
to win three straight All-Around World Championships, earning a total of 14 medals,
10 of them gold.
At the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Simone added five medals to her total:
golds in team, individual all-around, vault, and floor exercise, and bronze on beam.
TALENT AT A YOUNG AGE
Life was not always easy for Simone. Her birth mother was unable to care for her
children. Simone’s grandparents, Ron and Nellie Biles, adopted Simone and her
younger sister, Adria. Their new dad and mom moved the girls from Ohio to their home
in Texas.
32
Simone loved to climb their five-foot-high mailbox and somersault to the ground. On a
field trip with her daycare class, six-year-old Simone was introduced to her sport at
Bannon’s Gymnastix. In no time flat,5 she started copying the gymnasts, drawing the
attention of the instructors.
“I loved the idea of flipping around, and the center saw something in me, so they sent
home a letter to my parents encouraging me to join,” Simone explains. “Right from the
start, I was fearless and willing to try anything and everything.”
[10]Simone advanced quickly. At age seven, she began performing competitively. In
2011, she placed first on vault and balance beam at the American Classic. Her debut6 as
an international gymnast was in March 2013 at a World Cup event.Q2
BUBBLY AND GENUINE
Simone is known for her power and upbeat personality. She often plays to the crowd,
flashing a big smile as she performs in the floor exercise.
In order to master the variety of skills needed to excel7 at the four events in her sport,
Simone trains five to six hours a day, year-round.
Simone’s coach, Aimee Boorman, appreciates her hard work and personality. “Simone
is bubbly. She loves to laugh, is genuine and real. When she wins and is given flowers
on the medal podium, she searches out the shyest child in the crowd and gives her the
flowers.”
How does Simone handle the pressures of life as an athlete? “It is important to embrace
the moment,” she says. “Remember to have as much fun as you can, but keep in mind,
win or lose, you still have your whole life ahead. You can achieve anything that you put
your mind to.”Q3
1. a jump through the air onto one’s hands, followed by springing over onto one’s feet
2. a spin
3. a jump from a backwards position into a back flip in a stretched out position with a
full 360 degree rotation that occurs during the flip, followed by a second back flip
4. “all-around” refers to a gymnast who competes in every gymnast event
5. a phrase meaning “very quickly”
6. a person’s first appearance or performance in a role
7. Excel (verb): to pass others in skill

A MAN WHO HAD NO EYES

MacKinlay Kantor (1904-1977) was an American journalist, novelist, and screenwriter.
Many of his novels were about the American Civil War, including Andersonville, which
was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1956. "A Man Who Had No Eyes" explores
the effect two men's different attitudes have on their lives.

33
As you read, take notes on the beggar and Mr. Parson’s attitude towards their
lives.
[1]A beggar was coming down the avenue just as Mr. Parsons emerged from his hotel.
He was a blind beggar, carrying the traditional battered cane and thumping his way
before him with the cautious, half-furtive1 effort of the sightless. He was a shaggy,
thick-necked fellow; his coat was greasy about the lapels and pockets, and his hand
splayed over the cane’s crook with a futile2 sort of clinging. He wore a black pouch
slung over his shoulder. Apparently he had something to sell.
The air was rich with spring; sun was warm and yellowed on the asphalt. Mr. Parsons,
standing there in front of his hotel and noting the clack-clack approach of the sightless
man, felt a sudden and foolish sort of pity for all blind creatures.
And, thought Mr. Parsons, he was very glad to be alive. A few years ago he had been a
little more than a skilled laborer; now he was successful, respected, admired...
Insurance... And he had done it alone, unaided, struggling beneath handicaps... And he
was still young. The blue air of spring, fresh from its memories of windy pools and lush
shrubbery, could thrill him with eagerness.Q1
[5]He took a step forward just as the tap-tap-tapping blind man passed him by. Quickly
the shabby fellow turned.
“Listen, guv’nor.3 Just a minute of your time.”
Mr. Parsons said, “It’s late. I have an appointment. Do you want me to give you
something?”
“I ain’t no beggar, guv’nor. You bet I ain’t. I got a handy little article here” — he
fumbled until he could press a small object into Mr. Parson’s hand — “that I sell. One
buck. Best cigarette lighter made.”
Mr. Parsons stood there, somewhat annoyed and embarrassed. He was a handsome
figure with his immaculate4 gray suit and gray hat and Malacca5 stick. Of course the
man with the cigarette lighters could not see him... “But I don’t smoke,” he said.
[10]“Listen, I bet you know plenty people who smoke. Nice little present,”
wheeled6 the man. “And mister, you wouldn’t mind helping a poor guy out?” He clung
to Mr. Parson’s sleeve.
Mr. Parsons sighed and felt in his vest pocket. He brought out two half dollars and
pressed them into the man’s hand. “Certainly. I’ll help you out. As you say, I can give
it to someone. Maybe the elevator boy would — ” He hesitated, not wishing to be
boorish7 and inquisitive,8 even with a blind peddler. “Have you lost your sight
entirely?”
The shabby man pocketed the two half dollars. “Fourteen years, guv’nor.” Then he
added, with an insane sort of pride, “Westbury, sir. I was one of ‘em.”

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“Westbury,” repeated Mr. Parsons. “Ah, yes, The chemical explosion... The papers
haven’t mentioned it for years. But at the time it was supposed to be one of the greatest
disasters in — ”
“They’ve all forgot about it.” The fellow shifted his feet wearily. “I tell you, guv’nor, a
man who was in it don’t forget about it. Last thing I ever saw was C shop going up in
one grand smudge and gas pouring in at all the busted windows.”
[15]Mr. Parsons coughed, but the blind peddler was caught up with the train of his one
dramatic reminiscence.9 And also, he was thinking that there might be more half dollars
in Mr. Parsons’s pocket.
“Just think about it, guv’nor. There was a hundred and eight people killed, about two
hundred injured, and over fifty of them lost their eyes. Blind as bats — ” He groped
forward until his dirty hand rested against Mr. Parsons’s coat. “I tell you sir, there
wasn’t nothing worse than that in the war, OK. I would have been well took care of.
But I was just a workman, working for what was in it. And I got it. You’re so right I got
it, while the capitalists were making their dough! They was insured, don’t worry about
that. They — ”
“Insured,” repeated his listener. “Yes. That’s what I sell — ”
“You want to know how I lost my eyes?” cried the man. “Well, here it is!” His words
fell with the bitter and studied drama of a story often told, and told for money. “I was
there in C shop, last of all the folks rushing out. Out in the air there was a chance, even
with building exploding right and left. A lot of guys made it safe out the door and got
away. And just when I was about there, crawling along between those big vats, a guy
behind me grabs my leg. He says, ‘Let me past, you — !’ Maybe he was nuts. I dunno.
I try to forgive him in my heart, guv’nor. But he was bigger than me. He hauls me back
and climbs right over me! Tramples me into the dirt. And he gets out, and I lie there
with all that poison gas pouring down on all sides of me, and flame and stuff...” He
swallowed — a studied sob — and stood dumbly expectant. He could imagine the next
words: Tough luck, my man. Awfully tough. Now I want to —Q2
“That’s the story, guv’nor.”
[20]The spring wind shrilled past them, damp and quivering.
“Not quite,” said Mr. Parsons.
The blind peddler shivered crazily. “Not quite? What do you mean, you — ?”
“The story is true,” Mr. Parsons said, “except that it was the other way around.”
“Other way around?” He croaked unamiably.10 “Say, guv’nor — ”
[25]“I was in C shop,” said Mr. Parsons. “It was the other way around. You were the
fellow who hauled back on me and climbed over me. You were bigger than I was,
Markwardt.”

35
The blind man stood for a long time, swallowing hoarsely. He gulped: “Parsons, I
thought you — ” And then he screamed fiendishly:11 “Yes. Maybe so. Maybe so. But
I’m blind I’m blind, and you’ve been standing here letting me spout to you, and laughing
at me every minute! I’m blind!”
People in the street turned to stare at him.
“You got away, but I’m blind! Do you hear! I’m — ”
“Well,” said Mr. Parsons, “don’t make such a row about it, Markwardt. So am I.”Q3
1. Furtive (adjective): trying to avoid being noticed
2. Futile (adjective): useless
3. a man in position of authority
4. Immaculate (adjective): perfectly clean and neat
5. a type of walking stick
6. Wheedle (verb): to use flattery or coaxing to persuade someone to do something
7. rough and bad mannered
8. curious
9. Reminiscence (noun): a story told about a past event
10. Unamiable (adjective): not friendly
11. Fiend (noun): an evil spirit, demon

AN INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNISM
Communism is a political and social theory initially developed by the economist Karl
Marx. Communism explores how goods and resources should be distributed in a
society. In this informational text, Jessica McBirney further explores the political theory
and the countries that have adopted it.
As you read, take notes on how the countries that adopted communism were
impacted by this system.
WHAT IS COMMUNISM?
[1]Communism is a political and social idea about how a society could be organized. In
simple terms, it is an idea that envisions1 a society, or group of people, where almost
everything is shared equally. Decisions are made for the good of the whole group, not
just for certain individuals. A truly communist society has never existed on a large scale,
but the idea of communism has been around for over 150 years.
The opposite of communism is capitalism. In a capitalist society people are responsible
for themselves; they earn their own money, and individuals are not expected to share
unless they want to. Land, property, and goods are not equally shared. This leads to
what is called a division of wealth between the rich and the poor, because some people,
like movies stars for example, earn more money than others. Of course, in a capitalist
society, there is not just the rich and the poor, but different groups of people between
36
these two extremes with different levels of wealth. These different groups are known as
social classes. The U.S. is a capitalist society with social classes.
In theory, communism is a society without any social classes. Property is owned by the
community, and people share the same economic status. No one earns more than anyone
else.Q1
KARL MARX AND THE IDEA OF COMMUNISM
The most important communist thinker was Karl Marx. In 1848, Karl Marx, along with
his colleague Friedrich Engels, wrote The Communist Manifesto. This short book laid
out the beliefs of communism.
[5]Marx argued that all of history could be explained as a struggle between social
classes. In the book, Marx and Engels wrote that each society was owned or controlled
by a small group of people who controlled the means of production (how things are
made). This group was known as the ruling class, or bourgeoisie. The book stated that
the bourgeoisie used everyone else — the majority working class, or proletariat — for
cheap labor and for their own profits. The working class, though they were in the
majority, didn’t get to own or control much.
Marx wanted the whole world to become communist, and he predicted that the working
class would start a revolution and overthrow the ruling class. After winning the
revolution, the working class would then spread the wealth equally, and a communist
society would be created in which everyone acted for the greater good. The idea of the
communist revolution is one of the most important ideas in The Communist
Manifesto.Q2
THE FIRST COMMUNIST SOCIETY: THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
For 70 years, The Communist Manifesto remained just a book and an idea. Then, in
1917, communism took hold in Russia. Working class people had been moving to cities
to work in factories, but living and working conditions were poor. They began to feel
like the upper classes were oppressing2 them. It is not surprising, then, that a communist
political party began growing in popularity.
The revolution that took place in Russia 1917 was chaotic. Revolutionaries took over
the government in February, and then in October, a subgroup of revolutionaries known
as the Bolsheviks took power. Over the next several years, a series of civil wars broke
out. Finally, in 1922, the communist party firmly established its authority and formed
the first communist country: the Soviet Union.Q3
When Joseph Stalin took power in 1924, he quickly became a brutal dictator.3 He was
suspicious of anyone who questioned communism or his authority as the country’s
leader, and ordered that political dissenters4 were executed. Those he did not kill were
sent to Gulags, extremely harsh forced labor camps.5 Scholars estimate at least 4
million people died at Stalin’s order during his 30 years of leadership.
37
[10]In keeping with communist ideas, Stalin tried to centralize6 Soviet agriculture in
the 1930s. The state took control of most crops, and when farm owners resisted, they
were executed. A terrible famine7 spread throughout the Soviet Union in 1932 because
the state chose to store and sell crops to foreign countries instead of providing food to
the people. This is just one example of the Soviet leaders taking advantage of what
seemed like a communist plan to help everyone.
The Soviet Union remained communist and tried to expand communism to other parts
of the world — until it collapsed in 1991. Its economy never caught up to the progress
of capitalist economies (like in the United States), and anywhere from 8 million to 60
million people died.Q4
COMMUNISM IN CHINA
Communism took hold in China for similar reasons — people wanted to better their
lives and felt oppressed by the classes above them. The communist political party
started in 1921, but China did not become a communist nation until 1949 when Mao
Zedong took power. Like Joseph Stalin, Mao cracked down on political dissent and
ruthlessly held onto power.
After Mao’s death in 1976, Chinese leaders wanted to keep the communist system of
government while modernizing China’s economy. Since the 1970s, China’s economy
has continued to develop and has become extremely competitive on the world stage, but
its government remains quasi-communist,8 and political dissenters are still oppressed.
Overall, communism in China killed at least 60 million people.Q5
IS THERE COMMUNISM TODAY?
Communist countries still exist today, although each system looks different. China
remains communist; other communist countries are Cuba, Laos, and Vietnam. Most of
these places do not claim to be fully communist yet — instead, their constitutions
explain they are slowly transitioning from capitalism to a purer form of communism
that has yet to exist in the world so far.
[15]North Korea is often in the news, and many Americans would consider it
communist. However, it is actually a highly-centralized socialist9 state. It does have
many characteristics similar to China and the Soviet Union, including a powerful
dictator, a single political party, and widespread oppression of and violence against
political dissenters.Q6
NO SUCH THING AS PURE COMMUNISM
In both the Soviet Union and China, communism as an idea gained popularity because
people felt unappreciated and oppressed in their current living conditions. Communism
promised hope for the future and equality with the people who ignored them or took
advantage of them.

38
However, every actual attempt at communism so far has led to the rise of powerful
dictators, mass killings, and even more extreme poverty.10 The communist leaders we
read about today (like Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong) did not create the ideal
communist society in which everyone was equal and shared goods and resources
equally. Instead, they used their positions of great authority to oppress others and boost
themselves up. A true communist society, like the one Karl Marx envisioned, has never
really existed.Q7
1. Envision (verb): to imagine as a possibility
2. Oppress (verb): to treat a person, or group of people, in a cruel or unfair way
3. a ruler with total power over a country, typically one who took that power by force
4. people who don’t agree with something that others have accepted as official policy
5. a prison camp where people are forced to do physical labor
6. to bring control of an activity or organization under a single authority
7. extreme lack of food
8. “Quasi” means almost something, but not completely the thing described.
9. a political and economic theory that supports the idea that production, distribution,
and exchange should be controlled by the community as a whole
10. the state of being extremely poor

IN THAILAND, 17 POUNDS OF PLASTIC KILLS WHALE,

HIGHLIGHTING OCEAN POLLUTION
While plastic was a major development of the 20th century, people throw it away daily
without a second thought in the 21st century. In this informational text, Samantha
Raphelson, an author for the National Public Radio (NPR), examines how plastic waste
is affecting ocean life.
As you read, make note of the details that support what people can learn from the
dead pilot whale.
[1]Around 80 sopping1 wet, black plastic bags lined the floor of an operating room in
Thailand last week after they were pulled from the stomach of a whale found stranded
on a beach.
The pilot whale,2 which washed ashore in the southern province of Songkhla,3 later
died after veterinarians tried for five days to save its life, according to the country's
Department of Marine and Coastal Resources. An autopsy4 found nearly 17 pounds of
plastic inside the whale's belly, a marine official told Reuters.5
The whale's death and photos released by the department serve as a reminder of a
growing global problem: plastic debris6 flowing into the ocean and killing wildlife.

39
“We are creating the horrible dystopian future7 that nobody wanted,” Enric Sala, an
explorer-in-residence and marine ecologist8 with National Geographic, tells Here &
Now’s Robin Young.Q1
[5]Scientists at the Thailand Department of Marine and Coastal Services
told Reuters the plastic probably ended up in the whale’s stomach because he mistook
it for food.
“Whether it's a straw or whether it's a bottle cap, those items can be eaten by animals,
and they pose threats through getting stuck in their digestive tracts.9 It can tear their
stomachs,” Nick Mallos of the Ocean Conservancy told Young last month. “So these
products in their entirety are problematic, but what's equally, if not even more,
concerning is that over time these materials are in the ocean, they begin to break up into
smaller and smaller pieces.”
Some are seizing10 on the whale's death to convince Thailand to take steps to reduce
the use of plastic bags — either by taxing the companies that make them or taxing the
consumers who use them.
“We will use the whale case and invite all sectors11 to show their intentions on how to
reduce the use of plastic in Thailand,” Jatuporn Buruspat, head of the Department of
Marine and Coastal Services, told Reuters.Q2
A study in the journal Science found the top countries that “mismanaged plastic waste”
in 2010 were in the Asia-Pacific region and included China, Indonesia, the Philippines,
Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Last year, researchers discovered the highest density
of garbage in the world on Henderson Island, a remote, uninhabited island in the South
Pacific. The study also found that 8 million metric tons12 of plastic enter the ocean
every year from land.
[10]“Every minute [there] is the equivalent of a garbage truck full of plastic going into
the ocean,” Sala tells Here and Now. “The problem is so huge, but the solution is easy.
We can stop plastic from getting into the ocean, and this has to happen at different
levels.”
According to a study in the journal Science Advances, of the nearly 8.3 billion metric
tons of plastic produced since the 1950s, 6.3 billion has been thrown away. The heavy
reliance on plastic is partially linked to the need for packaging products, which made
up 54 percent of the plastic thrown out internationally in 2015.
Consumers also throw away millions of single-use plastics, like bags and straws, every
day. According to one estimate, roughly 8.5 million plastic straws are
discarded13 annually in the United Kingdom. (Some researchers have raised questions
about the methodology of that report, which only measured straws used in fast food
restaurants.)Q3

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Prime Minister Theresa May14 has called for legislation banning straws and other
single-use plastics. In Canada, plastic straws have already been banned in Vancouver,
and similar efforts are underway in Scotland, Taiwan and Malibu, Calif.
Sala says people have become too comfortable with single-use plastics that they don't
need. Experts are encouraging people to look at alternatives like canvas bags and glass,
metal or paper straws.
[15]Despite how pervasive15 they have become, bags only make up less than 10 percent
of all plastics imported into the U.S. in 2016.
“This is [a] very small part of our economy, yet every year, people use trillions of plastic
bags around the world,” Sala says. “And all this plastic ends up killing a million sea
birds and 100,000 marine mammals like that one pilot whale that was in Thailand. The
problem is that most of these animals die with nobody knowing.”Q4
1. soaking
2. The pilot whale is the second-largest type of whale after the killer whale.
3. a city in southern Thailand, near its border with Malaysia
4. Autopsy (noun): an examination of a dead body to discover the cause of death
5. an international news organization
6. scattered pieces or remains
7. a future that is the opposite of a “perfect” society
8. a scientist who studies the way plants, animals, and people are related to each other
and their environment
9. the tracts in the body that break down food and extract nutrients
10. Seize (verb): to take hold of an opportunity
11. a distinct part or branch of a nation's economy or society or of a sphere of activity
such as education
12. A metric ton is a unit of weight equal to 2,205 pounds.
13. Discard (verb): to get rid of something that is no longer useful or desirable
14. a former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2016 to 2019
15. Pervasive (adjective): existing everywhere

LIFE IN A TOTALITARIAN COUNTRY

This informational text is about what makes a country totalitarian, and what citizens
experience living under this kind of controlling government.
As you read, take notes on how people are treated in totalitarian countries.
IMAGINE...
[1]When you get up in the morning, you get dressed quickly and leave the house before
the sun rises. You go to your job, which was assigned to you by someone in charge of
the area you live in. You work in a factory that makes the flag of your country. You
41
only talk about how happy you are to be at work, and you tell the other people who
work with you that you are grateful for the chance to help the country.
When you finally go home, you are tired, but you don’t tell anyone. You don’t want
anyone to think you are complaining. At home, you watch television, and the show that
night is a recording of a ceremony that took place when the Supreme Leader visited a
village. Your mother gets very excited to hear him speak about how your country is the
best in the world. You go to sleep after eating a simple meal provided by the
government. You wake up and do it all again the next day.Q1
QUALITIES OF A TOTALITARIAN COUNTRY
Did you like the life described in the first two paragraphs? The answer is probably a
very loud “NO!” If you were a person who lived in a totalitarian country, your life
would probably be a lot like what was described. A totalitarian country is a country
where the government controls everything and requires all people to comply1 with strict
rules. The citizens are oppressed2 and the rights they deserve as humans are not
protected.
Totalitarian countries are usually ruled by a single very powerful leader known as a
dictator. Sometimes the people in the country might call their leader “Father.” This
leader gets to decide who else will help him run the government — usually he picks out
people who he thinks are the most loyal.
[5]You might think everyone who lives in these countries would leave, but they do not.
They do not leave because the government will punish anyone who tries to
flee.3 Anyone who tries to speak out against the rules created by the government is also
punished — they might be sent to a prison camp and forced to work, or they might even
be put to death. This creates fear amongst the people and discourages anyone from doing
anything that could be seen as disrespecting government. Some people don’t even
realize how bad things are in their country.Q2
EXAMPLES OF TOTALITARIAN COUNTRIES
You might think that it would be impossible for countries like this to exist in the world,
but there have been several in history. During the years of 1933 to 1945, Germany was
ruled by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party,4 and this government had many qualities of a
totalitarian government. The Nazis punished people who didn’t agree with their racist
ideas, and they murdered over 10 million people who they thought were inferior.5 Even
though the Nazis did terrible things, many people were convinced by propaganda6 to
support the government.
An example of a totalitarian country that exists today is North Korea. North Korea is a
small country that borders China and South Korea. All of the leaders of North Korea
come from one family, and the current leader is Kim Jong-un. The government of North
Korea tells everyone that they must work together so that their nation can be
42
independent of other countries. By teaching everyone in the country to care about unity,
the government has been able to convince the people not to trust the outside world. For
example, children in North Korea are taught to hate the United States when they go to
school.
Even though the people of North Korea might seem very united, there are some people
who try to rebel against the government. These people sometimes escape the country
and tell their stories, but other times they are arrested and then they “disappear.” People
who escape from North Korea describe horrible things, like running out of food and not
being able to speak freely.Q3
1. Comply (verb): to do what you have been asked or ordered to do
2. Oppress (verb): to keep someone in a lowly position with a lot of hardship
3. Flee (verb): to run away from a place or dangerous situation
4. In politics and government, a “party” is a group of people who support the same ideas
or leaders.
5. Inferior (adjective): lower in rank, status, or quality
6. ideas or statements that are often false or exaggerated and that are spread to support
a cause, political leader, or government

IMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES

In this informational text, Michael A. Signal discusses the long history of people
traveling to the United States to make a new life for themselves.
As you read, take notes on how the government has tried to control who gets to
move to the United States.
[1]Humans move from place to place. People move to different homes and cities to be
closer to their families or workplaces. They might want to find better neighborhoods or
roads with less traffic. But people don’t only move to different houses and towns.
Throughout history, people have also moved to entirely different countries. We call this
international movement immigration, and the people who move to a new country to
live there are known as immigrants.
People immigrate for the same reasons that a family might move to a new neighborhood
or a different state, such as for better work opportunities or to be closer to relatives.
Sometimes, though, people have more urgent reasons to leave their home countries.
Many immigrants flee war and violence. Sometimes they move to new countries to
avoid famine1 and poverty.Q1
For the most part, Americans live in a society of immigrants. It has the largest number
of international immigrants in the world. Almost one-fifth of global immigrants live in
the United States. The country has a rich history of immigration. However, there are
some groups that you wouldn’t consider immigrants. Native Americans, for example,

43
are what we call indigenous to America, which means they make up the original
population of North America. If we look back in history to the first Europeans that came
to America, we would consider them colonists and not immigrants because they took
over the land. Slaves who were forcibly brought to American shores from Africa would
also not be considered immigrants.
Most early immigrants came to the United States from Europe, but the country was open
to immigrants from all around the world up until the late 19th century. Immigration to
the United States has typically occurred in waves — with various groups of people
moving in large numbers at different points in American history. For example, one of
the first groups that moved to the United States in large numbers was the Irish. In the
1840s, a great famine struck Ireland. Scores of Irish people left their home country in
search of land where they’d be able to feed their families. Between 1820 and 1930, over
4 million Irish men, women, and children immigrated to the United States. Another
wave of immigration came from China in the mid-19th century. Many workers traveled
across the Pacific to work as miners, farmers, and other manual laborers. When gold
was discovered in California in 1848, Americans rushed west, hoping to strike it rich.
So did thousands of Chinese immigrants. In just a few years after the discovery of gold,
about 150,000 Chinese people immigrated to the United States.Q2
[5]As immigration has grown over the centuries, tensions have arisen. For example,
when Chinese immigrants began moving to America in the 19th century, many
Americans felt threatened. On the West Coast, where most Chinese immigrants settled,
some Americans thought that they were losing jobs to Chinese workers. Rumors
describing Chinese immigrants as unlawful and immoral spread, and many people
believed these rumors. In 1862, The United States acted on public fear and
resentment2 of Chinese immigrants. Congress passed an anti-immigration law. The
Chinese Exclusion Act stopped almost all Chinese people from entering the country.
The law also made it impossible for Chinese immigrants to become American citizens.
Over the years, countries have used laws, both fairly and unfairly, to control
immigration. Sometimes these laws have been discriminatory, or showing unfair
treatment towards certain groups of people. After World War I, the United States
enacted another restrictive immigration law. The Immigration Act of 1924 established
limits on how many people could enter the United States based on their countries of
origin. Immigration from Eastern Europe, Mexico, and Japan were largely banned; on
the other hand, immigrants from Britain, Ireland, and Scandinavian countries like
Norway, Sweden, and Finland were allowed into the country.Q3
Today, immigration trends have changed. The Immigration and Nationality Act of
1965 abolished, or ended, restrictions on immigration based on country of origin. Since
then, immigration has flourished.3 By the 1970s, most immigrants entered the United

44
States from countries in Asia and Latin America. Of the 10 million immigrants who
came to the U.S. between 2000 and 2009, 8 million were from Asia and Latin America.
There are over 240 million immigrants worldwide. One reason for the global growth of
immigration is the improvement of transportation and the decrease in cost. In the 18th
century, you had to travel by boat to reach America from Europe, and that could take
over a month! Today, you can travel the same distance by plane in just eight hours.Q4
Even though it has only increased over time, immigration has become
a controversial4 topic in the 21st century. One reason for this controversy is that a
number of immigrants have entered the United States without going through the proper
legal systems. In 2015, an estimated 11 million immigrants were living in the country
without legal permission. There are a lot of discussions around immigrants living in the
United States without legal permission. Some people feel as though this will mean fewer
opportunities for American citizens, while others feel that immigrants, regardless of
their citizenship, help boost the economy and make valuable contributions to our
society.
[10]No matter how trends change, immigration to the United States will remain strong.
Estimates predict that by 2065, 78 million people in the United States will have been
born in other countries. There will always be varying views and controversy about
immigration. But just like they have been doing for nearly 250 years, people from all
over the world will continue to move to the United States to become part of our
communities, cultures, and country.Q5
1. a situation in which there’s not enough food for a large group of people
2. Resentment (noun): a feeling of anger or displeasure, usually directed at another
person
3. Flourish (verb): to grow and develop in a healthy way
4. Controversial (adjective): causing disagreement

WOOLLY MAMMOTH SPARKS DEBATE OVER CLONING

The woolly mammoth is an extinct species of mammoth (a mammal related to the
elephant) that lived during the ice ages. The animal is known from bones and frozen
carcasses from northern North America and northern Eurasia. The species disappeared
around 10,000 years ago, but modern technology has sparked a debate about whether
or not extinct species like the woolly mammoth should be brought back.
As you read, take note of the pros and cons of cloning extinct species.
[1]A woolly mammoth carcass that was frozen in ice for 40,000 years may make it
possible for scientists to bring the extinct species back to life.

45
The mammoth was found embedded in ice on a remote1 island off northern Russia in
May 2013. The ice had preserved the body so well, a liquid that looked like blood oozed
out of it when it was first discovered.
Scientists were very excited because fresh blood cells may contain DNA, or genetic
information about the mammoth. If scientists can find the mammoth’s complete DNA,
they might be able to clone the animal.
(Cloning is a process that makes it possible to create an exact copy of an animal.
Scientists take genetic information from the cell of one animal and insert it into the egg
of another animal. The second animal then gives birth to an exact genetic copy of the
first animal.)
[5]After the mammoth carcass was dug up, scientists spent three days studying it and
taking samples of its blood and tissues. Then they froze it again to prevent it from
rotting.Q1
Sooam, a biotechnology company from South Korea, is studying samples taken from
the mammoth to see if they can find enough genetic information to try cloning it.
Woolly mammoths have been extinct for 10,000 years. Many scientists think they could
learn a lot more about the species if they could study a living example. Other scientists
think cloning an extinct species is a bad idea.
Dr. Tori Herridge, a scientist at the Natural History Museum in London, England,
helped study the woolly mammoth’s body. She doesn’t think scientists should try to
clone it.
She said that scientists would need an Asian elephant to be the clone’s mother. This
means they would have to keep several elephants in captivity while they experiment
with the cloning process so that they could closely monitor them out of the wild. But
Asian elephants are endangered, and don’t do well in captivity.
[10]Dr. Herridge said that giving birth to a woolly mammoth could be dangerous for
the elephant mother. Once the baby was born, it would also have to live in captivity. In
addition, it would be the only mammoth in the world, and woolly mammoths preferred
to live in herds.Q2
Dr. Herridge thinks scientists can learn a lot just by studying the remains of the woolly
mammoth.
So far, scientists have found out that the woolly mammoth, who they nicknamed
Buttercup, was 2.5 metres2 tall and about 50 years old when she died. By studying the
growth rings in her tusks, they can tell that she gave birth to eight calves. Her teeth show
that she had dental problems.
By examining the contents and bacteria found in her intestines, scientists can tell she
ate grassland plants like dandelions and buttercups. They think she died after she
became trapped in the peat bog3 and then was attacked by predators such as wolves.

46
Insung Hwang is one of the scientists at Sooam. He said they have not yet found
complete DNA in any of the samples, but they have found pieces of DNA that could be
pieced together.
[15]He added that it will take scientists a long time to analyze the genetic information
from the mammoth, and even longer before they actually try cloning the animal.Q3
1. Remote (adjective): far away from the main population; distant or isolated
2. 2.5 meters is slightly over 8 feet.
3. A peat bog is a wetland where peat, or layers of dead plant material, builds up.

THE LIFE OF A U.S. INDUSTRIAL WORKER

The Industrial Revolution was a period of great change from about 1760 until 1840,
when many new machines were invented and introduced into factories. This progress
often came at the cost of workers' rights. This text asks students to imagine what it
would be a child worker in the U.S. Industrial Revolution.
As you read, take notes on the way the text is written — such as point of view, tone,
and word choice — and how this affects the overall meaning.
[1]Imagine you’re ten years old. How do you spend your day? Playing? Watching TV?
Going to school? Now imagine you’re ten years old after the Industrial Revolution in
the late 1800’s with factories booming all around you. Now how do you spend your
day? A LOT differently. You probably have a job. You work in a factory between ten
and fourteen hours a day. The air is filled with dust and smoke. Your fingers bleed from
working so much. What do you get for all of this hard work? About fifty cents a day.
The Industrial Revolution was really good for some people. Poor children were not
some of them. A factory-owner’s job was to make as much stuff as quickly and cheaply
as possible and then sell it as quickly and for as much money as possible. Even though
you’re ten, it’s your job to make things go quickly. Here. Stand in this same place for
twelve hours and screw tops onto as many bottles as you can. Yes, it’s cold. Yes, the
bottle caps hurt your hands. Yes, you’re standing in a puddle with holes in your shoes.
Also, you need to crawl into this giant machine when it breaks. Your boss doesn’t want
to hear any complaining, and if you do you might get whipped. Child labor is when
young children work in places that are unsafe and are paid less than adults. This was a
way for businesses to find small workers with lots of energy and quick fingers without
paying them much… if at all. This was legal for over a hundred years, until people
decided it was not right to let young children work until they were older.Q11
After a long, tiring day, your fingers are sore and you can barely feel your feet. You
walk home. It’s very close, but it isn’t much more comfortable than your work. In fact,
it’s so close that you can still taste the smoke that comes out of the factory. This is
because the person who owns the factory also owns your home. Company towns were

47
small, towns built by factory owners for families who worked at the factories to live in.
It may seem nice of your boss to build a place for you and your family, but he isn’t
doing it for you. The houses are dirty, cold, and filled with many other families and you
pay rent to your boss to live there. Also, you have no choice. You must live there if you
work at the factory. You sleep in a room with your mom, older brother, and younger
sister. This means you and your family are stuck in tough, low-paying jobs.
A few minutes after you get home, your mom walks through the door. She works in the
laundry down the street, burning her hands with soap and breathing in bad chemicals
all day. She is paid less than half of what the men earn… just because she’s a
woman.2 She works even longer hours than you because your dad has been gone so
long you don’t remember what he looks like. At least your family gets to eat a
little. Minimum wage is the lowest amount of money a boss can legally pay each
employee, but this wasn’t a law until over a hundred years after the first factories.3 Too
bad it hasn’t come along yet to help you and your family. Before minimum wage, when
you live, factory owners could pay what they wanted. And they want to pay you and
your mom just enough to keep you alive. The little money you have goes to food and
rent. Even though your jobs are awful, it’s better than nothing. So you and your family
hold on to your jobs… and you struggle to stay healthy and alive.Q2
[5]Just as you and your mother are sitting down to stale bread and thin soup, your
brother BURSTS through the door! “We’re going on strike!”4 he cries. He holds up his
hand in a fist and you can see he’s missing three fingers from the work accident a few
months ago. There’s a light in his eyes you’ve never seen before. “We’re going to start
a union!” he says. Your mom tells you that a union is a collection of workers who get
together to protect their rights and demand better pay or better ways to work. “Until
they give us higher pay, all of the workers are going to walk out of their factories
tomorrow! We will not go back to work until they give us better pay!” At the thought
of not working, your fingers start to tingle…
If you were a child in the Industrial Revolution, you could have worked eighteen hour
days in a very hard job. Business owners used child labor because they didn’t have to
pay them much and kids had quick fingers. Women were not much better off, being
paid much less than men. Before minimum wage came along, giving families enough
to feed and house themselves, people often lived in communal5 homes, which were
dirty and cold and might have many families living in them. The only thing workers
could do was strike and make unions, working as a group for better pay and better
treatment. Tomorrow you get to walk out of your job with everyone else in order to ask
your boss for better pay… What will your boss do?Q3
1. In the United States, it is illegal for anyone under 14 to work a paying job. It took
many years of protest and reform before this became a law.

48
2. In the U.S., a woman typically earns less money than a man for the same job
3. The current national minimum wage in the U.S. is $7.25 per hour.
4. Strike (noun): a period of time when workers stop work in order to force an employer
to agree to their demands
5. Communal (adjective): shared by all members of a community; for common use

DO PEOPLE REALLY CHANGE?

In this informational text, Jessica McBirney explores whether someone's personality
can change.
Purpose for Reading: To summarize an author's central idea so that we can build our
understanding of the ways personalities change over time.
As you read, take notes on what you consider to be the most important ideas in the
text.
[1]You might have heard someone say that a new pair of jeans or a new song changed
their life. And maybe your tastes have changed: you used to hate ketchup, but now you
like it. No one doubts that we change as we grow older.
But do we change in major ways? Can we really change who we are? People used to
believe we stay pretty much the same throughout our lives, but researchers are
increasingly finding that we can and do change in big ways.
Do personalities really change?
Psychologists are people who study the human mind, and they have identified five traits
that help us understand someone’s personality. Because these traits are so important for
understanding personality, they have been called the “Big Five.”
The “Big Five” traits are:
1. Openness to experience: How open are you to trying new things?
2. Conscientiousness: How responsible are you?
3. Extroversion: How friendly, outgoing, and enthusiastic are you?
4. Agreeableness: How caring, trusting, and generous are you?
5. Emotional stability: How calm are you, especially when problems arise?
[5]Everyone has different levels of the big five traits. For example, Harry Potter has
high levels of openness to experience, while Hermione Granger would score high in
conscientiousness.Q1
Scientists used to think that each person’s “Big Five” stayed the same their whole life,
but newer research suggests that the traits do change. People who took a personality test
as teenagers scored very differently when they took the same test 50 years later. Three
traits usually changed more than the others. Those three traits were emotional stability,
conscientiousness, and agreeableness. In fact, most adults were more emotionally
stable, more conscientious, and more agreeable than when they were younger.

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Researchers considered this a sign that we mature over time, perhaps learning to get
along better with others.
Even though people change over time, the relationship between traits often remains
similar. For example, someone who was very open to new experiences but who was not
agreeable as a teenager was likely still more open to new things than agreeable as an
adult. Scores changed, and sometimes scores changed a lot, but they didn’t change
randomly.
The big takeaway from this new research is that our personalities do transform over
time. As adults, we won’t be the same as we were as teens, and our personalities will
continue to change throughout our entire lives. Still, these changes won’t be random.
Personality changes often happen in expected ways, with most people becoming more
emotionally steady and socially1 mature.Q2
1. Socially (adverb): having to do with relationships and interactions with others

THE ELEPHANT'S CHILD

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) was an English author and poet, perhaps best known
for The Jungle Book, which also starred anthropomorphic animals as its cast. The
following is taken from his collection called Just So Stories, and tells the mythical tale
of how elephants developed long trunks.
As you read, take notes on the purpose of Kipling’s narrative style.
[1]In the High and Far-Off Times the Elephant, O Best Beloved, had no trunk. He had
only a blackish, bulgy nose, as big as a boot, that he could wriggle about from side to
side; but he couldn’t pick up things with it. But there was one Elephant—a new
Elephant—an Elephant’s Child—who was full of ’satiable curtiosity1, and that means
he asked ever so many questions. And he lived in Africa, and he filled all Africa with
his ’satiable curtiosities. He asked his tall aunt, the Ostrich, why her tail-feathers grew
just so, and his tall aunt the Ostrich spanked him with her hard, hard claw. He asked his
tall uncle, the Giraffe, what made his skin spotty, and his tall uncle, the Giraffe, spanked
him with his hard, hard hoof. And still he was full of ’satiable curtiosity! He asked his
broad aunt, the Hippopotamus, why her eyes were red, and his broad aunt, the
Hippopotamus, spanked him with her broad, broad hoof; and he asked his hairy uncle,
the Baboon, why melons tasted just so, and his hairy uncle, the Baboon, spanked him
with his hairy, hairy paw. And still he was full of ’satiable curtiosity! He asked questions
about everything that he saw, or heard, or felt, or smelt, or touched, and all his uncles
and his aunts spanked him. And still he was full of ’satiable curtiosity!Q1
One fine morning in the middle of the Precession of the Equinoxes2 this ’satiable
Elephant’s Child asked a new fine question that he had never asked before. He asked,
“What does the Crocodile have for dinner?” Then everybody said, “Hush!” in a loud

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and dretful3 tone, and they spanked him immediately and directly, without stopping,
for a long time.
By and by, when that was finished, he came upon Kolokolo Bird sitting in the middle
of a wait-a-bit thorn-bush, and he said, “My father has spanked me, and my mother has
spanked me; all my aunts and uncles have spanked me for my ’satiable curtiosity; and
still I want to know what the Crocodile has for dinner!”
Then Kolokolo Bird said, with a mournful4 cry, “Go to the banks of the great grey-
green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever-trees, and find out.”
[5]That very next morning, when there was nothing left of the Equinoxes, because the
Precession had preceded5 according to precedent6, this ’satiable Elephant’s Child took
a hundred pounds of bananas (the little short red kind), and a hundred pounds of sugar-
cane (the long purple kind), and seventeen melons (the greeny-crackly kind), and said
to all his dear families, “Goodbye. I am going to the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo
River, all set about with fever-trees, to find out what the Crocodile has for dinner.” And
they all spanked him once more for luck, though he asked them most politely to stop.Q2
Then he went away, a little warm, but not at all astonished, eating melons, and throwing
the rind about, because he could not pick it up.
He went from Graham’s Town to Kimberley, and from Kimberley to Khama’s Country,
and from Khama’s Country he went east by north, eating melons all the time, till at last
he came to the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with
fever-trees, precisely as Kolokolo Bird had said.
Now you must know and understand, O Best Beloved, that till that very week, and day,
and hour, and minute, this ’satiable Elephant’s Child had never seen a Crocodile, and
did not know what one was like. It was all his ’satiable curtiosity.Q3
The first thing that he found was a Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake curled round a
rock.
[10]“‘Scuse me,” said the Elephant’s Child most politely, “but have you seen such a
thing as a Crocodile in these promiscuous7 parts?”
“Have I seen a Crocodile?” said the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake, in a voice of
dretful scorn. “What will you ask me next?”
“‘Scuse me,” said the Elephant’s Child, “but could you kindly tell me what he has for
dinner?”
Then the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake uncoiled himself very quickly from the
rock, and spanked the Elephant’s Child with his scalesome, flailsome tail.
“That is odd,” said the Elephant’s Child, “because my father and my mother, and my
uncle and my aunt, not to mention my other aunt, the Hippopotamus, and my other
uncle, the Baboon, have all spanked me for my ’satiable curtiosity—and I suppose this
is the same thing.”

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[15]So he said good-bye very politely to the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake, and
helped to coil him up on the rock again, and went on, a little warm, but not at all
astonished, eating melons, and throwing the rind about, because he could not pick it up,
till he trod on what he thought was a log of wood at the very edge of the great grey-
green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever-trees.
But it was really the Crocodile, O Best Beloved, and the Crocodile winked one eye—
like this!
“‘Scuse me,” said the Elephant’s Child most politely, “but do you happen to have seen
a Crocodile in these promiscuous parts?”
Then the Crocodile winked the other eye, and lifted half his tail out of the mud; and the
Elephant’s Child stepped back most politely, because he did not wish to be spanked
again.
“Come hither, Little One,” said the Crocodile. “Why do you ask such things?”
[20]“‘Scuse me,” said the Elephant’s Child most politely, “but my father has spanked
me, my mother has spanked me, not to mention my tall aunt, the Ostrich, and my tall
uncle, the Giraffe, who can kick ever so hard, as well as my broad aunt, the
Hippopotamus, and my hairy uncle, the Baboon, and including the Bi-Coloured-
Python-Rock-Snake, with the scalesome, flailsome tail, just up the bank, who spanks
harder than any of them; and so, if it’s quite all the same to you, I don’t want to be
spanked any more.”
“Come hither, Little One,” said the Crocodile, “for I am the Crocodile,” and he wept
crocodile-tears8 to show it was quite true.
Then the Elephant’s Child grew all breathless, and panted, and kneeled down on the
bank and said, “You are the very person I have been looking for all these long days.
Will you please tell me what you have for dinner?”
“Come hither, Little One,” said the Crocodile, “and I’ll whisper.”
Then the Elephant’s Child put his head down close to the Crocodile’s musky, tusky
mouth, and the Crocodile caught him by his little nose, which up to that very week, day,
hour, and minute, had been no bigger than a boot, though much more useful.
[25]“I think,” said the Crocodile—and he said it between his teeth, like this—“I think
to-day I will begin with Elephant’s Child!”Q4
At this, O Best Beloved, the Elephant’s Child was much annoyed, and he said, speaking
through his nose, like this, “Led go! You are hurtig be!”
Then the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake scuffled down from the bank and said, “My
young friend, if you do not now, immediately and instantly, pull as hard as ever you
can, it is my opinion that your acquaintance in the large-pattern leather ulster9” (and by
this he meant the Crocodile) “will jerk you into yonder limpid10 stream before you can
say Jack Robinson.”

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This is the way Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snakes always talk.
Then the Elephant’s Child sat back on his little haunches, and pulled, and pulled, and
pulled, and his nose began to stretch. And the Crocodile floundered into the water,
making it all creamy with great sweeps of his tail, and he pulled, and pulled, and pulled.
[30]And the Elephant’s Child’s nose kept on stretching; and the Elephant’s Child spread
all his little four legs and pulled, and pulled, and pulled, and his nose kept on stretching;
and the Crocodile threshed his tail like an oar, and he pulled, and pulled, and pulled,
and at each pull the Elephant’s Child’s nose grew longer and longer—and it hurt him
hijjus11!
Then the Elephant’s Child felt his legs slipping, and he said through his nose, which
was now nearly five feet long, “This is too butch for be!”Q5
Then the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake came down from the bank, and knotted
himself in a double-clove-hitch round the Elephant’s Child’s hind legs, and said, “Rash
and inexperienced traveller, we will now seriously devote ourselves to a little high
tension, because if we do not, it is my impression that yonder self-propelling man-of-
war with the armour-plated upper deck” (and by this, O Best Beloved, he meant the
Crocodile), “will permanently vitiate12 your future career.”
That is the way all Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snakes always talk.
So he pulled, and the Elephant’s Child pulled, and the Crocodile pulled; but the
Elephant’s Child and the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake pulled hardest; and at last
the Crocodile let go of the Elephant’s Child’s nose with a plop that you could hear all
up and down the Limpopo.
[35]Then the Elephant’s Child sat down most hard and sudden; but first he was careful
to say “Thank you” to the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake; and next he was kind to
his poor pulled nose, and wrapped it all up in cool banana leaves, and hung it in the
great grey-green, greasy Limpopo to cool.Q6
“What are you doing that for?” said the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake.
“‘Scuse me,” said the Elephant’s Child, “but my nose is badly out of shape, and I am
waiting for it to shrink.”
“Then you will have to wait a long time,” said the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake.
“Some people do not know what is good for them.”
The Elephant’s Child sat there for three days waiting for his nose to shrink. But it never
grew any shorter, and, besides, it made him squint. For, O Best Beloved, you will see
and understand that the Crocodile had pulled it out into a really truly trunk same as all
Elephants have to-day.Q7
[40]At the end of the third day a fly came and stung him on the shoulder, and before he
knew what he was doing he lifted up his trunk and hit that fly dead with the end of it.

53
“‘Vantage13 number one!” said the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake. “You couldn’t
have done that with a mere-smear nose. Try and eat a little now.”
Before he thought what he was doing the Elephant’s Child put out his trunk and plucked
a large bundle of grass, dusted it clean against his fore-legs, and stuffed it into his own
mouth.
“’Vantage number two!” said the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake. “You couldn’t
have done that with a mear-smear nose. Don’t you think the sun is very hot here?”
“It is,” said the Elephant’s Child, and before he thought what he was doing he schlooped
up a schloop of mud from the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo, and
slapped it on his head, where it made a cool schloopy-sloshy mud-cap all trickly behind
his ears.
[45]“’Vantage number three!” said the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake. “You
couldn’t have done that with a mere-smear nose. Now how do you feel about being
spanked again?”
“’Scuse me,” said the Elephant’s Child, “but I should not like it at all.”
“How would you like to spank somebody?” said the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake.
“I should like it very much indeed,” said the Elephant’s Child.
“Well,” said the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake, “you will find that new nose of
yours very useful to spank people with.”
[50]“Thank you,” said the Elephant’s Child, “I’ll remember that; and now I think I’ll
go home to all my dear families and try.”
So the Elephant’s Child went home across Africa frisking and whisking his trunk. When
he wanted fruit to eat he pulled fruit down from a tree, instead of waiting for it to fall
as he used to do. When he wanted grass he plucked grass up from the ground, instead
of going on his knees as he used to do. When the flies bit him he broke off the branch
of a tree and used it as fly-whisk; and he made himself a new, cool, slushy-squshy mud-
cap whenever the sun was hot. When he felt lonely walking through Africa he sang to
himself down his trunk, and the noise was louder than several brass bands.
He went especially out of his way to find a broad Hippopotamus (she was no relation
of his), and he spanked her very hard, to make sure that the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-
Snake had spoken the truth about his new trunk. The rest of the time he picked up the
melon rinds that he had dropped on his way to the Limpopo—for he was a Tidy
Pachyderm14.Q8
One dark evening he came back to all his dear families, and he coiled up his trunk and
said, “How do you do?” They were very glad to see him, and immediately said, “Come
here and be spanked for your ’satiable curtiosity.”

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 “Pooh,” said the Elephant’s Child. “I don’t think you peoples know anything about
spanking; but I do, and I’ll show you.” Then he uncurled his trunk and knocked two of
his dear brothers head over heels.
[55]“O Bananas!” said they, Where did you learn that trick, and what have you done to
your nose?”
“I got a new one from the Crocodile on the banks of the great grey-green, greasy
Limpopo River,” said the Elephant’s Child. “I asked him what he had for dinner, and
he gave me this to keep.”
“It looks very ugly,” said his hairy uncle, the Baboon.
“It does,” said the Elephant’s Child. “But it’s very useful,” and he picked up his hairy
uncle, the Baboon, by one hairy leg, and shoved him into a hornet’s nest.
Then that bad Elephant’s Child spanked all his dear families for a long time, till they
were very warm and greatly astonished. He pulled out his tall Ostrich aunt’s tail-
feathers; and he caught his tall uncle, the Giraffe, by the hind-leg, and dragged him
through a thorn-bush; and he shouted at his broad aunt, the Hippopotamus, and blew
bubbles into her ear when she was sleeping in the water after meals; but he never let
any one touch Kolokolo Bird.
[60]At last things grew so exciting that his dear families went off one by one in a hurry
to the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever-
trees, to borrow new noses from the Crocodile. When they came back nobody spanked
anybody any more; and ever since that day, O Best Beloved, all the Elephants you will
ever see, besides all those that you won’t, have trunks precisely like the trunk of the
’satiable Elephant’s Child.Q9
I keep six honest serving-men:
(They taught me all I knew)
Their names are What and Where and When
And How and Why and Who.
I send them over land and sea,
I send them east and west;
But after they have worked for me,
I give them all a rest.
I let them rest from nine till five.
For I am busy then,
As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea,
For they are hungry men:
But different folk have different views:
I know a person small —
She keeps ten million serving-men,

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Who get no rest at all!
She sends ’em abroad on her own affairs,
From the second she opens her eyes —
One million Hows, two million Wheres,
And seven million Whys!

1. Insatiable (adjective): impossible to satisfy

2. “Precession of the Equinoxes” refers to the Earth’s gradual rotation on its axis.
3. An archaic form of “dreadful,” or something which causes fear or unpleasantness
4. Mournful (adjective): expressing sadness, regret, or grief
5. Precede (verb): to come before (something) in time
6. Precedent (noun): an earlier event or action that is regarded as an example or guide
7. the author could also be using “promiscuous” to mean “wild”
8. “Crocodile tears” is a phrase which often refers to fake or insincere crying.
9. an overcoat
10. Limpid (adjective): transparent; clear and unclouded
11. "Hideous!"
12. to hurt or impair
13. advantage
14. Pachyderm is a term used to refer to animals such as elephants, rhinos, and hippos.

JOAN OF ARC: FRANCE'S YOUNG TRAGIC HERO

The following article is about the historical figure Joan of Arc, or Jeanne D'Arc (1412-
1431), the teenage girl who led the French to victory against the English in the 1400s.
As you read, take notes on how Joan of Arc succeeded in gaining her command
and winning in battle. How and why is she remembered today?
PART 1: THE MAKINGS OF A HERO
[1]Joan was born the youngest of a family of five. Her father was a peasant farmer who
had little money. She never learned to read or write. Yet in her short lifetime, she
became one of history’s most famous people.
Joan was born in Domremy on January 6, 1412. She was the youngest of five children.
As a child, Joan played with other children but also enjoyed being alone. Like other
girls, she was good at sewing and spinning. Unlike other girls, she claimed to hear
“voices.” She said it was the voice of angels speaking to her, and she also claimed to
have seen them. She had always been especially devoted to her religion, Christianity.Q1
She began to hear these voices in 1425, when she was 13. Three years later, she was
convinced that God had spoken to her and told her to go to the service of the king,
Charles VII.1
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The French at this time were involved in another war against the English. (The two
countries had fought many wars before that time, including the Hundred Years War.)2
[5]In the current struggle, things were going badly for France. In 1428, Joan traveled to
the neighbouring town of Vaucouleurs to see the king’s commander there, Robert
Baudricourt.3 This man first turned Joan away with a laugh. But the next year, when
Joan correctly predicted a great French defeat outside Orleans (the Battle of the
Herrings), Baudricourt was willing to listen. In fact, he let Joan go to the king himself,
who was at the French city of Chinon.Q2
Joan convinced King Charles VII of her sincerity and of her calling to help France
defend itself against the English invaders. Despite the advice of most of his
commanders, King Charles agreed with Joan, offering her a sword. Joan, however,
spoke of a vision that she had of a great sacred sword buried in a nearby chapel. No one
knew about this sword, but the king was so convinced that Joan was right that he ordered
the area under the altar dug up. There was an ancient sword, just as Joan described it.
Astonished, King Charles agreed to let Joan go to Orleans, where French forces were
under siege. She left on April 30, 1429.
Her presence there had a swift and great effect. The English forts built to encircle the
city were taken and the siege4 ended in an astonishing eight days. A month later, the
French won again, at Patay. The following month, the French regained Troyes and then
Reims. In an astounding three months, Joan of Arc had helped the French do what
seemed impossible. The English were on the run.Q3
PART 2: SUCCESS AND THE END
Though she was wounded twice in these many struggles, Joan fought on. She at first
wanted to go home, especially after her first series of successes; but the army convinced
her to stay.
The French progress bogged down5 as the English dug in. Joan and the French fought
on, and so did the English. In May 1430, Joan was captured.
[10]She was held in prison for many weeks and then brought to trial in Rouen, a French
town in English possession. She was refused a lawyer and was treated cruelly in prison.
At her trial, she insisted that the voices of angels had told her to help defend France
against English invaders. This didn’t go over too well with the English clergymen6 who
were her judges. She was found guilty of heresy7 (largely because she claimed to have
spoken with angels, which was against church law) and sentenced to be burned at the
stake. She died on May 30, 1431.
Her story is still told for several reasons:
She was but an inexperienced teenager, leading an army full of battle-hardened men.
She was a woman. At that time, women were expected to stay in the homes and
castles and let the men do the fighting.
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 She had tremendous success. With her in the army, the French won victory after
victory.
She died a terrible death.
Her life and death have inspired many soldiers, in France and elsewhere, ever since.Q4

1. King Charles VII (1403-1461) of France ruled from 1422 until his death.
2. The Hundred Years War was a series of conflicts waged from 1337 to 1453, fought
between England and France.
3. Robert de Baudricourt (c. 1400-1454) was a minor figure of 15th century French
nobility.
4. the placing of an army around a protected place or city to force it to surrender
5. to be stalled, delayed, or caught up in something
6.religious leaders
7. religious opinion that is opposed to a generally accepted belief of the church

ANGER AS INSPIRATION
Sami Awad is the Founder and Director of The Holy Land Trust, a non-profit
humanitarian organization dedicated to improving the lives of children, families and
communities in the Middle East. The group identifies the cycle of violence as one of its
biggest challenges, and promotes "proactive non-violence" as a core belief. This
following is a transcript of an interview with Awad as part of the Global Oneness
Project, which aims to "inspire students to rethink their relationship to the world."
As you read, take notes on how Awad’s tone helps convey his philosophy of anger.
[1]My anger is reflected through my actions. My anger is my fuel for my commitment.
If I look at my anger as what should be inspiring and give me hope, then that's what my
anger does to me. It is how I use my anger in ways to create productive futures, to create
new ways of dealing with oppression1 and injustice, to create new techniques of
resistance.2 It is not using this anger to reflect violently towards the other or to reflect
violently within my own self.Q1
What many times we ignore is that the violence that we see is only the violence that we
see between militants,3 between the police and the army, the oppressors and the
oppressed, the violent and the victims of violence, and we completely ignore how all of
this violence also reflects within each of us as individuals, so this anger is there and I
would tell you that if I did not have this anger, that I would not be human.
This anger is very important to be the inspiration that will make me engage in the right
action and activity to eliminate4 this anger from happening in the future.Q2
"
1. Oppression (noun):the cruel or unfair treatment of a group of people

58
2. the act of remaining strong against a harmful force
3. A militant is someone who is aggressive in support of a political or social cause and
who favors extreme or violent methods.
4. Eliminate (verb): to get rid of

WOMEN IN ANCIENT ROME

The Roman Empire (27 BCE – 476 CE) was one of the ancient world's largest empires,
covering most of Europe and parts of Africa and Asia at its height. This informational
text discusses what life was like for women in this empire.
As you read, identify the ways in which women could create change.
[1]There’s something tricky about history. That is, it’s always a story. Depending on
who’s telling the story, the story can change. Most of history has been written by very
few people. We often do not get to hear from smaller groups or from women. So here’s
a question: What were women doing during Roman times?1 Unfortunately, we don’t
know much about them, especially if they were poor. None of the “important” people
cared enough about them to write too much about them. You can think of women as
one of the missing puzzle pieces of Roman history. The picture isn’t complete without
them, but maybe we can look at the pieces that are around them and figure out what that
piece looks like. We can try to figure out what women were up to in the Roman
Empire.Q1
Let’s start in the home. A domus was a Roman upper class house that also acted as a
sort of church and meeting house. They could be as small as a shack or they could take
up a whole city block. Some were very beautiful with gardens and fountains. For safety,
they had no windows facing the streets. As you might expect, Roman men made all of
the choices under their roofs, but women took care of the domus, either for a day while
their husbands were at work, or for many years, while their husbands were away at war.
So how did the women spend their time in the home? Well, whatever the man told them
to do, unfortunately. That usually depended on how rich they were. If they were poor,
a woman’s day was likely spent washing laundry with lye, buying food, sweeping with
twig brooms and scrubbing with animal hair brushes. If the family had a lot of money,
then the women could eat and get massaged and oiled all day while the slaves did all
the work. That is unless she was young. The pater familias was the oldest male and
head of a family in Rome. He controlled everything the people in the household did,
from daily chores to when they were married. The legal marrying age for a girl was only
twelve! So was that it? Were women in Rome just hanging out or given away to be
married and hang out in or take care of yet another house? Let’s see what’s going on
outside the home...Q2

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In the city, the laws of the land were made by men. Political office is any job with
power that chooses the laws of the land. Even though women were thought of as
citizens, Roman law said they could not be in office and they could not vote. Women
were just as smart and able to make decisions as the men, and they had just as much, if
not more, at stake than the men did. They just could not make decisions or vote like the
men could.
[5]Not so fun fact! Even though they could sit in on councils, if women became too
involved or spoke up too much they could be considered treasonous and a law could be
created to keep them out.
Just because you cannot vote, does not mean you cannot be powerful. What if you
couldn’t vote for what your school would serve for lunch, but you had a friend who
could? What would you do? If you wanted to eat healthy food that day, you could tell
your friend that the carrots and apples will make everyone feel better and be less gassy
so the classrooms would not smell as bad. Maybe this friend who could vote would
listen to your ideas and vote the way you’d like. Even though they had no legal power
over political office, Roman women still had powerful friends. Auctoritas is the Roman
word for power or authority. In simple words, this meant they had power over other
people. Women could own businesses and could make deals in private with important
people. This is not the same as voting and passing laws, but they were still able to
change some things that they wanted to, if they were good at convincing people to do
what they wanted! If a woman had a son or husband in high political office, she could,
and often would, tell him what to do. Even though the law stated that the power was out
of their hands, women still found a way to change votes.
It’s hard to know what women were up to during the Roman Empire. This is because
history was written by men who thought their side of the story was the only right one.
It was this kind of thinking that kept women inside the home, taking care of the domus
and away from political office where they could make choices about laws, putting all
of the power into the hands of the men. Still women used their auctoritas, or power over
others, to change the men around them to vote for the things the women believed in.
Just because we cannot find many mentions of women in the history books, does not
mean the words there weren’t changed by their choices.Q3
1. Rome was the capital of the great Roman Empire, which stretched across the entire
Mediterranean Sea and much of Europe and the Middle East. The Roman Empire ruled
this part of the world after the fall of the Greek Empire. When Rome fell, Europe entered
the Dark Ages.

THINGS THAT SHOW AND THINGS THAT DON'T

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This informational text explains how different genes, or instructions for how we look,
are stronger than others. It explains how gene types, or alleles, can be dominant (strong)
or recessive (weak), as well as how different alleles combine to make people look the
way they do.
As you read, note what comparisons the author makes between everyday things
and scientific concepts.
Romeo and Juliet1 are having a baby boy. They are trying to guess who the baby will
look like. Romeo has brown eyes and black hair. Juliet has blue eyes, and blonde hair.
Will their son look like his mom or his dad? Will he look like both of them? Maybe he
won’t look like either of them!
No two people are exactly alike. Our bodies have many different parts, and each part is
built in a different way. As your body grows, it needs directions to tell all of these parts
how to grow. Picture your body as a library full of books. Each book in the library has
instructions for a different body part. There is a book for eye color, a book for nose
shape, a book for hair color, a book for ear shape and so on. Scientists call each one of
these books a gene. Every person has almost 25,000 genes. This means that your library
has 25,000 books of directions for your body.
Genes make us look the way we do. Most people look like their parents because they
get their genes from their parents. Each of our parents have their own set of genes, or
library of directions that make them look the way they do. When two people have a
child, the child gets half of each parent’s genes. The dad’s genes join up with the
mother’s to makes a new person!
Just as we got our genes from our parents, they got theirs from their parents. Genes are
passed down through families from grandparents to parents to children. Inherit means
to have something given to you by your parents. Our genes are given to us by our
parents, which means that we inherited them from our parents. When your mom decides
to give you her piano, you have inherited the piano from her. However, even though
she gave you that piano, you might not play it like she plays it. In the same way, having
your parents’ genes does not mean you look completely like them.Q1
[5]Like a book with two chapters, each of our genes has two parts, or two sets of
directions. Parents pass one set of directions from each of their genes on to their
children. Picture your mom and dad each holding a book with two chapters. The pages
of your mom’s book are red and your dad’s are blue. Your mom and dad each rip their
book in half and give one chapter to you. You put the two together and you now have a
book with one red and one blue chapter. The two parts of a gene are called alleles. Every
one of your genes has one allele from your mom’s genes and one from your dad’s; they
mix together and make a new and different book of instructions that tell how to make
you.

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Body parts can come out looking different ways. That’s why each gene has two sets of
directions. Remember how Romeo has brown eyes while Juliet has blue eyes? That
means that Juliet has a book with a set of directions, or alleles, for making blue eyes
and Romeo has a book with a set of alleles for making brown eyes. However, each of
those books has two sets of directions; there are two alleles in each gene. Some people
might have a book for eye color with two sets of brown directions, and some might have
a book with two sets of blue directions. Others might have a book with one brown set
of directions and one blue set of directions.Q2
People with an eye color gene that has two brown alleles will always have brown eyes.
The same is true for two blue alleles. However, we also have people with two different
alleles, or sets of directions in their eye color gene. What color does that make their
eyes? If Romeo and Juliet each give their son one allele from each gene, he will have
directions for brown eyes and blue eyes. Which eye color will he have? How will his
body know what color to make his eyes?
The simple answer is that some alleles, or chapters of directions, are stronger than
others. When a baby duck hatches, the first thing it sees is its mom. From that point on
it will only follow her. If the baby duck’s dad comes around, the baby duck will still
only follow its mom. Our bodies are the same way. We will read and follow the
strongest set of directions. When one set of directions is stronger than the other it is
called a dominant allele.
Do our bodies ever follow the weaker set of directions? They won’t if the stronger set
is there. It’s just like the mom and dad duck with their baby. The daddy duck may really
want his baby to follow him, but the baby will only follow its mom because it saw her
first. What happens, though, if one of the chapters in a book is not stronger than the
other? What if the stronger allele isn’t there? If the mother duck was not there when the
baby duck was born and it saw its dad first, would it follow its dad? Yes! Sometimes a
book can have two weak chapters in it. If a gene has two weak alleles one is not stronger
than the other. The body will read and then follow the weaker set of directions. The
weaker set of directions is called a recessive allele.Q3
[10]Most of the way we look is based on which genes, or chapters, we have, and which
are strong and which are weak. That is why people look so different. It all depends on
which directions you have and how they mix together. Romeo has brown eyes, which
come from stronger alleles than Juliet’s blue eyes. He has black hair, which comes from
stronger alleles than blonde hair. However, the genes for his attached ear lobes are
weaker than Juliet’s genes for her free ear lobes. Their son will most likely have
Romeo’s eyes and hair, but Juliet’s ears.
Here are some more sets of stronger and weaker directions:
Brown eyes are stronger than green eyes and blue eyes.

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 Green eyes are stronger than blue.
Having a pointed hairline is stronger than having a straight hairline.
Being able to curl your tongue is stronger than not being able to.
Being able to bend your thumb backwards is weaker than having a straight thumb.
Having a cleft or split chin is weaker than having a smooth chin.Q4
We can only guess what Romeo and Juliet’s son will look like based on the stronger
and weaker chapters in their books of directions. In truth, the way we look is not that
simple. It takes many different genes all acting together to make a body look the way it
does. There might be five different books that have directions for your nose. Romeo
and Juliet’s son could have either one of his parent’s nose or, a mix of each, or it could
be completely different. He might even have his great Uncle Melvin’s crooked nose. It
all depends on what sets of directions he gets, how they mix together, and which ones
are weak or strong.Q5
1. Romeo and Juliet are a young couple that gets married in William Shakespeare’s
Romeo and Juliet.
WORKING THE FARMS
In this informational text, Mike Weinstein discusses how children as young as 7 years
old work on farms picking fruits and vegetables as migrant workers.
As you read, take notes on the working conditions migrant children face.
[1]Migrant farm children grow up quickly. A migrant is someone who moves from one
place to another. Many migrant children work beside their parents in the fields when
they are as young as 7 years old. By the time they are 13 or 14, they are often full-time
workers.
The children help make money for their families. The work they do is important,
because farm workers put food on America's tables. But it is not an easy life.
Migrant workers mainly pick fruits and vegetables. They also plant crops and work in
packing houses, where fruits and vegetables are put into cans and jars.
When fruits and vegetables get ripe, they must be picked off the plants. Many of the
plants grow low to the ground. So the workers have to kneel and crouch to reach the
fruits and vegetables. They do this kind of work all day in the hot sun or in the rain.
They also carry heavy baskets filled with fruits and vegetables.Q1
[5]Often, these workers start working in the early spring in the southern part of the
country, in places such as Florida and Texas. During summer and fall, the migrant
workers gradually move north because different plants ripen in different places at
different times. They often finish the year in northern states such as Oregon, Montana,
and Connecticut. California is one of the busiest places for migrant workers. Its warm
climate allows many fruits and vegetables to grow there.

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With all the moving around, it's hard for migrant children to keep up with their
schoolwork. Sometimes, parents want the kids working in the fields instead of going to
school. The family makes more money if everyone, including the children, helps with
the work. But migrant parents want their children to get an education, too. They know
that their children need an education to get better jobs as adults.
Many migrant children do not live in a house or apartment. They live in
temporary1 cabins near the farm fields.Q2
No one knows exactly how many migrants work on American farms. The number of
migrants probably ranges from almost 1 million to 5 million. One expert estimated that
400,000 children travel with migrant families.
Though living and working conditions are far from perfect, things have gotten better for
many migrant children. The federal government2 has started special programs to
improve their education, health care, and housing. California runs housing centers for
migrant families. A few migrants have even bought houses or mobile homes in southern
states. They still travel a lot, but now some of them have a place to call home.
[10]Laws protect young children from dangerous work such as driving tractors,
climbing on ladders, and working with insect sprays. In some places, children under 12
years old are now forbidden from farm work. But many of these laws are hard to
enforce.3 Education is the key for a brighter future. With better schooling, migrant
children can have more hope that this will come true.Q3
1. short-term
2. the United States government
3. carry out

MY SIDE OF THE STORY

In this text, the narrator reflects on a time when they learned how to take justice into
their own hands.
NOTE: This text contains depictions of abuse. We advise that teachers review the story
in full, and ask that teachers judge its inclusion on a class by class basis, taking into
account the individual students within the classroom.
As you read, make note of the details that support the narrator’s reaction to people
and events throughout the text.
[1]I was sitting at my desk in my bedroom practicing my signature when my brother
came in and asked me if I wanted to throw the ball around or shoot baskets.
“No,” I said. So he looked over my shoulder at the signatures, went into the bathroom
for a few seconds, came out, went to his own desk, unraveled an entire roll of Scotch
tape and stuck it on my head.

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Naturally, I was outraged. “What did you do that for?” I asked. It was a stupid question
because I knew very well why he had done it. He had done it for the same reason he
had stuffed me in the laundry hamper and tied me to a chair with my best ties. He had
done it because he was fourteen and had the great good fortune to be blessed with a
little brother he could bedevil1 at will.
“Try to get it off,” he said.
[5]This I attempted to do, but he had rubbed the Scotch tape so hard into my scalp that
it had become a part of my head.
“Let me try,” he said.
So he tried, and I yowled, and he stopped. Then he gently pulled a piece of the Scotch
tape off the side of my head, along with six or seven of my temple hairs.
Even at the age of nine I knew that I had been mightily wronged; even at nine I knew
that this violated every code of justice and fair play that I had ever been taught. And so,
my heart full of righteous rage and indignation,2 I leaped out of my chair, past my
brother, in search of justice.Q1
In those days justice looked a good deal like my mother. It had lovely brown hair, a
warm enchanting smile, and a soft, understanding voice. It was comforting to know that
in a matter of seconds my mother would hear the evidence, weigh the evidence, and
punish my brother. Generally, things were murkier.3 Generally, I did something by
accident, then my brother did something back, and I did something back, and on and on
until it was impossible to tell who was at fault. But this—this was the case of a lifetime.
And the best part of all was that the evidence was stuck to my head.
[10]When I reached my mother’s room, I saw that the door was closed. For a moment
I hesitated, wondering if she was sleeping; but I was so sure of my case, so convinced
of the general rightness of my mission that I threw open the door and burst into the room
screaming, “Mom! Mom! Skip put—”
And then I realized that I was talking to my father, not my mother.
In order to understand the enormity of the mistake I had made, you have to understand
my father. My father was five feet seven and a half inches tall, stocky, powerfully built,
and larger than life in laughter, strength, character, integrity,4 humor, appetite, wit,
intelligence, warmth, curiosity, generosity, magnetism, insight, and rage. Consequently,
he was not concerned with the little things in life, such as sibling
shenanigans,5 rivalries, or disputes. His job, as he saw it, was to make us the best human
beings we could possibly be — to guide us, love us, and teach us the large laws of honor,
courage, honesty, and self-reliance. He was the only man to turn to if you had a severed
artery, broken ribs, or any serious disease or financial problems, but he was not the kind
of man one would knowingly burst in upon screaming anything less than “The house is
on fire!” or “Somebody stole your car!”

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I knew this, of course, which is why I had run to my mother’s room in the first place,
and why, when I saw my father, most of the color drained from my face. My first
impulse was to walk backward out of the room, closing the door gently before me as I
did so, but I had shifted so suddenly from offensive indignation6 to defensive fear and
astonishment that I felt a little disoriented.7 For a moment I considered telling him that
I smelled smoke or saw someone stealing his car, but I couldn’t lie. I couldn’t tell the
truth, either. In fact, for a moment, I couldn’t speak.Q2
“What the hell are you doing?” my father said.
[15]I started to say, “I was sitting at my desk minding my own business, when—” and
I stopped. I stopped because I knew instinctively that Scotch tape on my head was not
enough, not nearly enough to warrant my wild, unannounced entrance into this room.
“When what?”
“Nothing.”
“You ran in here screaming about something. What happened?”
“I didn’t…”
[20]“You didn’t what?”
“I didn’t know you were here.”
“So what! You knew someone was here! What did Skip do?”
“Skip…uh. I was sitting at my desk, and Skip…”
“Skip what? Tell me!”
[25]“Put Scotch tape on my head.”
This apparently was all my father needed to set the wheels of his anger in motion.
“You came running in here without knocking because Skip put Scotch tape on your
head?”
“No, I—”
“You didn’t care that the door was closed? You didn’t care that your mother might have
been sleeping?”
[30]I wanted to explain to him that this had been going on for years, that Mom and Skip
and I had an understanding, but I knew that we weren’t having a discussion. I also knew
that he was working himself into a rage and that anything I said would only make it
worse.
“Is that what you do? You run into rooms screaming?” He was on his feet now and
advancing toward me. “You don’t knock?”
“No. Yes.”Q3
At this point my brother entered the room, saw what was happening, and stood
transfixed.8
“Here!” my father said. “Here’s what we do with Scotch tape!” And with that he pulled
the whole

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[35]wad off my head, along with fifty or sixty of my hairs.
I knew that he was only a few seconds away from his closing arguments now, and my
calculations were just about right.
“You don’t…” Whap! “…ever…” Whap! “…come in…” Whap! Whap! “…here…”
Whap! “…without knocking! Do you hear me?” Silence. Whap! “Do you hear…”
At this point I heard a wheeze of escaping laughter where my brother was standing, and
saw him run out of the room.
“Do you?”
[40]“Yes, Pop, yes. I hear you.”
“Are you ever going to come in here without knocking again?”
“No, no.”
“Ever!”
“No.”
[45]“Now get out of here!”
And I got out and heard the door slam behind me.

--------------------------------------
There was not much to do after that but sit at my desk and wonder what had happened.
I had been signing my name, Skip put Scotch tape on my head, I ran to tell Mom, found
Pop, and the lights went out. Where, I wondered, was the justice in that? Obviously,
when I burst into my mother’s room, I had entered a larger world of justice, a world
where screaming, whining, mother dependence, not knocking on closed doors, and
startling one’s father were serious crimes. That part I understood. The part I didn’t
understand was the part about why my brother, who had started the whole thing by
putting Scotch tape on my head, hadn’t been punished. So, in the interest of a smaller
justice, I went over to his trophy shelf, picked up one of his baseball trophies, and
gradually wrested the little gold-plated athlete off its mount.
With a little luck, my brother would want to tell Pop about it.Q4
1. harass, torment
2. anger or annoyance provoked by what is perceived as unfair treatment
3. Murky (adjective): not fully explained or understood, especially with concealed
dishonesty or immorality
4. the quality of being honest
5. silly and excited behavior, mischief
6. Indignation (noun): anger or annoyance provoked by what is seen as unfair treatment
7. Disoriented (adjective): confused and without a sense of direction
8. Transfixed (verb): to become motionless with horror, wonder or astonishment

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TRAINING THE GOAT
Tom Brady is a famous American football quarterback for the National Football League
(NFL). In this text, Jacqueline Pratt-Tuke describes the job of Alex Guerrero, Tom
Brady's athletic trainer.
As you read, take notes on people’s opinions about Alex Guerrero.
[1]Mention Tom Brady's name and people's reactions range from cheering to choking.
Patriots and Buccaneers fans adore him. Competitors abhor him. Despite wide-ranging
opinions, it is difficult to deny that Brady is the GOAT, the greatest quarterback of all
time. Seven Super Bowl championships with two teams. Five-time Super Bowl MVP.
Over 600 career passing touchdowns. The oldest player in the NFL.
To whom does Brady give credit for his success and long career as a quarterback? His
athletic trainer, Alex Guerrero.
From high school sports practices, college games, to pro matches, trainers maintain
athletes' strength and treat their injuries. On the field, they quickly assess1 and attend
to injuries, staying calm in stressful situations. Off the field, athletic trainers help
athletes recover from injuries and achieve maximum physical performance. They
encourage athletes and stay optimistic2 when coaching athletes towards recovery.
Brady's long-time trainer, Guerrero, has unconventional training methods — he's
definitely not the typical trainer. For his approaches to training, Guerrero is both praised
and critiqued.Q1
EARLY INFLUENCES
[5]Guerrero grew up in California, the fourth of six children raised by immigrants from
Argentina. His family spoke Spanish and attended the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
day Saints. This belief system continues to influence his values today.
After watching his father-in-law suffer from skin cancer which caused sores on his
arms, neck, and shoulders, Guerrero decided to study traditional3 Chinese medicine.
Traditional Chinese medicine focuses not only on treating diseases but also on
preventing them. Traditional Chinese medicine prioritizes4 balance in the body and
holistic5 approaches to health — medicine alongside alternative approaches like
massage, acupuncture, and mediation. His studies of Chinese medicine have guided his
training methods.
In 1996, Guerrero opened a rehabilitation center and worked with track athletes in Los
Angeles. When Guerrero noticed runner after runner suffering from the same hamstring
injury, he decided to observe their training. He wanted to understand why they were
getting injured. He noticed that runners built bulky muscles during training and then
tried to be light and nimble during races. Influenced by his training of runners, Guerrero
supports athletes to build soft, flexible6 muscles. He calls this pliability.Q2
AN OUT-OF-THE-BOX APPROACH
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Over the course of his career, Guerrero developed a training program that combines
nutrition, hydration, mental strength, exercise, and massage. While most athletic
trainers spend their time treating athletes, Guerrero prioritizes injury prevention. He
aims for athletes that are mentally strong and injury resistant.
Most athletic trainers work alongside doctors to help athletes bounce back after an
injury. With doctors, they develop and carry out injury recovery plans. In contrast,
Guerrero mostly trains solo, according to his belief about how bodies recover. He
believes in using the brain to relieve injuries. For example, rather than elevating7 a
broken foot, Guerrero encourages “re-educating” injured parts to work properly using
massage, meditation, and exercising them far sooner than doctor-recommended.Q3
CREDITED AND CRITIQUED
[10]But, like Brady, Guerrero has plenty of critics.8 Some medical professionals say
that his focus on pliable muscles is not scientifically-based and has no proven results.
They critique Guerrero for pitting western medical treatment against more holistic
practices. Others say he overpromises what his training methods and products can
achieve.
In addition, critics call into question Guerro’s schooling. Athletes’ trainers typically
hold a bachelor's degree and study human anatomy, physiology, and nutrition.
According to the National Athletic Trainers Association, more than half of athletic
trainers earn masters or doctoral degrees. Some critics claim that Guerro is not
appropriately qualified as a trainer. SAMRA University, where he studied, is a school
of Chinese traditional medicine, with little priority on the hard sciences, western
medicine, and modern technology.
But with Brady's career as proof, many regard Guerrero as a top trainer. Brady has
worked with Guerrero, who he calls his “body coach,” since 2006. Brady was sold on
his approach to training after a 2008 ACL injury where Guerrero helped him recover
and get back on the football field.
Describing Brady and Guerrero's relationship, a New York Times Magazine author
wrote, “While Guerrero is known as Brady's 'body coach,' that label significantly
understates his exhaustive reach into Brady's life... He accompanies Brady to almost
every Patriots game, home and away, and stands on the sidelines. He works with Brady's
personal chef to put together optimally healthful menus; he plans Brady's training
schedule months in advance. Above all, during the football season, he works on Brady
seven days a week, usually twice a day.”
Brady and Guerrero opened a training center called TB12, focused on holistic
approaches to health and wellness for athletes. The goal of TB12 is to focus on “pre-
hab” or proactively building physical and mental health to prevent injuries and perform

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at peak levels. Both professional athletes and everyday people seek the TB12 method
to recover from injuries or increase their athletic performance.Q4
1. to examine and try to discover the extent, quality, or nature of something
2. expecting or tending to expect positive outcomes
3. Traditional (adjective): ways of doing things that are passed down over time
4. to put or do something first; to prefer something
5. handling or dealing with something in its wholeness rather than with its parts
6. easily bent or able to bend without breaking
7. Elevate (verb): to raise or lift up to a higher physical position
8. Critic (noun): anyone who judges the work of others

THE LONE WOMAN OF SAN NICOLAS ISLAND

In 1835, a Native American woman was left on San Nicolas Island for 18 years by
herself. Scott O'Dell's award-winning novel Island of the Blue Dolphins is based on her
life.
As you read, take notes on the experiences of the lone woman.
[1]Every year thousands of kids across the country read Scott O’Dell’s book Island of
the Blue Dolphins, which tells the story of a woman living alone on a small California
island for many years. O’Dell’s story is actually inspired by the true story of a woman
in the early 1800s. Her story has intrigued1 and inspired readers and historians ever
since she was rescued.
WHY WAS SHE ALONE?
In the 1800s, hunters from Russia often traveled from Alaska down to the California
coast looking for sea otters. Their hunting soon caused clashes with the native groups
living on the remote2 Channel Islands off the coast, especially with the
Nicoleño3 people on San Nicolas Island.
Franciscan priests4 who lived on the mainland in California heard about the danger the
Nicoleño people faced because of Russian hunters. They decided to send a ship out to
the island to bring the people back to one of their missions,5 where they could live more
peacefully.
The ship landed on San Nicolas Island in 1835. As people boarded it, a strong wind
began to blow across the shore. One woman realized her child had been left behind in
the chaos.6 She let some of the people know and headed back to their village to find her
child. Unfortunately, the wind became so strong that the sailors decided they had to
leave the island, even though they knew one person had been left behind.Q1
[5]Tragically, her child died soon after the rest of the Nicoleño left. This is how the
woman came to be alone on San Nicolas Island. She probably lived knowing she would
never see her people again.
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At first, the priests meant to send the ship back to rescue the lone woman. Sadly, the
ship sank before it could return to San Nicolas Island. There were no other ships large
enough to make the trip on the coast at the time. Soon, the rescue mission and the lone
woman were forgotten.
DISCOVERING THE LONE WOMAN
Over the next 18 years, rumors traveled around the mainland that San Nicolas Island
might still be inhabited.7 Sometimes hunters who landed on the island found human
footprints, but they could never find the person who made them.
One local hunter, George Nidever, finally decided he would go and find this mysterious
person once and for all. He tried twice and was unsuccessful. But on his third attempt,
in 1853, he followed a trail of footprints from the beach to a hut inland. The hut was
constructed out of old whale bones. There he found the lone woman preparing seal meat
and wearing a skirt made of animal skins and large feathers.
Even though she had not seen another person for 18 years, the lone woman seemed
happy to see Nidever and his men. She willingly went back with them to the mainland.
She brought a few of the possessions she had made during her time on the island,
including baskets and clothes. She was around 50 years old.Q2
LIFE ON THE MAINLAND
[10]The lone woman became a sensation8 on the mainland. She stayed with the priests
at the Santa Barbara Mission. Her people had scattered, and no one in the area spoke
the same language as she did. She could communicate through signs and symbols, but
she was not able to tell the priests details about her life on the island. They could only
guess how hard it must have been for her.
Even though she had trouble communicating, she seemed very enthusiastic about her
new life. She expressed fascination at the European food and clothing that the priests
had introduced to the area. She especially liked horses. As she became famous around
the town, many people came to see and visit with her. She danced and sang traditional
songs for them.
The lone woman had survived on her own for so long that the food the priests and locals
cooked for her made her very sick. She died of disease after only seven weeks on the
mainland. Before she died the priests baptized9 her and gave her the Spanish name
Juana Maria. The priests buried her in an unmarked grave in the cemetery next to the
Santa Barbara Mission, where she remains today. Q3
1. Intrigue (verb): to create curiosity
2. Remote (adjective): far away from the main population; distant or isolated
3. a Native American tribe who lived on San Nicolas Island, California
4. a religious group within the Catholic church who adopted a lifestyle of poverty and
travel to preach to others
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5. When Catholic Spanish priests colonized California, they set up “missions” for the
local people. These missions served religious functions and provided the priests and the
people with a place to live, learn, and commune.
6. Chaos (noun): complete disorder and confusion
7. Inhabit (verb): to live in
8. Sensation (noun): a popular topic of interest
9. Baptism is a Christian ceremony in which a person has a small amount of water
placed on their forehead, or they are completely submerged, to represent that a person
has been saved by Jesus.

CESAR CHAVEZ: HIS FIGHT FOR THE FARM WORKERS

Cesar Chavez (1927-1993) was a Latin American labor leader and civil rights activist.
In this informational text, Barbara Bloom discusses Chavez's activism and how he
improved the rights of farm workers.
As you read, take notes on the different ways that Chavez protested unfair
treatment of farm workers.
[1]Inside the old gas station, Cesar Chavez lay fasting1 as he had for twenty days since
February 14, 1968. Outside migrant workers, dusty from their hard work in the fields,
stood keeping watch over their leader. Many of these crop pickers had brought gifts or
charms to give Chavez luck; others had painted the windows with brightly colored
designs to make them look like stained glass. One television reporter said the site was
“like a shrine2 to nonviolence at which the followers of Cesar Chavez have come to
worship.”
Each day Chavez's wife and children came to see him and check his health. At first
Chavez thought only of food, but gradually he no longer dreamed of eating. He grew
thin and weak, yet his mind remained clear.
As head of the National Farm Workers,3 he continued to hold meetings, sign papers,
and plan. Chavez hoped that his sacrifice would help the cause (La Causa). He fasted
because of his commitment to his people, the poor farm workers, and to his belief that
they should have higher wages, decent working conditions and housing, health care
benefits, and a life without violence. He wanted to show those who thought they had to
fight to gain these ends that nonviolence took courage, too. Twenty-five days after
beginning, Chavez ended his fast, having won respect for his peaceful methods.Q1
Cesar Chavez was born near Yuma, Arizona, in 1927 on his family's farm. His
grandfather had come there from Mexico in the 1880s. He and his family lived there
until Chavez was ten years old, growing fruits and vegetables. They lost their land
during the Depression and headed for California to join the thousands of other migrant

72
farm workers4 who traveled up and down the state following the crops and working in
the fields.
[5]Moving often, Chavez, his five brothers and sisters, and his parents labored long
hours under the hot sun, barely earning enough money to get by. Sometimes they slept
in their car, sometimes in the fields, and sometimes in tumble-down shacks provided by
the farmers. Always they hoped for a better life. By the time Chavez had finished eighth
grade, he had attended more than thirty schools and had picked crops throughout
California. His formal schooling was over, and his experience had taught him that farm
workers received little justice or respect.Q2
Cesar Chavez began talking with fellow pickers, trying to get them to join him in
demanding improvements. Most of the workers were afraid. Some were illegal
immigrants from Mexico who were afraid of being sent back to a life that was even
more difficult. Others spoke little English and knew the farm owners had the power on
their side.
The chance for Chavez to do something came in 1951. Fred Ross, an organizer for the
Community Service Organization (CSO), a private group helping migrants get food,
medical care, legal aid, and housing, came to see him. Ross asked Chavez if he wanted
to work with the CSO to register migrants to vote. Voting, he said, could give Hispanics
power. Chavez, just twenty-four and shy and unsure of his abilities, agreed to help. All
day he picked apricots, and at night he registered voters and organized classes in
English. Within two months, he had registered more than four thousand workers. When
his boss found out, he fired Chávez.
The CSO then hired him and gave him a steady income. He studied labor laws and led
meetings of his fellow migrants. The migrants listened to him. Most trusted him, for he
was one of them, but they feared the landowners and the loss of their jobs.Q3
After nine years, Chavez believed farm workers needed to form a union to lobby5 for
decent wages and working conditions. The CSO disagreed. On September 30, 1962,
Chavez quit the CSO, and using his own savings to live on, he started the National Farm
Workers Association, later called the United Farm Workers of America.
[10]In 1964, the association took a farmer to court for paying less than minimum wage.
The court found the farmer guilty and forced him to pay the minimum wage. The first
victory in the fields came in May 1965. The nursery6 industry in Delano, California,
offered one wage to rose grafters7 at the beginning of the week but less at week's end.
When the workers asked Chavez for help, he convinced them to go out on strike. After
a four-day strike, the nursery owners gave in to the workers' demands.
Chavez hoped one day to have enough members to make all growers pay decent wages,
but he felt that would take years. In the summer of 1965, some grape pickers went out
on strike against the grape growers. They asked Chavez to join them, but he felt that his

73
group was not ready. At a meeting on September 15, the group's two thousand members
disagreed, shouting “Huelga! Huelga!” (“Strike! Strike!”).Q4
They quit picking grapes and picketed8 the vineyards, warning others not to work until
the grape growers recognized their right to a union and fair pay. After a few weeks, two
vineyards agreed, and the workers returned to those vineyards. Other growers still
refused. Chavez realized he had to find new ways to oppose the powerful growers.
Perhaps, Chavez thought, he could organize a boycott, asking people not to buy or sell
grapes. In November, he called for a nationwide boycott. The following spring, he led
a three-hundred mile march through California's farmland to the state capital,
Sacramento. People all over the nation heard about the migrants' problems. Students,
nuns, lawyers, doctors, and ministers came to help. Others sent money, food, and
clothing for the strikers. As more people boycotted grapes, more growers signed
contracts with the workers.
At some vineyards, migrants resorted to violence to make their point. Chavez disagreed
with this tactic, preferring instead the nonviolent means favored by the former Indian
leader Mohandas Gandhi and American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. After
much thought and prayer, he began his fast, which stopped most of the violence among
his followers.
[15]By 1970, most vineyards were paying fair wages, and the grape boycott ended. The
American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)
chartered9 the United Farm Workers in 1972. In the years since, Chavez presided over
many victories and defeats and continued to lead farm workers, using fasts, strikes,
marches, and boycotts to dramatize their plight.10 Although changes come slowly,
Cesar Chavez continued to support nonviolence and to dream. He said, “Our struggle is
not easy. We are poor. But we have our bodies and spirits and the justice of our cause
as our weapons.”Q5
1. to refuse to eat or drink anything
2. a place regarded as holy
3. a workers’ rights organization in America
4. a worker who moves from place to place for seasonal work
5. to work to influence a political issue
6. a place where plants and trees are grown for sale or planting elsewhere
7. a person whose job it is to join two plants together to grow as one
8. to stand or march near a place to protest something
9. to issue a document granting rights and privileges to an organization
10. Plight (noun): a dangerous, difficult, or unfortunate situation

SATURDAY SCHOOL
74
Lulu Delacre is an author and illustrator of many award-winning children's books. Her
writing often celebrates her Latinx heritage and promotes cultural diversity. This story
describes a girl's first day at Saturday school to learn "correct Spanish."
As you read, take notes on what the narrator, Sandra, thinks and feels about her
experiences in Saturday school.
[1]I hate disappointing my parents. Education is important in my family. Three of my
grandparents are university professors, and my parents are a doctor and a writer. So the
other day when Mamá declared, You need to learn correct Spanish, Sandra, I did what
I always do — keep quiet. And now, even though I’d rather not go to Saturday school,
I’m on my way to Escuela Argentina on this chilly January morning.
Last Monday I heard Mamá talking on the phone with Abuela. “Speaking and writing
are two different things,” Mamá told Abuela. “Sandra needs to read good literature and
learn Spanish grammar.” Abuela agreed and loudly ticked off the benefits of learning
correct Spanish one by one: it would enrich my education; it would make me
marketable; it could even find me the right husband. Really, a husband? I’m only
eleven! But the worst was when Abuela said that it would make me stand out in public
school. I feel already singled out! Not because I’m a straight-A student and won first
prize at the science fair, but because I’m the only kid in the neighborhood elementary
school whose parents speak Spanish at home. I was born in the United States and my
parents are from Puerto Rico. And although I speak Spanish with them, I’m much more
comfortable speaking English. It’s the language of my friends. I want to fit in with them,
but I want to please my parents, too.
After an hour in the car, Mamá takes the ramp off the Beltway onto a street lined with
tall oaks and maples and manicured lawns, and slows down before a huge lot with a
double fence. I look twice. Two fences on the same lot? I’ve never been to this part of
the county before. I see a white wooden rail fence by the curb, and a tall barbed-wire
one twenty feet in. It’s almost like the people in there don’t know whether to welcome
you or shoo you away. I start biting my cuticles.
“¿Te pasa algo?” 2Mamá asked. “Are you okay?”
[5]“I’m fine,” I lie. I stare at the few castle-like houses set far apart from one another.
Who are the kids who live in them? Are they friendly? I look down at my new red tennis
shoes to make sure their laces are neatly tied. Q1
Mamá pulls into the driveway of the glitzy private school, explaining that the Saturday
school is held there. The main office is identified by a flag, sky blue and white, trimmed
in golden tassels. Once we’re inside, Mamá introduces herself to the secretary. The
lanky woman immediately starts talking in that form of Spanish that Abuela and Mamá
use. It’s not the Spanish I speak at home, the one I read in the children’s books my
grandma from Puerto Rico sends. This is the other Spanish. I always thought it was a

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code language between Mamá and Abuela. I feel a knot in my stomach. Is this the form
of Spanish I’m supposed to learn? I can hardly understand Abuela! Mamá turns to me
after handing the signed paperwork to the secretary. Her eyes sparkle the way they do
when she’s particularly happy or proud about something.
“¡Vas a aprender mucho aquí!”3 she says. “You’ll learn a lot. I can’t wait to hear all
about it when I come back at two.” She picks up her purse, ready to leave.
I can feel the knot in my stomach tighten. I glance at the clock on the wall. It’s nine
a.m. I want to tell Mamá that I don’t want to stay. I have a bad feeling about all this.
Hmm, maybe I could go back home and do all the chores I’ve been putting off? Just
this once, I’m going to stand up for myself. I take a big breath that makes me feel strong
and sure and ready just like a knight in shining armor.
Mamá speaks first. “I’m proud of you,” she says.
[10]And her words make my invisible armor crumble all the way to the floor. I fake a
smile, say good-bye, and follow Mamá with my eyes as she walks away to her car.Q2
***
Now I’m trailing the skinny secretary down a long hallway and up some stairs to the
second floor. At the top of the stairs, she points to the corner classroom, room 25, and
leaves. Am I supposed to go in by myself? From where I stand I can hear rowdy kids
inside that room. I place one foot in front of the other, making the walk last longer than
it should, until I reach my classroom and peer inside. There’s a large poster board with
a map of the Americas dotted with the places of origin4 of my classmates. It seems like
most of them are from Argentina. Do they all talk like the secretary and Abuela? I hope
not. The kids are so loud that I can barely make out what they are saying. Here boys are
trading soccer cards. Here girls are poring over pictures of a birthday party they all seem
to have attended. It’s like these kids have known each other for years and years. I feel
a little sick. I want to call Mamá, but I remember the excitement in her eyes right before
she left. I can do this, I say to myself. I spot a tanned girl with straight amber hair pulled
back by a wide plaid hairband and approach her.
“¿Tú sabes dónde me siento?” 5I ask, looking around for a seat.
The girl looks at me, puzzled. “¿Y vos, cómo te llámas?”6
I pause, trying to understand her question. My throat gets dry. I can feel both the girls
and her friends staring at me.
[15]“Me llamo Sandra,”7 I say. The group of girls start to giggle. I take a step back and
lean against the wall, wanting to fade into it. I listen with all my senses, trying to
understand what I’ve said or done wrong. All I’ve said is my name! And then I know
why the girls laughed. It’s because of how I pronounce the words in Spanish. Loud steps
announce the teacher at the door.
“Buenos días, chicos,”8 the teacher greets the class.

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“Buenos días, Señora Peña,” the students answer in unison.9 Señora Peña looks like
she’s been out sunbathing for many years. Her large gold earrings dangle from her
wrinkled earlobes. She looks my way and straightens.
“Ché, Mauricio, encontrále un pupitre a la chica nueva, ¿querés?”10 Señora Peña asks
a boy while gesturing toward me. I figure the teacher is asking him to find me a
seat. Encontrále, querés... I repeat these words to myself.
“¿Sos Sandra, no?” 11Señora Peña asks. Encontrále, querés, sos... what is it about
these words? They are verbs! It dawns on me what the teacher and kids are doing that
is different. They are conjugating the verbs all wrong. It’s not the way Mamá taught
me, back when I first learned to read. I was four then, and I remember that the Spanish
textbook was written in the Spanish we spoke at home. Could it be that I’ve learned
incorrect Spanish all along?Q3
[20]Seated at the corner desk in the last row, I pay close attention in class. I want to do
well. I’m used to it. The teacher distributes copies of a story. She asks us to read it in
silence. At least the story is in the Spanish familiar to me and I understand everything.
Then Señora Peña calls on the students to read aloud. One by one, the kids read the
sentences in that peculiar singsong way Abuela has. They pronounce the words they
read a different way than me or most of the people I’ve heard speaking Spanish do.
When it’s my turn, I rise and try to mimic my classmates’ pronunciation. But this slows
my reading. I can tell that Señora Peña is losing patience.
“Gracias, Sandra,”12 Señora Peña says. “Thank you. Maybe you can practice reading
at home.”
Some kids start to giggle. I’ve never felt this dumb. I feel my ears turning red.
“¡Mirá sus orejas!” I hear a boy yell. “Look at her ears!”
“Mauricio!” the teacher reprimands the boy.
[25]I pull my hair over my ears, wanting to disappear under my desk. The teacher begins
to ask questions about the story. I know all the answers but I’m terrified to raise my
hand. I don’t want to be mocked for how I speak! So I spend the rest of the morning in
silence, wishing for time to pass.
The lunch bell finally rings, and all the students storm out the door.
“Sandra, vení, a almorzar,” 13Señora Peña calls me to follow her to lunch. But then
another teacher comes searching for Señora Peña and I’m left stranded by myself. I
stand still for a moment, not knowing what to do. Then I venture into the hall. My
stomach is growling. I’m so hungry! I look one way, then the other. I’ve no idea where
the cafeteria is, and I’m afraid to ask anyone for directions. I walk to the end of the hall,
trying to follow the trail of voices, but I find myself at a dead end. Then I go down the
stairs, passing by the main office, but the cafeteria doesn’t seem to be there either. The
cavernous14 building begins to feel more and more like a maze. I cry. Angry tears burn

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my cheeks in the middle of the empty hallway while I walk aimlessly. By the time the
smell of pizza and hot dogs finally leads me to the cafeteria, lunch is already over.Q4
***
That afternoon I wait to be picked up. I feel utterly alone. The minute Mamá pulls up, I
run to the car. I have never felt this thrilled to see Mamá.
“It looks like someone had a good day!” Mamá says. “Cuéntame,15 tell me all about it.
You liked it, right?”
[30]I look into Mamá’s eyes and see the usual sparkle of pride. So I give in, again,
wanting to please.
“Yes,” I say.
“¡Cuéntame, cuéntame!” Mamá pleads, wanting to hear the details of my day.
“Well…,” I start. I wish there was something I could do to get out of attending Saturday
school. And as we drive past the lot with the two fences, it occurs to me that someone
might see the white fence and never notice the barbed-wire one. We stop at the red light.
“Vos, no sabés lo que aprendí yo,”16 I say, mimicking the singsong way of speaking
they have at the Saturday school and conjugating the verb Abuela’s way.
[35]Mamá turns to me.
“Why are you speaking as if you were from Argentina?” asks Mamá.
And I think again of the two fences and that maybe there are times when you need to
point out the hidden one to others. I will have the courage this time. I don’t want to
return.
“That is how they teach Spanish, Mamá,” I say. Then I tell Mamá how the kids made
fun of the way I speak and how I was afraid to raise my hand. I tell her how I wish there
was another way to learn correct Spanish. Mamá says nothing. But I notice she’s upset.
I start picking my cuticles. I hope Mamá is not too angry with me. We’re entering our
neighborhood when Mamá speaks again.
[40]“I had no idea they would all be speaking Argentinean Spanish. I should have
inquired about this. It’s my fault. No wonder you felt out of place. I want you to learn
the Spanish most people use. The Spanish I learned in school in Puerto Rico, the written
Spanish widely used by Spanish-speaking countries. We’ll find another way.”
“We will?” I ask, amazed that I stood up for myself and didn’t anger Mamá.
“We could read together,” Mamá says.
“We could... start our own Spanish book club?” I say.
Mamá pulls into the driveway, shifts the car into park, and turns to look at me. She has
that sparkle in her eyes.
[45]And I think my eyes... are sparkling too.Q5
1. Spanish for “To be brave is to be afraid of doing nothing.”
2. Spanish for “Is something the matter?”

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3. Spanish for “You are going to learn a lot here!”
4. Origin (noun): where one or one’s family is from
5. Spanish for “Do you know where I sit?”
6. Spanish for “And what’s your name?”
7. Spanish for “My name is Sandra.”
8. Spanish for “Good morning, guys.”
9. at the same time
10. Spanish for “Hey, Mauricio, find a desk for the new girl, will you?”
11. Spanish for “You’re Sandra, right?”
12. Spanish for “Thank you, Sandra.”
13. Spanish for “Sandra, come here for lunch.”
14. Cavernous (adjective): very large and empty, like a cavern or cave
15. Spanish for “Tell me”
16. Spanish for “You don’t know what I learned.”

THINGS GET MORE COMPLICATED WHEN YOU'RE OLDER

This informational text explains cells and their role in biology. It also explains how one
cell can change, divide, and become a whole body with many different kinds of cells.
As you read, identify the different ways that cells work in the body.
[1]The next time you walk down the street, look closely at all of the buildings. Do they
all look the same? All the homes, schools, shops, and restaurants look different from
the street. These buildings probably look different on the inside too. The restaurants
may have a lot of tables and chairs, while the schools have desks and books.
Just as all the buildings look different on the inside or outside, all cells look different
on the inside or outside. Cells are the tiny building blocks that all living things are made
out of. Plant and animal cells also look different from the inside and outside. Leaf cells,
heart cells, flower cells, and stomach cells all have different responsibilities, so they all
have different structures inside of the cell.
Who does the different chores or jobs in your family? Maybe one night your mom
makes dinner, your dad does the laundry, and you have to make your bed. Families will
divide these jobs up so that all of the work gets done quickly. They also want to make
sure that all of the work is done well. What would happen if two people made dinner
every night, but nobody bothered to do the laundry? You would have too much food
and no clean clothes! A division of labor is when everyone does a different job.
There is a division of labor between cells too. In a tree, the leaves have a different job
than the roots. The leaf cell’s job is to soak in the sunlight and turn it into energy for the
plant. The root cell’s job is to soak in and store water and chemicals from the dirt. That
means the tree uses a division of labor, with the leaves doing one job, and the roots

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doing another job. All of the jobs that need to happen for the tree to stay alive get
done.Q1
[5]Almost all games and toys come with instructions. All living things have instructions
or rules too. They decide what the cells look like and how they work. In living things,
these rules are called genes.1 Think of your genes as a huge library of directions for
how to build every part of your body. Just as a library can have thousands of books, so
can a cell have thousands of genes -- around 25,000 in every person! Each gene has
rules for how to make something the cell needs. When you go to the library, a book can
be checked out and read over and over again. Inside a cell the gene will be read every
time the body needs to use those directions. That happens a lot.
Your own library of directions was made when your dad’s genes and your mother’s
genes joined together. At that point you were the size of a single cell. However, that
single cell was a very powerful cell. Inside that cell were all the directions to build a
person -- you! Then that one cell divided into two, and then into four, and then in to
eight ... until eventually all the cells grew into a baby.
When plants and animals get older, they grow larger and parts of them change. You see
this change when you look at a baby and then an older person. Both their height and
how they look are different. To develop means to become larger, to get older, and to
change as you become larger and older. A cell will develop into a baby, and a baby will
turn into an older person. What about plants! Seeds will turn into a tree or a flower.Q2
How does the first cell become so many different kinds of cells? How does a single cell
develop into a baby? There is one kind of cell that has the power to become any type of
cell in the body. This cell is like clay, and the body can shape it into any kind of cell
that the body needs. This is the stem cell. A stem cell is a cell that can change into any
kind of cell. Since there are so many different cells in our body, stem cells are needed
to form into each different one. The first cells that develop after your parents'
genes meet are stem cells, and they develop to become all of the different cells that
make up you! Children and older people have much fewer stem cells than a baby
developing in its mother’s body.
At this point you may be thinking that it is not possible for all cells to have the same
genes, since there are so many different kinds of cells. You might ask how heart cells
and brain cells can have the exact same genes when those cells are so different. It would
be like trying to make different toys with the same book of directions. The cell takes
care of this by turning genes on and off, just like you would turn a light switch on or
off. When a certain gene is turned on, it will help make something that the cell needs.
When that gene is turned off, it does not do anything. Different genes are turned on in
heart cells than in brain cells, because each of those cells does a different job. Stem cells
turn certain genes on or off in order to make cells that are able to do their jobs.Q3

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[10]A stem cell can turn into any kind of cell that the organism needs. It can become a
heart cell, a brain cell, or even a leaf cell. When a stem cell changes into a specific cell,
we call it differentiation. Differentiation means to make things different or separate
from each other. These different cells now have their own job that is different from
other cells. Stem cells are important to living things because they have not
differentiated. Once a stem cell has differentiated, the cell it becomes can no longer
become any other kind of cell. Think about how you can mold clay into anything when
it is soft, but you can’t change it once it has dried.
Today we learned that living things are made up of many different kinds of cells, and
that each cell is responsible for doing something different. Stem cells, like wet clay, can
be turned into any kind of cell that the animal or plant needs. However, once the stem
cell has developed into a specific kind of cell, it can no longer be changed. Heart cells
cannot be turned into brain cells, and leaf cells cannot be turned into root cells. They
are like clay after it dries, and it has to stay the same shape and size.Q4
1. A "gene" is an instruction in a living thing’s DNA that controls or influences a cell’s
function, affecting the living thing’s growth or appearance.

PIGS IS PIGS
Ellis Parker Butler (1869-1937) was an American writer who published over 30 novels
and 2,000 stories and essays. "Pigs is Pigs" is his most famous work. In this story, the
argument over the definition of a guinea pig leads to a comedic result.
As you read, take notes on the writer’s use of diction (the choice and use of words
and phrases) and how this contributes to the humor of the story.
[1]Mike Flannery, the Westcote agent of the Interurban Express Company, leaned over
the counter of the express office and shook his fist. Mr. Morehouse, angry and red, stood
on the other side of the counter, trembling with rage. The argument had been long and
heated, and at last Mr. Morehouse had talked himself speechless. The cause of the
trouble stood on the counter between the two men. It was a soap box across the top of
which were nailed a number of strips, forming a rough but serviceable cage. In it two
spotted guinea pigs were greedily eating lettuce leaves.
“Do as you loike, then!” shouted Flannery, “pay for thim an’ take thim, or don’t pay for
thim and leave thim be. Rules is rules, Misther Morehouse, an’ Mike Flannery’s not
goin’ to be called down fer breakin’ of thirn.”
“But, you everlastingly stupid idiot!” shouted Mr. Morehouse, madly shaking a flimsy
printed book beneath the agent’s nose, “can’t you read it here—in your own plain
printed rates? ‘Pets, domestic, Franklin to Westcote, if properly boxed, twenty-five
cents each.’” He threw the book on the counter in disgust. “What more do you want?
Aren’t they pets? Aren’t they domestic? Aren’t they properly boxed? What?”

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He turned and walked back and forth rapidly, frowning ferociously.1
[5]Suddenly he turned to Flannery, and forcing his voice to an artificial2 calmness
spoke slowly but with intense sarcasm.
“Pets,” he said. “P-e-t-s! Twenty-five cents each. There are two of them. One! Two!
Two times twenty-five are fifty! Can you understand that? I offer you fifty cents.”
Flannery reached for the book. He ran his hand through the pages and stopped at page
sixty-four.
“An’ I don’t take fifty cints,” he whispered in mockery. “Here’s the rule for ut. ‘Whin
the agint be in anny doubt regardin’ which of two rates applies to a shipment, he shall
charge the larger. The consign-ey may file a claim for the overcharge.’ In this case,
Misther Morehouse, I be in doubt. Pets thim animals may be, an’ domestic they be, but
pigs I’m blame sure they do be, an’ me rules says plain as the nose on yer face, ‘Pigs
Franklin to Westcote, thirty cints each.’ An’, Misther Morehouse, by me
arithmetical3 knowledge two times thirty comes to sixty cints.’
Mr. Morehouse shook his head savagely.4 “Nonsense!” he shouted, “confounded
nonsense, I tell you! Why, you poor ignorant5 foreigner, that rule means common pigs,
domestic pigs, not guinea pigs!”
[10]Flannery was stubborn.
“Pigs is pigs,” he declared firmly. “Guinea pigs or dago pigs or Irish pigs is all the same
to the Interurban Company an’ to Mike Flannery. Th’ nationality of the pig creates no
differentiality in the rate, Misther Morehouse! ‘Twould be the same was they Dutch
pigs or Rooshun pigs. Mike Flannery,” he added, “is here to tind to the expriss business
and not to hould conversation wid dago pigs in sivinteen languages fer to discover be
they Chinese or Tipperary by birth an’ nativity.”Q16
Mr. Morehouse hesitated. He bit his lip and then flung out his arms wildly.
“Very well!” he shouted, “you shall hear of this! Your president shall hear of this! It is
an outrage! I have offered you fifty cents. You refuse it! Keep the pigs until you are
ready to take the fifty cents, but, by George, sir, if one hair of those pigs’ heads is
harmed I will have the law on you!”
He turned and stalked out, slamming the door. Flannery carefully lifted the soap box
from the counter and placed it in a corner. He was not worried. He felt the peace that
comes to a faithful servant who has done his duty and done it well.
[15]Mr. Morehouse went home raging. His boy, who had been awaiting the guinea pigs,
knew better than to ask him for them. He was a normal boy and therefore always had a
guilty conscience when his father was angry. So the boy slipped quietly around the
house. There is nothing so soothing to a guilty conscience as to be out of the path of the
avenger.7

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Mr. Morehouse stormed into the house. “Where’s the ink?” he shouted at his wife as
soon as his foot was across the doorsill.
Mrs. Morehouse jumped guiltily. She never used ink. She had not seen the ink, nor
moved the ink, nor thought of the ink, but her husband’s tone convicted her of the guilt
of having borne and reared a boy, and she knew that whenever her husband wanted
anything in a loud voice the boy had been at it.
“I’ll find Sammy,” she said meekly.
When the ink was found Mr. Morehouse wrote rapidly, and he read the completed letter
and smiled a triumphant8 smile.
[20]“That will settle that crazy Irishman!” he exclaimed. “When they get that letter he
will hunt another job, all right!”Q2
A week later Mr. Morehouse received a long official envelope with the card of the
Interurban Express Company in the upper left corner. He tore it open eagerly and drew
out a sheet of paper. At the top it bore the number A6754. The letter was short. “Subject-
Rate on guinea pigs,” it said. “Dear Sir, — We are in receipt of your letter regarding
rate on guinea pigs between Franklin and Westcote, addressed to the president of this
company. All claims for overcharge should be addressed to the Claims Department.”
Mr. Morehouse wrote to the Claims Department. He wrote six pages of choice sarcasm,
vituperation9 and argument, and sent them to the Claims Department.
A few weeks later he received a reply from the Claims Department. Attached to it was
his last letter.
“Dear Sir,” said the reply. “Your letter of the 16th inst., addressed to this Department,
subject rate on guinea pigs from Franklin to Westcote, rec’d. We have taken up the
matter with our agent at Westcote, and his reply is attached herewith.10 He informs us
that you refused to receive the consignment11 or to pay the charges. You have therefore
no claim against this company, and your letter regarding the proper rate on the
consignment should be addressed to our Tariff Department.”
[25]Mr. Morehouse wrote to the Tariff Department. He stated his case clearly, and gave
his arguments in full, quoting a page or two from the encyclopedia to prove that guinea
pigs were not common pigs.
With the care that characterizes corporations when they are systematically conducted,
Mr. Morehouse’s letter was numbered, OK’d, and started through the regular channels.
Duplicate copies of the bill of lading,12 manifest,13 Flannery’s receipt for the package
and several other pertinent14 papers were pinned to the letter, and they were passed to
the head of the Tariff Department.
The head of the Tariff Department put his feet on his desk and yawned. He looked
through the papers carelessly.

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“Miss Kane,” he said to his stenographer,15 “take this letter. ‘Agent, Westcote, N.J.
Please advise why consignment referred to in attached papers was refused domestic pet
rates.’
Miss Kane made a series of curves and angles on her notebook and waited with pencil
poised. The head of the department looked at the papers again.
[30]“Huh! guinea pigs!” he said. “Probably starved to death by this time! Add this to
that letter: ‘Give condition of consignment at present.’”
He tossed the papers onto the stenographer’s desk, took his feet from his own desk and
went out to lunch.
When Mike Flannery received the letter he scratched his head.
“Give prisint condition,” he repeated thoughtfully. “Now what do thim clerks be
wantin’ to know, I wonder! ‘Prisint condition,’ is ut? Thim pigs, praise St. Patrick, do
be in good health, so far as I know, but I niver was no veternairy surgeon to dago pigs.
Mebby thim clerks wants me to call in the pig docther an’ have their pulses took. Wan
thing I do know, howiver, which is, they’ve glorious appytites for pigs of their soize.
Ate? They’d ate the brass padlocks off a barn door! If the paddy pig, by the same token,
ate as hearty as these dago pigs do, there’d be a famine in Ireland.”
To assure himself that his report would be up to date, Flannery went to the rear of the
office and looked into the cage. The pigs had been transferred to a larger box—a dry-
goods box.
[35]“Wan,-two,-t’ree,-four,-foive,-six,-sivin,-eight!” he counted. “Sivin spotted an’
wan all black. All well an’ hearty an’ all eatin ‘ loike ragin’ hippypottymusses.” He
went back to his desk and wrote.
“Mr. Morgan, Head of Tariff Department,” he wrote, “why do I say dago pigs is pigs
because they is pigs and will be til you say they ain’t which is what the rule book says
stop your jollying me you know it as well as I do. As to health they are all well and
hoping you are the same. P.S. There are eight now the family increased all good eaters.
P.S. I paid out so far two dollars for cabbage which they like shall I put in bill for same
what?”
Morgan, head of the Tariff Department, when he received this letter, laughed. He read
it again and became serious.
“By George!” he said, “Flannery is right, ‘pigs is pigs.’ I’ll have to get authority on this
thing. Meanwhile, Miss Kane, take this letter: ‘Agent, Westcote, N.J. Regarding
shipment guinea pigs, File No. A6754. Rule 83, General Instructions to Agents, clearly
states that agents shall collect from signee all costs of provender,16 etc., etc., required
for livestock while in transit or storage. You will proceed to collect same from
consignee.’”17
Flannery received this letter next morning, and when he read it he grinned.

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[40] “Proceed to collect,” he said softly. “How thim clerks do loike to be talkin’! Me
proceed to collect two dollars and twinty-foive cints off Misther Morehouse! I wonder
do thim clerks know Misther Morehouse? I’ll git it! Oh, yes! ‘Misther Morehouse, two
an’ a quarter, plaze.’ ‘Cert’nly, me dear frind Flannery. Delighted!’ Not!”
Flannery drove the express wagon to Mr. Morehouse’s door. Mr. Morehouse answered
the bell.
“Ah, ha!” he cried as soon as he saw it was Flannery. “So you’ve come to your senses
at last, have you? I thought you would! Bring the box in.”
“I hev no box,” said Flannery coldly. “I hev a bill agin Misther John C. Morehouse for
two dollars and twinty-foive cints for kebbages aten by his dago pigs. Wud you wish to
pay ut?”
“Pay — Cabbages — !” gasped Mr. Morehouse. “Do you mean to say that two little
guinea pigs — ”
[45]“Eight!” said Flannery. “Papa an’ mamma an’ the six childer. Eight!”
For answer Mr. Morehouse slammed the door in Flannery’s face. Flannery looked at
the door reproachfully.18
“I take ut the con-sign-y don’t want to pay for thim kebbages,” he said. “If I know signs
of refusal, the con-sign-y refuses to pay for wan dang kebbage leaf an’ be hanged to
me!”Q3
Mr. Morgan, the head of the Tariff Department, consulted the president of the
Interurban Express Company regarding guinea pigs, as to whether they were pigs or not
pigs. The president was inclined to treat the matter lightly.
“What is the rate on pigs and on pets?” he asked.
[50]“Pigs thirty cents, pets twenty-five,” said Morgan.
“Then of course guinea pigs are pigs,” said the president.
“Yes,” agreed Morgan, “I look at it that way, too. A thing that can come under two rates
is naturally due to be classed as the higher. But are guinea pigs, pigs? Aren’t they
rabbits?”
“Come to think of it,” said the president, “I believe they are more like rabbits. Sort of
half-way station between pig and rabbit. I think the question is this — are guinea pigs
of the domestic pig family? I’ll ask Professor Gordon. He is an authority on such things.
Leave the papers with me.”
The president put the papers on his desk and wrote a letter to Professor Gordon.
Unfortunately, the Professor was in South America collecting zoological specimens,
and the letter was forwarded to him by his wife. As the Professor was in the highest
Andes, where no white man had ever penetrated, the letter was many months in reaching
him. The president forgot the guinea pigs, Morgan forgot them, Mr. Morehouse forgot
them. But Flannery did not. One half of his time he gave to the duties of his agency; the

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other half was devoted to the guinea pigs. Long before Professor Gordon received the
president’s letter Morgan received one from Flannery.
[55] “About them dago pigs,” it said, “what shall I do they are great in family life, no
race suicide for them, there are thirty-two now shall I sell them do you take this express
office for a menagerie,19 answer quick.”
Morgan reached for a telegraph blank and wrote:
“Agent, Westcote. Don’t sell pigs.”
He then wrote Flannery a letter calling his attention to the fact that the pigs were not the
property of the company but were merely being held during a settlement of a dispute
regarding rates. He advised Flannery to take the best possible care of them.
Flannery, letter in hand, looked at the pigs and sighed. The dry-goods box cage had
become too small. He boarded up twenty feet of the rear of the express office to make
a large and airy home for them, and went about his business. He worked with feverish
intensity when out on his rounds, for the pigs required attention and took most of his
time. Some months later, in desperation, he seized a sheet of paper and wrote “160”
across it and mailed it to Morgan. Morgan returned it asking for explanation. Flannery
replied:
[60]“There be now one hundred sixty of them dago pigs, for heaven’s sake let me sell
off some, do you want me to go crazy, what?”
“Sell no pigs,” Morgan wired.
Not long after this the president of the express company received a letter from Professor
Gordon. It was a long and scholarly letter, but the point was that the guinea pig was the
Cavia aparoea, while the common pig was the genus Sus of the family Suidae. He
remarked that they were prolific and multiplied rapidly.
“They are not pigs,” said the president, decidedly, to Morgan. The twenty-five cent rate
applies.”Q4
Morgan made the proper notation on the papers that had accumulated in File A6754,
and turned them over to the Audit Department. The Audit Department took some time
to look the matter up, and after the usual delay wrote Flannery that as he had on hand
one hundred and sixty guinea pigs, the property of consignee, he should deliver them
and collect charges at the rate of twenty-five cents each.
[65]Flannery spent a day herding his charges through a narrow opening in their cage so
that he might count them.
“Audit Dept.,” he wrote, when he had finished the count, “you are way off there maybe
was one hundred and sixty dago pigs once, but wake up don’t be a back number. I’ve
got even eight hundred, now shall I collect for eight hundred or what, how about sixty-
four dollars I paid out for cabbages.”

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It required a great many letters back and forth before the Audit Department was able to
understand why the error had been made of billing one hundred and sixty instead of
eight hundred, and still more time for it to get the meaning of the “cabbages.”
Flannery was crowded into a few feet at the extreme front of the office. The pigs had
all the rest of the room and two boys were employed constantly attending to them. The
day after Flannery had counted the guinea pigs there were eight more added to his drove,
and by the time the Audit Department gave him authority to collect for eight hundred
Flannery had given up all attempts to attend to the receipt of the delivery of goods. He
was hastily building galleries around the express office, tier above tier. He had four
thousand and sixty-four guinea pigs to care for. More were arriving daily.
Immediately following its authorization the Audit Department sent another letter, but
Flannery was too busy to open it. They wrote another and then they telegraphed:
[70]“Error in guinea pig bill. Collect for two guinea-pigs, fifty cents. Deliver all to
consignee.”Q5
Flannery read the telegram and cheered up. He wrote out a bill as rapidly as his pencil
could travel over paper and ran all the way to the Morehouse home. 7 At the gate he
stopped suddenly. The house stared at him with vacant eyes. The windows were bare
of curtains and he could see into the empty rooms. A sign on the porch said, “To Let.”
Mr. Morehouse had moved! Flannery ran all the way back to the express office. Sixty-
nine guinea pigs had been born during his absence. He ran out again and made feverish
inquiries in the village. Mr. Morehouse had not only moved, but he had left Westcote.
Flannery returned to the express office and found that two hundred and six guinea pigs
had entered the world since he left it. He wrote a telegram to the Audit Department.Q6
“Can’t collect fifty cents for two dago pigs consignee has left town address unknown
what shall I do? Flannery.”
The telegram was handed to one of the clerks in the Audit Department, and as he read
it he laughed.
“Flannery must be crazy. He ought to know that the thing to do is to return the
consignment here,” said the clerk. He telegraphed Flannery to send the pigs to the main
office of the company at Franklin. When Flannery received the telegram he set to work.
The six boys he had engaged to help him also set to work. They worked with the haste
of desperate men, making cages out of soap boxes, cracker boxes, and all kinds of boxes,
and as fast as the cages were completed they filled them with guinea pigs and expressed
them to Franklin. Day after day the cages of guinea pigs flowed in a steady stream from
Westcote to Franklin, and still Flannery and his six helpers ripped and nailed and packed
— relentlessly20 and feverishly. At the end of the week they had shipped two hundred
and eighty cases of guinea pigs, and there were in the express office seven hundred and
four more pigs than when they began packing them.

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[75]“Stop sending pigs. Warehouse full,” came a telegram to Flannery. He stopped
packing only long enough to wire back, “Can’t stop,” and kept on sending them. On the
next train up from Franklin came one of the company’s inspectors. He had instructions
to stop the stream of guinea pigs at all hazards. As his train drew up at Wescote station
he saw a cattle-car standing on the express company’s siding. When he reached the
express office he saw the express wagon backed up to the door. Six boys were carrying
bushel baskets full of guinea pigs from the office and dumping them into the wagon.
Inside the room Flannery, with his coat and vest off, was shoveling guinea pigs into
bushel baskets with a coal scoop. He was winding up the guinea pig episode.
He looked up at the inspector with a snort of anger.
“Wan wagonload more an’ I’ll be quit of thim, an’ niver will ye catch Flannery wid no
more foreign pigs on his hands. No, sur! They near was the death o’ me. Nixt toime I’ll
know that pigs of whativer nationality is domestic pets — an’ go at the lowest rate.”
He began shoveling again rapidly, speaking quickly between breaths.
“Rules may be rules, but you can’t fool Mike Flannery twice wid the same thrick —
whin ut comes to livestock, dang the rules. So long as Flannery runs this expriss office
— pigs is pets — an’ cows is pets — an’ horses is pets — an’ lions an’ tigers an’ Rocky
Mountain goats is pets — an’ the rate on thim is twintyfoive cints.”
[80]He paused long enough to let one of the boys put an empty basket in the place of
the one he had just filled. There were only a few guinea pigs left. As he noted their
limited number his natural habit of looking on the bright side returned.
“Well, annyhow,” he said cheerfully, “‘tis not so bad as ut might be. What if thim pigs
had been elephants!”Q7
1. Ferociously (adverb): in a fierce, cruel, or violent manner
2. Artificial (adjective): insincere or fake
3. Arithmetical (adjective): of or relating to the branch of mathematics dealing with the
properties and manipulation of numbers
4. Savagely (adverb): wildly; to a severe, violent, or uncontrolled degree
5. Ignorant (adjective): lacking knowledge or general awareness
6. the nativity is a reference to the celebration of one’s birth.
7. Avenger (noun): one who seeks justice for an injury done to oneself, often inflicting
harm to the other
8. Triumphant (adjective): victorious; having won a battle or contest
9. Vituperation is bitter and abusive language.
10. Something “attached herewith” is attached directly to the letter.
11. Consignment (noun): a batch of goods destined for or delivered to someone
12. A bill of lading is a document issued by a carrier or his agent to acknowledge receipt
of a shipment.

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13. A document listing the cargo, passengers, and crew of a ship, aircraft, or vehicle,
for the use of customs and other officials.
14. Pertinent (adjective): relevant or applicable to a particular matter
15. A stenographer is a person who takes dictation or writes a letter that someone else
speaks.
16. food
17. A consignee is a person who has something delivered.
18. with disapproval
19. Menagerie (noun): a collection, often describing a collection of wild animals kept
in captivity for exhibition
20. Relentless (adjective): showing no lessening of determination, intensity, or strength

A LIFELINE FOR LIONS

In 1994, a concerning number of lions began to die in a wildlife park in Africa, known
as the Serengeti. In this informational text, Pamela S. Turner discusses the cause of the
lions' deaths and how people responded to the situation.
As you read, take notes on the actions that were taken to end the rise in lion deaths
across the Serengeti.
[1]All over the Serengeti, the lions were in trouble.
Tourists in a hot-air balloon were the first to notice. As the tourists were flying low over
the savannah,1 they spotted a big cat lying on the ground. This lion wasn’t lazing
around, as lions do when they are not hunting. It was shaking and shivering.
The tourists called the park veterinarian, Dr. Melody Roelke. She watched the lion, but
didn’t know what was wrong.
The Serengeti is a large wildlife park in Tanzania where no hunting is allowed. The
Serengeti might seem like a safe place, but wild animals face dangers other than guns.
In this case, the danger was disease.
[5]Lions began to die all over the park. “After ten days, it was clear something
extraordinary2 was going on,” says Dr. Craig Packer, a biologist at the University of
Minnesota. He has studied lions for 25 years. “We had no idea what it was, and we were
afraid we might never know.”
Usually, veterinary science focuses on the kinds of animals that are most important to
people—pets and livestock.3 Wildlife diseases are not well understood. Dr. Packer and
Dr. Roelke sent blood and tissue samples from dead lions to experts in different
countries. One expert was able to solve the mystery. The lions were dying of distemper,
a disease commonly found in pet dogs.Q1
SMALL BUT DEADLY

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Distemper is caused by a virus. (Viruses cause many diseases, including measles, polio,
and the common cold.) Sometimes an animal’s body can fight off the distemper virus.
But if it can’t, the virus invades the animal’s nervous system.4 Distemper can cause
fever, shaking, and finally death.
In 1994, just before the distemper outbreak, there were an estimated three thousand
lions in the Serengeti. “Over ninety percent of the Serengeti’s lions were infected,” says
Dr. Packer. “About one thousand lions died.” Many other animals also died — leopards,
hyenas, wild dogs, and bat-eared foxes.
[10]How could a wild lion or leopard catch a disease from a pet? Serengeti National
Park is huge — larger than the state of Connecticut — but there are farms and villages
all around it. In those villages and on those farms are about thirty thousand dogs.
The disease is spread like a cold from dogs to wildlife. “We think hyenas are the key,”
says Dr. Packer. If a hyena looks for food in a village garbage dump, it may come into
contact with an infected dog. Then the hyena may take distemper back into the park.
“Hyenas move over large distances and hang out around lions’ kills,” Dr. Packer says.
From the hyenas, the distemper probably spread to lions and other animals.Q2
LION LOVERS RESPOND
When people heard about the sick and dying lions, offers of help poured in from all over
the world. Major funding came from the World Society for the Protection of Animals
and several companies.
“We began vaccinating dogs around the Serengeti against distemper,” says Dr. Packer.
“That was the beginning of Project Lifelion.” Why vaccinate dogs instead of the lions
themselves? “It is a lot easier to catch and vaccinate thirty thousand dogs than three
thousand lions,” explains Dr. Packer. “Many lions are very shy, and live in
remote5 areas. And vaccinating lions would do nothing for the other animals at risk —
hyenas, leopards, wild dogs, and foxes.”
HEALTHIER PETS
[15]Project Lifelion has been vaccinating dogs around the Serengeti since 1995. Before
Project Lifelion, the Tanzanian Veterinary Service took care of cattle, goats, and sheep,
but not pets. With funding from Project Lifelion, the veterinarians now offer free
distemper shots for dogs. They also give rabies6 vaccinations. Although people can’t
catch distemper from dogs, they can get rabies.
“Local people are happy with the program,” says Dr. Packer. “We’re saying, ‘If you
have a dog, let’s make it a healthy dog.’ We tell them it is for the lions, and that is OK,
too. They know lions bring tourists, and tourism brings jobs.”Q3
A CIRCLE OF PROTECTION

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Project Lifelion aims to encircle the Serengeti with a ring of vaccinated dogs. This
should prevent any future distemper outbreaks. New dogs are born or move into the
area every year, so Project Lifelion will need to continue as long as lions roam the
Serengeti.
The lions are now doing well — very well. Only three years after the terrible distemper
outbreak of 1994, the lion population had rebounded7 to three thousand. Today, there
are about four thousand lions. “There seem to be more lions than ever,” says Dr. Packer.
“The Serengeti is still a rich and robust8 place.” Q4
1. a grassy land, usually in Africa
2. Extraordinary (adjective): very unusual
3. farm animals
4. the system of nerves in your body that sends messages for controlling movement and
feeling between the brain and other parts of the body
5. Remote (adjective): far away from other people, houses, cities
6. a disease that causes abnormal behavior and death in humans when untreated
7. Rebound (verb): to recover from a setback
8. Robust (adjective): strong and healthy

EXPLAINER: ANIMALS' ROLE IN HUMAN DISEASE

While we may not readily think of our pets or farm animals as being dangerous,
animals play a significant role in human disease. In this informational text, Amanda
Leigh Mascarelli discusses how humans are impacted by animals infected with a virus
or bacteria.
As you read, take notes on how scientists prevent viruses from spreading further
after an outbreak is identified.
[1]Nearly 75 percent of new, or emerging, infectious diseases in people were first spread
by animals. Indeed, half of all germs known to cause human disease come from other
animals. Some sources were birds, bats, and other types of wildlife. Livestock1 and pet
animals have spread many other diseases. Scientists refer to the infections that people
pick up from animals as being zoonotic (ZOO-oh-NOT-ik).
The germs and other infectious agents that cause these diseases are known as pathogens.
Most are microbes2 such as viruses or bacteria; others include fungi — even teeny-tiny
worms and ticks.
In zoonotic diseases, animals serve as a pathogen’s host.3 Over time, some long-term
hosts no longer become sickened. When a virus commonly lives inside an animal
without harming it, that host is now called a reservoir. For instance, birds — especially
ducks — have evolved into a natural reservoir for flu viruses.Q1

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Pathogens move among hosts continuously, explains Jonathan Epstein. A veterinary
epidemiologist, he’s a scientist who studies the spread of disease in animals. (He works
at EcoHealth Alliance in New York City.) Many pathogens will encounter a human
host. If that person’s immune system had never yet encountered the microbe, it will
have built up no immunity to fight the germ. That lucky pathogen can now survive and
spread to others.
[5]Understanding how pathogens spread between species can help scientists not only
combat current disease outbreaks, but also prevent or lessen future ones.
For instance, Epstein specializes in viruses whose reservoir is bats. He has been on the
trail of numerous viruses that have spilled over into people from these mammals.
Among them: Nipah.
This viral disease started in Southeast Asia during the late 1990s. Workers at a massive
pig farm began noticing troubling symptoms. Their pigs came down with a loud,
barking cough and behaved strangely. They twitched and developed muscle
spasms.4 Some pigs died. Tragically, farm workers also started getting sick. In severe
cases, people entered a coma and died.Q2
No virus can survive long outside a living organism. So Epstein teamed up with other
experts to hunt the reservoir animal that had allowed Nipah to enter pigs.
It turned out to be a bat species. It normally stays away from people, living in the nearby
rainforest. But when farmers planted an orchard of mango trees close to their pigpens,
bats came by to dine on the juicy fruit. Those bats shed germy saliva, urine, and feces
onto the pigpens below them.
[10]From 1998 to 1999, Nipah sickened more than 250 people. More than four out of
every 10 of these people died. One million pigs were killed and disposed of to stop the
disease’s spread.
It is important not to blame wildlife for diseases, says Kristine Smith, a wildlife
veterinarian who works for EcoHealth Alliance. Instead, she argues, people must
become aware of the risks of being in close proximity5 to animals and adjust their
behavior accordingly.Q3
1. farm animals
2. Microbes, also known as microorganisms, are too small to be seen by the unaided
eye.
3. a plant or animal on or in which another organism lives
4. a sudden and uncontrollable muscle movement
5. nearness in space to something

DRYING OUT

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An American author and librarian, Cynthia Rylant has written more than 100 children's
books. Rylant's childhood experiences in rural West Virginia have influenced her
writing, and her stories often focus on themes of friendship, grief, and love. "Drying
Out" is included in a collection of Rylant's short stories called Every Living Thing. Each
story highlights a moment in a person's life when an animal causes them to see things
in a new way.
As you read, keep track of the successes and failures that Jack experiences.
[1]Jack Mitchell had fought in a war, run a gas station, preached the gospel on the side
and raised two boys. Then his wife left him because she said she wanted to find herself.
She went to live on a college campus and told him not to bother her anymore.
Jack no longer had a war, a gas station, the gospel, the boys or now even a wife.
He started drinking, spending all his money on whiskey. He'd load up in a bar, then pass
out somewhere on the way home. In the morning he'd find himself huddled behind some
bushes next to the library or stretched out on the porch of a church. In stinking clothes,
he'd drag home, full of shame.
Jack would then clean himself up, go to church the next Sunday and swear he'd never
take another drink.
[5]But in a week or two, he'd do it all again.
One night Jack was arrested. A policeman found him lying in a sandbox in the park.
Jack had to pay a fine and was ordered by the judge to go to the Veterans Hospital 1 to
“dry out.” Q1
Jack checked himself in the next week.
The Veterans Hospital was on the edge of town, surrounded by green lawns and
bordering a forest. The yellow brick building was old, and inside, on its walls, were
framed mementos of all the wars that had made its patients veterans: pictures of generals
and troops, plaques remembering someone who has died, framed newspaper articles
describing victory in battle, American flags. It was a hospital filled mostly with men;
and these men had been lucky enough to survive their wars, but not lucky enough to
leave them behind. Many of the patients had missing arms or legs; many suffered with
diseases they had caught as young soldiers in foreign countries. And many, like Jack,
suffered because they could not stop drinking.
Jack knew when he checked in that he would not be leaving the hospital for weeks. He
would stay until the doctors were satisfied he wouldn't drink anymore. More than
anything, it was giving up his freedom that he hated. Giving up the whiskey would be
hard — but feeling trapped inside the hospital meant pure misery.
[10]When the squirrels came, Jack had been in the hospital about a week and was having
an awful time of it. He wanted some whiskey so bad he thought he might go crazy with
longing for it. He missed his house and his street and the dark, noisy bars that made him

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feel safe. He hated himself, hated the other patients, hated the doctors and, especially,
hated the hospital ward where he slept. His bed was one of a row of beds filled with
men just like him — drunks. He hated his thin, narrow bed, the whole row of thin,
narrow beds, and inside his mind he screamed, “Out! Out! Get me out!”
At the end of that first week, Jack awoke at dawn. The other men around him lay snoring
and sighing in their sleep, and only Jack lay awake. He looked out at the smoky blue
morning light and decided he had to escape. He would escape. What could they do to
him? Throw him in jail? So what. He felt like a prisoner, anyway.
Jack lay in his bed, watching the morning come, and thought about the things he had
lost in his life. Too much, he thought. Too much.Q2
Then, as he stared at the window in sadness, he saw something move, just at the edge
of the sill.
He sat up quickly. Some kind of animal. A cat? He reached for his glasses and his pants.
[15]Jack tiptoed over to the window and looked out to the far edge of the sill. Not a cat
— it was a squirrel. A black squirrel. The animal sat on its haunches 2 and looked right
back at him.
Jack leaned against the radiator. barely breathing. Then, while he and the squirrel looked
each other over, two more black squirrels jumped from a nearby tree onto the sill. All
three animals sat up on their haunches and looked at Jack through the window.
“Well,” Jack whispered. “Well.”
The staring among them went on for several minutes, until Jack's legs got tired and he
went back to bed. He fell asleep and when he woke, the three squirrels were gone.
He felt better, though, and decided to stick it out in the hospital another day. So he
talked to the doctors, cried some, ate terrible meatloaf for dinner and in the evening
went to bed early, expecting to get up the next morning and just walk out of the place.
[20]He woke up at dawn again. As soon as his eyes opened, he couldn't help looking
over at the window before he pulled on his pants and packed his few things.
All three squirrels again sat on the sill. One had a nut and was gnawing at it furiously,
while the other two sniffed around the windowpane.
Jack put on his glasses and tiptoed over.
“Well,” he said.
The squirrels raised up on their haunches when he stood at the window, intently
watching him. At first Jack couldn't figure what to do. Then he decided to feed them.
[25]He opened the drawer of his bedside table and pulled out a couple of packs of
Saltines.3 When he slid open the window, the squirrels didn't run away, and when he
held out the crackers, each squirrel grabbed one and sat back to enjoy a free breakfast.
Jack chuckled to himself.

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That day, too, he changed his mind about leaving the hospital. He was a little friendlier
to the doctors, and he played a game of cards with another man, a Korean War veteran
(Jack's war was World War II). He also hid some corn cobs from dinner inside his
pillowcase.Q3
Jack woke up the next morning and fed the squirrels. They hopped right up to him and
reached for the cobs. Two of them ate the food, but the third jumped down into the yard
and buried his.
You'll never find it again, Jack silently told the squirrel. Boy, are you going to look
foolish. He grinned and went back to bed.
[30]Day after day Jack fed those squirrels. One morning the smallest of the three had a
bloody scrape on its back and Jack fed it an extra cracker, then worried about it all day.
Jack grew stronger with each new morning. After about two weeks, he gave up
altogether his plans for escaping. He wanted to stay. His body didn't torture him for
whiskey, he was growing to like the doctors, a few of the men had become important
friends to him (he found he enjoyed talking with them far better than he had with his
wife) and, most important, he had three squirrels to greet every morning. Q4
By the fifth week, Jack had gained weight, made plans for a camping trip with another
man and was finally not as afraid of his life as before. The doctors said he could leave.
Jack wanted to be home again, to move around in his own small kitchen and fix a few
things in the garage. He wanted to leave. But he wondered about his squirrels.
He moved out of the hospital, back home, and for the next four days woke up at dawn
and thought about the squirrels. Then on the fifth day, an idea struck him.
[35]Jack was at the hospital the next morning, before sunrise. He walked through the
grass around to the wing of the building where his ward had been. All the windows
looked alike to him, especially in the half-light, but when he saw three black shapes
moving around outside one of them, he knew he was in the right place.
“Hey!” Jack called softly, standing below the window. “Hey! I'm outside now!”
The squirrels stopped moving and sat, listening sharply. Then one of them jumped off
the sill into a tree.
“Hey!” Jack called again. He opened the bag he was carrying and pulled out a long rope
of peanuts. He shook it at them.
“Look what's for breakfast,” he said.
[40]The peanuts that Jack had strung together like popcorn clicked in the silent yard,
and the squirrels came after them.
Jack draped the rope over a few tree branches and watched, grinning, as the squirrels
picked off the nuts.
“Thanks,” he whispered. “Next week, sunflower seeds.”Q5

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1. a service in the United States that provides healthcare to people who have served in
the military
2. Haunch (noun): the upper part of a person’s or animal’s leg
3. a thin, crisp cracker sprinkled with salt

SAN MARTÍN IN THE MIST

This story was told to Laura Resau by her friend Doña Epifania García Diaz, a Mazatec
Wise One who lives in rural Oaxaca, Mexico. In this story, a young girl named Alita
wants to become a Wise One.
As you read, take notes on how hoja del sueño is important to the story.
[1]Muddy paths curve over the mountainsides of my village, as though long ribbons
fell from the sky and settled there. Grandfather and I walk along them every day,
winding between fruit trees and coffee bushes and mushrooms as we gather healing
herbs. We pick oranges and guavas along the way, too, and our hands and faces grow
sticky with sweet juice.
“Here it is!” I call out, tossing my braid over my shoulder. I slip down the path to the
patch of hoja del sueño, the sleeping herb, hidden in green shade near the river. This
secret grove is the only place it grows.
Grandfather walks behind me, never rushing. As he picks bunches of shiny star-shaped
leaves, he thanks them. He says that every herb has a spirit behind it. Grandfather knows
all about herbs, because he is a Wise One, a healer.
He seems impressed at how fast I found the hoja del sueño. Now, I think, is the time to
ask him, now that I am twelve years old and nearly grown up. “Grandfather — “ I take
a deep breath. “Do you think I’ll ever be a Wise One?”
[5]“Perhaps, Alita.” He smiled under the rim of his hat. “If you have the calling.”
“How will I know?”
He looks at me closely. His eyes shine like river stones. “You will know. When your
help is needed, you will know.”
I wonder: if my help is needed, will I be ready? Me, a girl who fears so many things —
the dark, snakes, ghosts, dogs. Will I ever be a Wise One?Q1
On the way back, when our basket is overflowing with fragrant herbs, we pass through
the town center. It is a patch of mud surrounded by a cluster of one-room buildings —
the church, the town hall, and a few houses — all made of crumbling adobe. Usually
only a few people gather here, chatting as their paths cross. But now, even though it’s
cold and drizzling, a crowd is standing in front of the town hall. Three strangers stand
on the steps. They wear fancy black pants and narrow shoes that cover their whole feet.
They are shaking the mayor’s hand — a greedy hand, smooth from lack of work.
Grandfather once said that the hands of the mayor take much more than they give.

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[10]Word ripples through the crowd. “The mayor will make an announcement!”
The mayor raises his hands to quiet the chattering and says, “Ladies and gentlemen, I
have news! A great dam will be built on our river. It will bring jobs and electricity to
the humble villages of our valley. In only two years this magnificent dam will be
completed. And then, ladies and gentlemen, we will begin the second half of the
twentieth century with the modern luxuries we have dreamed of!”
People grow even more excited, talking in high, fast voices. Oh, it is so easy to believe
these cheerful promises. Yet surely their hearts must be warning them.
Grandfather asks, “If you stop the water from flowing, Hugo, where will it go?”
Grandfather doesn’t call him Mayor, just Hugo, because he is a man like any other.
The mayor doesn’t meet Grandfather’s eyes. He looks at his feet and then at the
mountaintop. “Well, the river will rise.” He clears his throat. “The families near the
river might have to move. But the splendid dam will be worth it.”
[15]Silence. The mayor makes the hair on my arms stand on end. I slip my hand into
Grandfather’s.
“How high will the river rise?” Grandfather asks.
The mayor looks annoyed, as though Grandfather were a fly he’d like to swat. “To just
below the town center.”
“Hundred of people live there,” Grandfather says.
Suddenly everyone is asking angry questions. “How long will the jobs last, anyway?
And how do we know we’ll get any of this electricity?”
[20]Again, Grandfather speaks, and even though his voice is frail, people listen. “This
valley doesn’t not belong to us. What will San Martín, its true owner, say?”
San Martín is the spirit-lord of the mountain. He lives in an underground palace, bigger
than a cathedral, painted gold and silver, with floors of polished green stone. At the
entrance to his cave, people leave white candles burning on an altar so San Martín will
protect their families. Grandfather and I go there often to thank him for sharing his
forest’s herbs. A framed picture of him hangs in our house. He sits on a handsome horse
and he wears an elegant blue cape, red pants, a golden shirt. His skin is pale and smooth
as milk, his hair white like yellow corn.
Once, when I asked if San Martín was good or bad, Grandfather said, “He is like a storm
that gives water to the plants but also makes lightning. He helps those who respect his
land. But he is fierce as thunder to those who do not.”
Grandfather’s bold questions to the mayor are making my heart swell with pride. When
Grandfather talks, people begin to remember the mayor’s other false promises. Before
he was elected, he promised to raise funds to build a school. His first week as mayor,
he convinced people to give him the power to make business deals. “Money to pay for
our dear children’s education!” he said as people applauded. A week later, he sold part

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of our sacred woods to a logging company. It was the special part where the forest spirits
lived, where no human should enter. Now it is a stump-filled clearing. And worse, after
the logging deal, the mayor built new houses for himself and his friends. But never a
school.
So even though we all want light bulbs and radios, no one trusts the mayor. And no one
wants houses destroyed, fields drowned, trees dead. One old woman yells at the
strangers, “Go somewhere else with your dam!”
[25]But it is too late. The mayor has already signed the papers. “The dam will be built,”
he says. And with his words, a cold wind rises from the valley and chills us to the
bone.Q2
That night, I’m drifting to sleep on my petate1 under a musty wool blanket when I see
water rising. Deep green, angry water. I open my eyes, but still I see the stream raging
against a giant wall of concrete and stone. I see our land drowned. I see old people dying
of sadness. I see San Martín’s cave and the patch of hoja del sueño underwater.
Night after night, these visions leave me shivering and empty.
The next week, trucks carry gravel and stones and tools to our village. The tires make
deep ruts in the mud that look like footprints of a strange, dangerous animal. Men from
our valley have refused to work on the project, so the company has hired laborers2 from
the outside.
One night, in a waking dream, I see the shape of a man on a horse. The way he sits,
straight and proud, makes me feel brave. I slip out from under the wool blanket and
stand up. Grandfather’s words come back to me. When your help is needed, you will
know.
[30]Usually I never go outside at night, not even to visit the outhouse. There could be
dogs or snakes in the darkness. I take a deep breath. Barefoot, I tiptoe across the cool
dirt floor, put on my sandals, and throw on my shawl. Outside, tiny droplets of water
hang in the night air. Crossing our small courtyard, I stop by the kitchen to grab a basket
of day-old tortillas. Then I head down the muddy path toward the river.
The mist traps the moon’s fuzzy light. I can see the steps in front of me, but not much
farther. I pray that no ghosts will leap out at me, that no snakes will slither overy my
feet. When dogs start to growl as I pass their yards, my heart races. They run toward
me, their white teeth slashing through the fog. With shaky hands, I toss them a few
tortillas. After gulping the food, they wag their tails and lick my palms, suddenly gentle.
I breathe a small sigh of relief and walk on, clutching my basket. Down by the river, the
mist is thick as smoke. I can barely see the stones piled everywhere. Some of the stones
are as small as my fingernail; others are bigger than I am.
How will I even make a dent in this? I am too small for such a giant task. I sit down at
the river’s edge and feel tears slide down my cheeks. Pools of light dance over the dark

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water lapping at the shore. Crickets chirp, their music muffled in the heavy fog.
Somewhere, night-blooming trees give off a secret scent. All of this will disappear if
the dam is built. It is this thought that gives me the strength to lift the first stone.
I carry it to a hiding place — San Martín’s cave. The cavern reaches back, into damp,
dark chambers where people never go. I take two candles, still burning, from the altar
and move deeper into the cave. What will I do if San Martín appears, angry at me for
walking into his home, for taking his candles? Will he punish me with his lightning and
thunder?
[35]I try to let my fears drift away like the candle smoke, but my own shadow on the
cave wall makes me jump. In a deep chamber, I lay the stone down and then head back
outside, down the path. I move stone after stone, basket after basket of gravel. Little by
little I move them, until my hands are raw and bleeding. Again and again I make my
way up the trail, sliding on the slick mud, toward the cave.
Suddenly, something emerges from the whiteness. It is the figure of a man on horseback,
sitting tall, a cape settled over his shoulders.
I drop the rock. I turn and run, slipping and falling down the path. When I look back, I
can barely make out his figure through the mist. He is standing beside the horse,
strapping the rock to its back. He leads the horse away.
My heart is pounding, my whole body trembling, but my curiosity is stronger than my
fear. I follow him up the path. He brings the rock into the cave and reappears moments
later.
The rest of the night, San Martín and I hide stones and gravel and tools in the cave.
Even though we don’t speak, his company gives me strength, and by the time I leave, a
little before dawn, we have hidden a surprising number of supplies.Q3
[40]When the workers report the missing materials the next day, the mayor and his
friends grow red-faced and furious. They search all the houses in the village and find
nothing. People are buzzing about it all day. “San Martín is saving our land!” they say.
That afternoon, the mayor announces he will hire a man to guard the supplies at night.
But every man refuses, fearing the wrath of San Martín. For days, the mayor and his
friends search nearby villages for someone willing to stand guard.
Meanwhile, every night, San Martín and I work together in silence. Every night a lacy
veil settles in the valley, holding just enough light to let me see San Martín’s form, but
never his face. Every day, exhausted, I snore over the metate,3 drift off in the chicken
hut, and nap in the cornfield. Grandfather gives me odd looks but says nothing.
After three days, the mayor has still found no one to stand guard, so he and his friends
decide to do it themselves. The mayor takes the first night.
With a nervous feeling in my belly and a bag of dried hoja del sueño in my basket, I
walk down the muddy path in the dense fog. I hear the mayor whistling through his

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teeth. I smell wood smoke and, then, fresh coffee. Finally I see him, sitting on a log by
the water, a long rifle across his lap. By his feet, a pot of coffee simmers on hot ashes,
and on the log at his side sits a dented tin cup, steaming.
[45]I crawl up behind him, slow as a slug. Luckily, he is still whistling, and the crickets
are chirping, and the river is murmuring. He doesn’t hear the rustle of my feet on the
wet leaves. I sprinkle the herb into his coffee and stir it with a stick. Then I back away
and crouch behind a tree, waiting. He takes a sip of the coffee. And another. And
another. Soon his whistling fades into gentle snoring.
I carry the first load of stones to the cave. When I return for the next load, San Martín
is behind me. Together, we work all night, like old friends, until shortly before dawn.
Every night, for a week, we work. Night after night, another of the mayor’s friends falls
asleep with my hoja del sueño. All seven of them. None of them is brave enough to
stand guard a second night.
One week later, the mayor announces, “The dam will not be built in our valley. The
investors4 decided to go elsewhere.” The mayor looks humble now, his shoulders
hunched over in defeat.
After his announcement, people stream to the altar of San Martín, to offer candles and
thanks.Q4
[50]The next day, Grandfather and I are gathering herbs by the stream. Raindrops run
off the tips of tree leaves, off the point of my nose, off the rim of Grandfather’s hat. The
paths under our feet are part of us, like the lines criss-crossing our palms. We stop to
leave a candle at San Martín’s cave. The altar is lit up, brilliant orange with so many
tiny flames. There is barely room for ours. “Thank you,” I whisper.
We head back down the path. From behind us comes the faint sound of hoof-beats. I
turn and see San Martín, sitting on his horse just outside the cave. I smile and hold up
my hand.
Grandfather looks at me, surprised. “So, Alita, you know San Martín, do you?”
I nod and bite my lip. Does he know I helped San Martín hide the materials? Will he be
angry?
But he just pats my shoulder and says, “Not many people can see him, Alita. Only the
Wise Ones.” He tips his hat to San Martín, who waves back and then disappears into
the mist.Q5
1. A petate (pay-tah-tay) is a woven palm mat.
2. Laborer (noun): a worker
3. Metate (may-tah-tay) is a flat stone used to grind meal for tortillas.
4. one who puts money into a project, hoping to profit in the future

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A KENYAN TEEN'S DISCOVERY: LET THERE BE LIGHTS TO SAVE
LIONS
Kenya is a country in East Africa with a population of around 45 million people.
The capital city, Nairobi, is well-known for its National Park: the world's only game
reserve found within a major city. The park's large wildlife population includes
baboons, rhinos, gazelles, zebras, cheetahs, and many other species. Though many
efforts have been made to protect lions in the area, when lions kill off local livestock,
some residents respond by killing the big cats.
As you read, take notes on how Turere describes the process that led to his
innovation.
[1]One of the talks from the TED1 stage in Long Beach, Calif., this week came from
Richard Turere, an inventor. He is a Maasai2 from Kenya. And he’s 13.
“From ages 6 to 9, I started looking after my father’s cows,” Richard says. “I’d take
them out in the morning and bring them back in the evening. We put them in a small
cow shed at night,” and that’s when the trouble would start. Lions would jump in the
shed and kill the cows, which are enclosed and an easy target.
Lions are the top tourist attraction to Kenya, especially in the Nairobi National Park,
which is near where Richard lives. Lions are also considered critically3 endangered in
Kenya.
The Kenya Wildlife Service estimates there are just 2,000 lions left in the country. One
of the main causes of their demise, “is that people kill them in retaliation4 for lions
attacking their livestock,” says Paula Kahumbu, executive director of Wildlife Direct,
a wildlife conservation organization in Africa.
[5]She has been studying the conflict between humans and lions, and her work led her
to Richard. In one week, she monitored5 over 50 cases where lions attacked livestock.
“It’s a very, very serious problem,” she says.Q1
Her work studying the problem led her to Richard.
One night he was walking around with a flashlight and discovered the lions were scared
of a moving light. A light went on inside him and an idea was born.
Three weeks and much tinkering later, Richard had invented a system of lights that flash
around the cow shed, mimicking6 a human walking around with a flashlight. His system
is made from broken flashlight parts and an indicator box from a motorcycle.
“The only thing I bought was a solar panel,”7 which charges a battery that supplies
power to the lights at night, Richard says. He calls the system Lion Lights.Q2
[10]“There have been a lot of efforts to try to protect the lions,” Kahumbu says. “It’s a
crisis and everyone is looking for a solution. One idea was land leases, another was
lion-proof fences. And basically no one even knew that Richard had already come up
with something that worked.”

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His simple solution was so successful, his neighbors heard about it and wanted Lion
Lights, too. He installed the lights for them and for six other homes in his community.
From there, the lights spread and are now being used all around Kenya. Someone in
India is trying them out for tigers. In Zambia and Tanzania they’re being used, as well.
To get to the TED stage, Richard traveled on an airplane for the first time in his life. He
says he has a lot to tell his friends about when he goes back home, and among the
scholars and prize winners, scientists and poets, what impressed him the most on his
trip was something he saw at the nearby Aquarium of the Pacific: “It was my first time
seeing a shark. I’ve never seen a shark.”Q3
1. TED is a non-profit organization devoted to spreading ideas, often through their short
and highly influential “talks,” referred to as “TED talks.” TED stands for Technology,
Entertainment, and Design; the organization began as a conference that covered those
topics.
2. The Maasai are an ethnic group inhabiting southern Kenya and northern Tanzania.
3. Critical (adjective): demanding serious attention
4. Retaliation (noun): an act of revenge
5. Monitor (verb): to watch, observe, or check something over a period of time
6. Mimic (verb): to imitate or appear similar to something else
7. A solar panel absorbs energy from the sun and generates electricity or heat.

MANIFEST DESTINY, I DO BELIEVE

In this letter, Cordelia writes to her friend about her plans to become a pioneer, a
common ambition during the "Manifest Destiny" era of western settlement in the 19th
century.
As you read, note how Cordelia mentions God and God's influence on her plans
and actions.
[1]Dear Emily,
This is farewell, dear friend. My family and I set out tomorrow. Out past the horizon to
see what waits for us in the west. Will there be gold? Will there be trouble? Will there
be some place we can call home? Truly, I am terrified. But I know it is the will of
President Polk1 and of God for us to spread as far as we can. So, we will follow that
setting sun to our destiny.
We are going into territory that no one has gone before. I don’t just mean the well you
and I explored when we were young, dear Emily. No white people have set foot on the
path we’re about to take. A pioneer, after all, is someone who explores a country for the
very first time. Yes, those Indians were here first, but we do not think of them as
Christians. Not yet, anyway.Q1

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Some people try and kill every Indian they see. But you know me. I am a woman of
God. They have blood flowing through their veins just like any other person. That blood
can be blessed. I’m a missionary, and it is my goal to bring anyone I can into the light
of Christianity. I’ve seen the Indians with their wives and their children. They seem like
they can be good people. They are good hunters, for sure, better than my husband even,
but don’t tell him I said. I know in my heart that these Indians deserve God’s
forgiveness, like the rest of us.
[5]What makes me so daring to go out into the dark, you ask? I know that I will have
God’s help. Manifest Destiny says that God has chosen us to take over this country, all
the way to the coast. This means we are meant to overcome everything that gets in our
way, be that wars or bad terrain2 or Indians. Nothing will stand in the way of the
pioneers3 settling this great new land of ours. At least, I hope not.Q2
It’s dark out there. There are no maps showing us where to go. Dangers could wait
around every corner. But as the pioneers bravely march into these new mysterious
places, we carry with us a light. We carry the light of civilization, man’s most advanced
state of society. The wild land will become fields of crops. The Indians will become
Christian. The darkness will become light ... at least in our eyes.
Please keep me in your prayers as my husband, Sarah, and I set out into the darkness. I
have faith in Manifest Destiny, that the pioneers were meant to bring the light of
civilization to this land. As missionaries, my husband and I will bring the word of God
to the Indians, if they will have us. Really, Emily, I would have no confidence in myself
were it not for God’s guiding hand. I know that this is his goal to bring the pioneers to
the far sea. But to tell you the truth, I am afraid.
I’ll write you often and let you know if God’s work is unfolding.
Love,
[10]CordeliaQ3
1. James K. Polk was the 11th president of the United States from 1845 to 1849.
2. Terrain (noun): land of a particular kind (such as mountains or woods)
3. Pioneer (noun): someone who is one of the first people to do something, such as
move to and live in a new area
CLUES TO ANCIENT LIFE
Fossils are the remains or impressions of organisms from long ago. In this informational
text, Rona Arato discusses how different types of fossils are formed and why it's
important to study them.
As you read, take notes on the different types of fossils, how they’re formed, and
why they are important.

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 [1]Fossils provide a record of life on Earth. Fossils reveal evidence of ancient life that
is preserved in sediment or sedimentary rock. Fossils range from tiny plants and animals
to the bones of enormous dinosaurs.
WHY STUDY FOSSILS?
Scientists learn about past life on Earth and how Earth has changed over millions of
years from fossils. Fossils tell what animals and plants lived and died out at different
times. By examining fossils and the rocks they are found in, scientists understand the
effects that events such as mass extinctions,1 meteorite2 impacts, and climate change
have on Earth’s history. Fossils provide a valuable look into our past, but they do not
tell the whole story. Many plants and animals did not become fossils. Q1
BODY FOSSILS
Body fossils are the whole body or parts of the body of a plant or animal. To become a
body fossil, some part of the organism must not decay or rot. Skin and internal organs
rot, but bones do not. Plant material rots, so plants occur only as imprint fossils. Most
body fossils are found buried in sediment, or layers of rock and soil. In rare cases,
extreme cold freezes an organism, similar to the way a freezer preserves food. In very
dry conditions, such as deserts, a dead animal loses its moisture and shrivels up.
TRACE FOSSILS
Trace fossils are markings left behind by an organism such as footprints, trails, burrows,
and nests. Scientists learn about the movement and behavior of animals from trace
fossils. Coprolites are fossilized animal waste. Paleontologists3 learn what an animal
ate from its coprolite. Q2
SEA FOSSILS
[5]Over 2,000 years ago, Greek scientists found fossils of sea life in the Pindus
Mountain range, in Greece. They said the fossils proved that the mountains had at one
time been under the sea. Most people refused to believe them. Today, scientists know
that oceans at one time covered most of Earth then receded,4 leaving behind dry land.
Life began in the sea and has existed about eight times longer than life on land. Many
more sea animals than land animals have been preserved.
HOW FOSSILS FORM
Earth’s crust is made up of different types of rock. Fossils are found in rock. There are
three forms of rock: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. Rocks are made up of
different kinds of minerals. Minerals are solid, non-living substances made of elements.
SEDIMENTARY ROCK
Most fossils are found in sedimentary rock. The word sediment means “something that
settles.” Sedimentary rocks are a mixture of dust, sand, mud, shells, corals, and other
materials that settle underwater or on land, and compress under pressure. Sedimentary
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rock forms in layers called strata, with the oldest layer under the newer layers. When a
plant or animal dies, it is covered by layers of sediment and preserved as a fossil. Many
sedimentary rocks are fossil-rich, while others contain no fossils.
MAKING FOSSILS
Few of the billions of organisms that have lived on Earth became fossils. For
fossilization to occur, an organism must contain hard parts, such as a skeleton or a shell.
It has to be buried deeply right after it dies, before it decays from exposure to air, water,
or bacteria.
IGNEOUS ROCK
Some igneous rocks form when magma5 rises to the surface through cracks or
volcanoes, and cools. Other igneous rocks form when magma crystallizes within Earth’s
crust. The word igneous means “fiery.” Igneous rock does not contain fossils because
the lava is so hot it burns any animals and plants it touches.
METAMORPHIC ROCK
[10]Metamorphic rocks are rocks that are changed by heat and pressure. The word
metamorphic means “change.” Most metamorphic rocks are fossil-free because the
pressures that changed them destroyed all evidence of fossils. Some rocks, such as slate,
may contain traced of fossils, although their shapes are very different than when they
were alive. Q3
1. Extinction (noun): the state or process of an entire species dying out
2. a mass of stone or metal that has reached the earth from outer space
3. a scientist who studies fossils
4. Recede (verb): to move back or further away from a previous position
5. hot fluid or semifluid material below or within the earth’s crust

ANY MORE EARTHS OUT THERE?

Vicki Oransky Wittenstein has written for Highlights. In this article, Wittenstein
explores how astronomers find new planets that orbit stars beyond our Sun. David
Charbonneau is one of the astronomers who has contributed to projects that have
identified planets outside of our solar system.
As you read, take notes on how astronomers find new planets outside of our solar
system.
[1]When he was a boy in Ontario, Canada, David Charbonneau didn’t know that he
would grow up to discover new planets. Back then, he was fascinated1 with the stars.
He liked to find the constellations2 in the night sky. In high school, he read a book for
adults about the universe. “I didn’t understand most of it, but it excited my interest in
space,” he says.

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Now he hunts for planets that orbit stars beyond our Sun. They are called extrasolar
planets. More than 600 of these planets have been found so far. Most of them are giants
like Jupiter and Saturn. Dr. Charbonneau is searching for smaller, rocky planets with
the conditions for life: planets like Earth.Q1
STARS THAT WOBBLE
From Earth, no one can see an extrasolar planet, even while using the most powerful
telescopes. Astronomers had to figure out how to find them.
In 1995, Dr. Geoffrey Marcy and Dr. Paul Butler developed the first technique, the
wobble method. They knew that the Sun is a star. The pull of the Sun’s gravity3 keeps
Earth and the other planets in their orbits. The gravity of each planet also pulls on the
Sun, making the Sun wobble a little.
[5]Dr. Marcy and Dr. Butler reasoned that any star that had planets would also wobble.
After a long search, they found some stars that wobble and declared that they had found
new planets. But some astronomers thought the two scientists were wrong... that they
had not really found planets.
David Charbonneau helped show that Dr. Marcy and Dr. Butler were right. In 1999, he
and Dr. Robert Noyes found a way to tell if wobbling stars really have planets. If a star
had a planet, then the planet might cross in front of, or transit,4 the star. Then the planet
would cast a shadow, blocking some of the star’s light. The star would become dimmer.
In a parking lot in Boulder, Colorado, David Charbonneau and Dr. Timothy Brown set
up a small telescope. They watched wobbling stars. One night, they saw star HD 209458
become dimmer. The star had a planet! They had confirmed the wobble method of
planet hunting. Since then, scientists have found 80 transiting planets.Q2
TELESCOPES AROUND THE WORLD
David Charbonneau is now Dr. Charbonneau, an astronomer at Harvard University in
Massachusetts. He uses many telescopes around the world. “I can sit here and run
telescopes in Arizona or in California and not even have a joystick,”5 he says. “I am
sleeping while the telescopes are run by a computer program.”
Dr. Charbonneau is also on the team that runs NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope. Kepler
orbits Earth, watching for the dimming of stars. Kepler has found more than 2,300
shadows moving across stars. So far, other astronomers have confirmed that 61 of those
shadows are indeed planets.
[10]Among those 61 new planets, the Kepler team has found three Earth-like planets
orbiting stars much like our Sun. The first is a large planet, known as a super Earth. The
other two are about the size of Earth.Q3
All life as we know it needs water in its liquid form. So for a planet to have life, it may
have to be just the right distance from its star. If the planet is too close, it will be too hot
for liquid water. If the planet is too far away, then it will be too cold. Like the porridge
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in “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” the planet needs a temperature that’s “just right.”
Astronomers call this perfect distance the “Goldilocks Zone.”
The newly found super Earth lies in the Goldilocks Zone, but the two Earth-sized
planets are too close to their star.
BREATH OF LIFE?
Dr. Charbonneau is also taking the next step: he is analyzing the air on transiting planets.
“We came up with a trick,” he explains. “As the planet passes in front of the star, some
of the light passes through the atmosphere of the planet. Imprinted on that light will be
the fingerprint of whatever atoms or molecules are present in the atmosphere.”
He hopes to find oxygen and other gases needed for life as we know it. He says, “If we
find transiting rocky planets and analyze6 their atmospheres, the big prize may be
life.”Q4
1. Fascinate (verb): to draw the attention and interest of someone
2. a group of stars forming a recognizable pattern
3. the force that attracts a body towards any other physical body having mass
4. to move across an area
5. a lever that can be moved in several directions to control the movements of something
6. Analyze (verb): to examine something in detail

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