US Common Core ELA
— A 12-year-old encounters hundreds of college students dressed as Santa flooding the NYC subway during an annual flash mob tradition, much to her embarrassment and her family's delight.
— A teenage girl moves to a California cottage and befriends her reclusive neighbor, discovering the woman's tragic past and learning not to judge by appearances.
— A young poet urges readers to step outside and notice their freedom, safety, and luck through simple observations of birds, melting snow, and neighborhood play.
— A whale mourns his sister's death at human hands, his mournful song misunderstood as beautiful by those who hear it.
— A captive cheetah dreams of freedom while watching his brothers die from starvation, until a woman rescues him and returns him to the African savannah.
— A girl gets lost in the forest at dusk and follows a mysterious great horned owl through the darkness back to her parents' campsite.
— A young writer celebrates the simple pleasures of a family camp by a lake—sailboats, loons, hammocks, and the feeling of being protected from the world.
— A family's failed miniature golf outing becomes an unplanned beach walk, leading to a realization about the perfection found in spontaneous moments versus carefully planned ones.
— A middle schooler abandons her best friend for popularity, falls for a cruel prank at a party, and discovers where she truly belongs.
— Two cousins fight to survive after a storm wrecks their uncle's tourist ship, leaving them adrift in a lifeboat that eventually sinks, forcing them to float until rescue arrives.