US Common Core ELA
— A girl receives a mysterious golden locket that only certain people can see, giving her courage to sing her first solo and later passing it to her sister.
— A prose poem traces the precise moment when ocean and sky merge at twilight, finding that exact blue-black in the speaker's own eyes.
— A girl abandons her best friend when she moves away, then learns about friendship and priorities when she helps an injured competitor during a cross-country race.
— A thirteen-year-old girl remembers her brother's journey from playful teenager to soldier while processing the news that he's missing in action in Afghanistan.
— A girl discovers her mother's missing camellias are being taken by a Mexican neighbor who weaves flower crowns, leading to friendship and tragedy when the neighbor's sister drowns.
— A boat journey brings memories of a grandfather as dolphins appear, blending present observation with past experiences on the water.
— A boy joins his marine biologist father on a rescue mission to free a bottlenose dolphin trapped in fishing nets fourteen miles off the California coast.
— A girl visits her grandmother with Alzheimer's at a retirement home, grapples with a missing wedding ring, and finds peace when her grandmother hears angels singing.
— A volunteer at a goat farm becomes attached to a sickly newborn goat she names Barney, nurses him to health, then must find him a loving home when he's sold.
— A spring walk reveals birch shadows, a fern sprout, and a plastic bag caught in a pine tree, its snap drowned out by a distant chickadee's song.