&&000 USA SCHOOLBOOKS US903X.TXT 6 samples = MACMILLAN, McGRAW HILL; Silver Burdett; Houghton Mifflin; and Another Macmillan Added another Scott Foresman 30 June 2003 added another Harcourt Brace 9 July 2004 Added HM2 10 July 2004 1991 GRADE 3 [Levels 1 and 2] sometimes 6 little books for this one grade xeroxed, later scanned, ocr'd and edited by dph 25 June 2004 &&111 "Because I am dying," said the bison. "I drank from a poisoned stream, and it blinded me. I can't see to find tender grass to eat or sweet water to drink. I'll surely die." =JumpingMouse was sad to see so wondrous a beast so helpless. "When I began my journey," he said, "=Magic Frog gave me a name and strong legs to carry me to the far-off land. My magic is not as powerful as hers, but I'll do what I can to help you. I name you =Eyes-of-a-Mouse." As soon as he had spoken =JumpingMouse heard the bison snort with joy. He heard but he could no longer see, for he had given the bison his own sight. =Dennis shakes his fist. He knows all about hermit crabs. They live inside empty seashells. The hard shells protect their soft bodies from harm. As they grow, the hermit crabs hunt for bigger shells. When they find one, they slide their bodies out of the old shells and into the new shells. And they run on their way. =Dennis is mad. "You took my tea jar!" he yells to the hermit crab. "So I'll take your conch shell for my trap." He sets the trap again. Tap. Tap. Tap. He looks under the box. A moon shell sits where the conch shell sat. The conch shell is running down to the sea. The toes of another hermit crab scutter beneath it. "Give me my conch shell!" =Dennis roars. But this crab disappears too. "You took my conch shell, so I'll take your moon shell." Dennis peers under the box. Where the moon shell sat, a cone shell sits. "Okay," =Dennis says to the crabs. "I'll make a hermit-proof =wentletrap trap." He ponders a moment. "If I were a =wentletrap, I would not want tea. I would not look for the sky." All of =Leora's aunts and uncles and cousins came to the party. Lots of people from our block came too. =Mama and Aunt =Ida and Uncle =Sandy walked down from our house very slowly with =Grandma. It was =Grandma's first big day out. There was a long table in the backyard made from little tables all pushed together. It was covered with so many big dishes of food you could hardly see the tablecloth. But I was too excited to eat anything. =Leora and =Jenny and =Mae and I waited over by the rosebush. Each of us had her instrument all ready. But everyone else went on eating and talking and eating some more. We didn't see how they would ever get around to listening to us. And we didn't see how we could be brave enough to begin. At last =Leora's mother pulled us right up in front of everybody. She banged on a pitcher with a spoon to get attention. Then she introduced each one of us. "Now we're going to have music," she said. "Music and dancing for everyone." It was quiet as school assembly. Every single person there was looking right at =Leora and =Jenny and =Mae and me. But we just stood there and stared right back. Then I heard my grandma whisper, "Play, =Pussycat. Play anything. Just like you used to play for me." This road was different from the hard dirt road leading to our farm. It passed over rushing streams, between tall trees and huge rocks, always moving up-higher and higher. It was rough and rocky, and the higher we went, the rougher it got. Though I knew the sun would soon be sinking, I was determined to reach the top of =ElPadre Mountain. =Lorenzo moved more and more slowly, but I urged him on. Soon the road had almost disappeared. There was nothing ahead of us but a little rocky path. It was getting dark and =Lorenzo stopped. Again I had to shout and scold until he moved on. "How long does getting thin take?" asked =Pooh anxiously. "About a week, I should think." "But I can't stay here for a week!" "You can stay here all right, silly old =Bear. It's getting you out which is so difficult." "We'll read to you," said =Rabbit cheerfully. "And I hope it won't snow," he added. "And I say, old fellow, you're taking up a good deal of room in my house-do you mind if I use your back legs as a towel-horse? Because, I mean, there they are-doing nothing-and it would be very convenient just to hang the towels on them." "A week!" said -Pooh gloomily. "What about meals?" "I'm afraid no meals," said =ChristopherRobin, "because of getting thin quicker. But we will read to you." =Bear began to sigh, and then found he couldn't because he was so tightly stuck; and a tear rolled down his eye, as he said: "Then would you read a =SustainingBook, such as , would help and comfort a Wedged Bear in Great Tightness?" General Washington's Headquarters Later that same afternoon.) =Martha: I have never seen you so discouraged. =Washington: I do not know how much longer the men can endure their hardships, Martha. =Martha: You fear they will begin to desert. =Washington: Who could blame them? They have suffered for months! But what hurts me most is that our own countrymen do not care enough even to see that our soldiers have food to eat. There is a knock on the door. =Washington: Come in. Enter Corporal. Corporal: Sir, good news. =Washington: eagerly Yes? What kind of news? Corporal: The cornmeal arrived after all, sir. The men will eat tonight. =Martha: Oh, I am so glad! =Washington: Thank goodness! Not all our countrymen have forgotten us. =Corporal: Perhaps, sir, you might like to meet the wagon driver and his assistant? "You can be the expert on listening. Oh, I really like that. Very original!" "Thank you," said =Peter shyly. "So that's settled. The next meeting is Thursday at my house. Just ask anyone how to get there. Well, now I'm off. Things to do; places to go." =Peter was the last to arrive at =Charlie's house on Thursday. As he removed his coat and muffler he saw that everyone was busy getting ready for the meeting to start. "Hi, =Peter," =Charlie called. "Hey, everybody, this is =Peter, our listening expert." "Welcome, welcome," said another club member in a blue football jersey. "You must be =Nancy," said =Peter. "See," yelled =Charlie, "didn't I say he was a listening expert?" At last =Charlie tapped on the table. "Are we ready?" he asked. They all nodded yes. "Then let us begin." The conversation began very softly, like a low buzzing. As it grew louder and louder, Peter could scarcely believe his ears. Everyone in the room was talking at once! "Visit love tiger cat," =Koko signed. First she picked up the gray and white one. Then =Koko took the tailless tabby. She carried him on her thigh. After a while, she pushed him up onto the back of her neck. "Baby," =Koko signed. She cradled the tabby in her legs. She examined its paws. =Koko squeezed, and the tabby's claws came out. "Cat do scratch," =Koko signed. "=Koko love." "What will you name the kitty?" I asked. "All =Ball," =Koko signed. "Yes," I said. "Like a ball, he has no tail." =Ball stayed overnight as a visiting kitten. By the end of the week, =Ball was a permanent member of our household. =Koko had her kitten at last. For the first few weeks, =Ball lived in my house. Every evening at six o'clock, I would take =Ball to =Koko's trailer for an evening visit. I carried the kitten in my pocket as I got =Koko ready for bed. =Koko soon grew used to this routine. "What happens at night?" I asked. "All =Ball," signed =Koko. "Right," I said. "=Ball visits you at night." I was so tired, I yawned. I stretched and yawned again. My mouth was wide open when I yawned. When you yawn, you open your mouth because you are angry you are sleepy you are happy =Ann's dog had to be punished. The dog had chewed =Ann's boot. Ann punished the dog by making it stay outside. When you are punished, you have done something wrong done something fair made someone happy The mother owl fed the owlets. The owlets were too small to fly. The owlets stayed in the nest. An owlet is a father owl home for owls baby owl The iguana was still grumbling to himself when he happened to pass by a python. The big snake raised his head and said, "Good morning, =Iguana." The iguana did not answer but lumbered on, bobbing his head, badamin, badamin. "Now, why won't he speak to me?" said the python to himself. "=Iguana must be angry about something. I'm afraid he is plotting some mischief against me!" He began looking for somewhere to hide. The first likely place he found was a rabbit hole, and in it he went. When the rabbit saw the big snake coming, she was terrified. She ran out through her back way and bounded, across ` a clearing. &&000 &&000 USA SCHOOLBOOKS [US903MC.TXT] MACMILLAN, McGRAW HILL 1991 GRADE 3 [Levels 1 and 2] scanned, ocr'd and edited by dph 25 June 2004 &&111 "Because I am dying," said the bison. "I drank from a poisoned stream, and it blinded me. I can't see to find tender grass to eat or sweet water to drink. I'll surely die." =JumpingMouse was sad to see so wondrous a beast so helpless. "When I began my journey," he said, "=Magic Frog gave me a name and strong legs to carry me to the far-off land. My magic is not as powerful as hers, but I'll do what I can to help you. I name you =Eyes-of-a-Mouse." As soon as he had spoken =JumpingMouse heard the bison snort with joy. He heard but he could no longer see, for he had given the bison his own sight. =Dennis shakes his fist. He knows all about hermit crabs. They live inside empty seashells. The hard shells protect their soft bodies from harm. As they grow, the hermit crabs hunt for bigger shells. When they find one, they slide their bodies out of the old shells and into the new shells. And they run on their way. =Dennis is mad. "You took my tea jar!" he yells to the hermit crab. "So I'll take your conch shell for my trap." He sets the trap again. Tap. Tap. Tap. He looks under the box. A moon shell sits where the conch shell sat. The conch shell is running down to the sea. The toes of another hermit crab scutter beneath it. "Give me my conch shell!" =Dennis roars. But this crab disappears too. "You took my conch shell, so I'll take your moon shell." Dennis peers under the box. Where the moon shell sat, a cone shell sits. "Okay," =Dennis says to the crabs. "I'll make a hermit-proof =wentletrap trap." He ponders a moment. "If I were a =wentletrap, I would not want tea. I would not look for the sky." All of =Leora's aunts and uncles and cousins came to the party. Lots of people from our block came too. =Mama and Aunt =Ida and Uncle =Sandy walked down from our house very slowly with =Grandma. It was =Grandma's first big day out. There was a long table in the backyard made from little tables all pushed together. It was covered with so many big dishes of food you could hardly see the tablecloth. But I was too excited to eat anything. =Leora and =Jenny and =Mae and I waited over by the rosebush. Each of us had her instrument all ready. But everyone else went on eating and talking and eating some more. We didn't see how they would ever get around to listening to us. And we didn't see how we could be brave enough to begin. At last =Leora's mother pulled us right up in front of everybody. She banged on a pitcher with a spoon to get attention. Then she introduced each one of us. "Now we're going to have music," she said. "Music and dancing for everyone." It was quiet as school assembly. Every single person there was looking right at =Leora and =Jenny and =Mae and me. But we just stood there and stared right back. Then I heard my grandma whisper, "Play, =Pussycat. Play anything. Just like you used to play for me." This road was different from the hard dirt road leading to our farm. It passed over rushing streams, between tall trees and huge rocks, always moving up-higher and higher. It was rough and rocky, and the higher we went, the rougher it got. Though I knew the sun would soon be sinking, I was determined to reach the top of =ElPadre Mountain. =Lorenzo moved more and more slowly, but I urged him on. Soon the road had almost disappeared. There was nothing ahead of us but a little rocky path. It was getting dark and =Lorenzo stopped. Again I had to shout and scold until he moved on. "How long does getting thin take?" asked =Pooh anxiously. "About a week, I should think." "But I can't stay here for a week!" "You can stay here all right, silly old =Bear. It's getting you out which is so difficult." "We'll read to you," said =Rabbit cheerfully. "And I hope it won't snow," he added. "And I say, old fellow, you're taking up a good deal of room in my house-do you mind if I use your back legs as a towel-horse? Because, I mean, there they are-doing nothing-and it would be very convenient just to hang the towels on them." "A week!" said -Pooh gloomily. "What about meals?" "I'm afraid no meals," said =ChristopherRobin, "because of getting thin quicker. But we will read to you." =Bear began to sigh, and then found he couldn't because he was so tightly stuck; and a tear rolled down his eye, as he said: "Then would you read a =SustainingBook, such as , would help and comfort a Wedged Bear in Great Tightness?" General Washington's Headquarters Later that same afternoon.) =Martha: I have never seen you so discouraged. =Washington: I do not know how much longer the men can endure their hardships, Martha. =Martha: You fear they will begin to desert. =Washington: Who could blame them? They have suffered for months! But what hurts me most is that our own countrymen do not care enough even to see that our soldiers have food to eat. There is a knock on the door. =Washington: Come in. Enter Corporal. Corporal: Sir, good news. =Washington: eagerly Yes? What kind of news? Corporal: The cornmeal arrived after all, sir. The men will eat tonight. =Martha: Oh, I am so glad! =Washington: Thank goodness! Not all our countrymen have forgotten us. =Corporal: Perhaps, sir, you might like to meet the wagon driver and his assistant? "You can be the expert on listening. Oh, I really like that. Very original!" "Thank you," said =Peter shyly. "So that's settled. The next meeting is Thursday at my house. Just ask anyone how to get there. Well, now I'm off. Things to do; places to go." =Peter was the last to arrive at =Charlie's house on Thursday. As he removed his coat and muffler he saw that everyone was busy getting ready for the meeting to start. "Hi, =Peter," =Charlie called. "Hey, everybody, this is =Peter, our listening expert." "Welcome, welcome," said another club member in a blue football jersey. "You must be =Nancy," said =Peter. "See," yelled =Charlie, "didn't I say he was a listening expert?" At last =Charlie tapped on the table. "Are we ready?" he asked. They all nodded yes. "Then let us begin." The conversation began very softly, like a low buzzing. As it grew louder and louder, Peter could scarcely believe his ears. Everyone in the room was talking at once! "Visit love tiger cat," =Koko signed. First she picked up the gray and white one. Then =Koko took the tailless tabby. She carried him on her thigh. After a while, she pushed him up onto the back of her neck. "Baby," =Koko signed. She cradled the tabby in her legs. She examined its paws. =Koko squeezed, and the tabby's claws came out. "Cat do scratch," =Koko signed. "=Koko love." "What will you name the kitty?" I asked. "All =Ball," =Koko signed. "Yes," I said. "Like a ball, he has no tail." =Ball stayed overnight as a visiting kitten. By the end of the week, =Ball was a permanent member of our household. =Koko had her kitten at last. For the first few weeks, =Ball lived in my house. Every evening at six o'clock, I would take =Ball to =Koko's trailer for an evening visit. I carried the kitten in my pocket as I got =Koko ready for bed. =Koko soon grew used to this routine. "What happens at night?" I asked. "All =Ball," signed =Koko. "Right," I said. "=Ball visits you at night." I was so tired, I yawned. I stretched and yawned again. My mouth was wide open when I yawned. When you yawn, you open your mouth because you are angry you are sleepy you are happy =Ann's dog had to be punished. The dog had chewed =Ann's boot. Ann punished the dog by making it stay outside. When you are punished, you have done something wrong done something fair made someone happy The mother owl fed the owlets. The owlets were too small to fly. The owlets stayed in the nest. An owlet is a father owl home for owls baby owl The iguana was still grumbling to himself when he happened to pass by a python. The big snake raised his head and said, "Good morning, =Iguana." The iguana did not answer but lumbered on, bobbing his head, badamin, badamin. "Now, why won't he speak to me?" said the python to himself. "=Iguana must be angry about something. I'm afraid he is plotting some mischief against me!" He began looking for somewhere to hide. The first likely place he found was a rabbit hole, and in it he went. When the rabbit saw the big snake coming, she was terrified. She ran out through her back way and bounded, across ` a clearing. &&000 &&000 USA SCHOOLBOOKS [US903HM.TXT] HOUGHTON MIFFLIN (1991) 3RD GRADE n= 7 pages Scanned, OCR and edited by dph 25 June 2004 &&111 Then Mrs =Quimbv spoke to her youngest daughter. "=Ramona, have you been pestering =Henry on his paper route again." =Ramona looked as if she were about to cry, "I - I won't do it any more," she said. "That's a good girl," said Mrs =Quimbv. "Delivering papers is an important job and You mustn't get in =Henry's way." "I bet I know how Sheriff =Bud knew about it," said =Beezus with a smile. "Your move, =Henry." =Henry grinned as he advanced his checker. =Beezus promptly jumped and captured two of his men. Oh, well, what did he care. It was only a game. His paper route was real. =Henry grimaced at =Ramona who smiled back almost shyly. =Henry moved another checker, which =Beezus captured. He did not care. His paper route was safe from =Ramona. If she pestered him again, all he had to do was to say, "Remember Sheriff =Bud," and his troubles would be over. It was as easy as that. He had finally hit upon a good idea that had nothing wrong with it. Not one single thing. "I won:" =Beezus was triumphant. "I'll beat you in the next game," said Henry, and this time he was sure he would. =Henry thinks his problems are over, but they are really just beginning. You can read what happens next Village Life in =Ghana mother's house. So in each Most people in =Ghana are compound there may be a farmers. They live in small grandmother and several towns or villages and work mothers with their children. in nearby fields. Roads are There may also he uncles cut through the forests so and aunts. that farmer, can walk easih Sometimes the people from their villages to their in a compound gather tofields. In many villages, gether to listen to a story. people live in houses that The people of =Ghana are are built around courtyards. famous for their stories. A house and courtyard to- =Ghana is also we II gether are known as a known for its fine compound. traditional crafts. Workers A family group lives in today still use the same each compound. Very often methods that have been the father will continue to used for hundreds of years live in the hone where he to weave cloth, carve wood, gre s up. The wife and chil- and make beautiful gold dren may live in the wife's jewelry. feelings to complain, and =Manvara was always careful to behave herself when =Mufaro was around. Larly one morning, a messenger from the cin, arrived. The Great king anted a tiife. "The Most Worthy and Beautiful Daughters in the Land are invited to appear before the king, and he will choose one to become 'Queen!" the messenger proclaimed. =Mufaro called =Manvara and =Nvasha to him. "It would be a great honor to have one of you chosen," he said. "Prepare yourselves to journey to the cit. I ill call together all our friends to make a wedding part. We will leave tomorrow as the sun rises." "But, my father," =Manvara said sweetly, "it could be painful tot either of us to leave you, even to be Nile to the king. I know =Nkasha would grieve to death if she ucrc parted from you. I am strong. Send me to the city, and let poor =Nyasha be happy here with you." =lufaro beamed with pride. "The king has asked for I the most worthy and the most beautiful. No, =Mamara, I cannot send you alone. Only a king can choose between two such worthy daughters. Both of you must go"' That night, when everyone was asleep, =Alanvara stole quietly out of the village. She had never been in the forest at night before, and she was frightened, but her greed to be the first to appear before the king drove her on. In her hurry, she almost stumbled over a small boy who suddenly appeared, standing in the path. "Please," said the boy. "I am hungry. Will you give tie something to eat%" "I have brought only enough for myself," =Mam-ara replied. midnight he too fell asleep, and when he awoke more of the field had been trampled. More ears of corn were gone. Pedro ran home with the bad news. Again =Tano wass furious. "All is lost! All is lost!" he wailed. "All is not vet lost, father," said =Pio, the youngest son. "Give me the hammock and the cuarro. And give me that small basket on the kitchen table." "A basket" said =Carlos, and he started to laugh. "A basket!" said Pedro. "I thinks he can catch the creature in a basket." And he laughed, too. But =Tano did not laugh. He took the hammock and the =cuaoo from =Pedro and gave them to =Pio, along with the basket from the kitchen table. Long before sundown =Pio started walking slowly toward the field. As he walked, he stopped even" now and then to pick codillos, the prickly burr-weeds that grew wild beside the road. He dropped each one into the basket. By the time he reached the field, it was sundown and the little basket was full. =Pio strung the hammock between the two stout trees but he did not sit down right away to strum the =cuarro. Instead he took the =cadillos from the basket and stuck them all over the hammock, except where he was going to sit. By now it was nightfall and he sat down on the hammock and began to strum the cuatro and to sing. He sang of mountains and valleys, rivers and streams, forests and fields. The moon sank below the horizon and the sky blazed with glittering stars. who presented it in turn in the slipper, the king to the king of the island thought of a way to get kingdom of =ToHan. the right woman to come The king was more forward. He ordered the than happy to accept the sandal placed in a pavilion slipper as a gift. He was by the side of the road entranced by the tiny near where it had been thing, which was shaped of found, and his herald the most precious of announced that the shoe metals, yet which made no was to be returned to its sound when touched to original owner. Then stone. The more he from a nearby hiding marveled at its beauty, the place, the king and his more determined he men settled down to watch became to find the woman and wait for a woman with to whom the shoe tiny feet to come and belonged. claim her slipper. A search was begun. All that day the among the ladies of his pavilion was crowded with own kingdom, but all who cave women who had come tried on the sandal found to test a foot in the shoe. it impossibly small. =Yeh-Shen's stepmother Undaunted, the king and stepsister were among ordered the search them, but not =Yeh-Shen widened to include the they had told her to stay cave women from the home. By day's end, countryside where the although many women had slipper had been found. eagerly tried to put on the Since he realized it would slipper, it still had not take many years for every been worn. Wearily, the woman to come to his king continued his vigil island and test her foot into the night. One December day in =1938, a fisherman in =SouthAfrica caught a strange fish. The fisherman had fished all his life. But he had never seen a fish like this one. The fish was almost five feet long. It was a beautiful deep blue. It was covered with large scales. The strangest parts of the fish were its fins. They did not lie flat the way most fins do. They sprouted out of its body like paddles. Little did the fisherman know that he had caught a wonderful present for scientists all over the world. thing. That is, we must eat good food if we are to grow and be healthy." That isn't what I learned, thought Otis. I learned you've got to be careful or some girl will get ahead of you. Austine raised her hand. "Mrs =Gitler, if we aren't going on with the experiment, what is going to happen to =Mutt and =Pinky?" "We'll find good homes for them," Mrs =Gitler answered. "Is there anyone who would like a pet rat?" =Otis waved his hand wildly, but Mrs =Gitler did not see him. She asked, "Who would like to take =Pinky home?" =Otis stopped waving his hand. fie wanted =Mutt. The class finally decided =Tommy should have =Pinky. =Stewy wanted him, but he already had a dog. =Tommy, who had neither a dog nor a cat, could give a good home to a rat. Now was =Otis's chance. lie waved his hand frantically. "Mrs =Gitler," he said. "Mrs =Gitler." =Otis knew she saw him, even though she said, "Yes, =Ellen?" =Ellen twisted her handkerchief as she spoke. "I know I spoiled the experiment, but I'd like awfully much to take =Mutt home. I sort of feel like he's my rat." & &&000 USA SCHOOLBOOKS [US903SV.TXT] SILVER BURDETT GINN 3RD GRADE 1991 SCANNED, OCR'D AND EDITED BY DPH 25 JUNE 2004 &&111 "Some do and some don't. You never can tell with =Heffalumps. Well, good night!" "Good night!" And off =Piglet trotted to his house TRESPASSERS , while =Pooh made his preparations for bed. Some hours later, just as the night was beginning to steal away, =Pooh woke up suddenly with a sinking feeling. He had had that sinking feeling before, and he knew what it meant. He was hungry. So he went to the larder, and he stood on a chair and reached up to the top shelf, and found-nothing. "That's funny," he thought. "I know I had a jar of honey there. A full jar, full of honey right up to the top, and it had =HUNNY written on it, so that I should know it was honey. That's very funny." And then he began to wander up and down, wondering where it was and murmuring a murmur to himself. Like this: It's very, very funny, BECAUSE I know I had some honey; BECAUSE it had a label on, Saying =HUNNY. A =goloptious full-up pot too, And I don't know where it's got to, No, I don't know where it's gone Well, it's funny. Sometimes my mother and father can understand what people are saying by reading their lips. That's another thing my parents learned at their school-lip reading. Reading lips is hard. Some people don't move their lips much when they talk, or they hide their mouths with their hands or with a moustache. Besides, many words look alike when you say them. Look in the mirror and say pin and bin, hand and and, hill and ill. See what I mean? How we move our bodies and what our faces look like when we talk help our parents read our lips. But most of the time we talk to them with our hands as well as our mouths. Grandma =Ellis says we have words in our hands. One way to talk with your hands is to learn a special alphabet so you can spell words with your fingers. This is called finger spelling. Look at this alphabet. Can you finger spell your name? Another way to hand talk is to use sign language. Once you have learned sign language, it is easier and faster than finger spelling. Everybody uses sign language. You can tell your friends to "go away" without using your voice. But sign language for the deaf is like French or Spanish. You have to learn many signs that other people understand before you can talk to anybody. Early one morning, a messenger from the city arrived. The =GreatKing wanted a wife. "The Most Worthy and Beautiful Daughters in the Land are invited to appear before the King, and he will choose one to become Queen!" the messenger proclaimed. =Mufaro called =Manyara and =Nyasha to him. "It would be a great honor to have one of you chosen," he said. "Prepare yourselves to journey to the city. I will call together all our friends to make a wedding party. We will leave tomorrow as the sun rises." "But, my father," =Manyara said sweetly, "it would be painful for either of us to leave you, even to be wife to the king. I know =Nyasha would grieve to death if she were parted from you. I am strong. Send me to the city, and let poor Nyasha be happy here with you." =Mufaro beamed with pride. "The king has asked for the most worthy and the most beautiful. No, =Manyara, I cannot send you alone. Only a king can choose between two such worthy daughters. Both of you must go!" That night, when everyone was asleep, =Manyara stole quietly out of the village. She had never been in the forest at night before, and she was frightened, but her greed to be the first to appear before the king drove her on. In her hurry, she almost stumbled over a small boy who suddenly appeared, standing in the path. "Wait a minute," said =Oscar Raccoon. "Why are you going out dressed like that? I thought you said it wasn't going to rain." "If I have learned one thing," said =Stan, "it is never take chances." And with that, a tremendous crack of lightning jumped across the sky! All the lights in the office went out. Rain began to pour down in bucketfuls. "Do you see what I mean?" said =Stan. He waved good-bye and left. The lights flickered a bit and finally came back on. =Oscar looked around. "Is everybody okay?" One by one, the animals nodded. Except where was =Theodore? "=Theodore!" shouted Oscar. "Where are you?" "There he is!" shouted =Frank Beaver. He pointed to the floor. "I see his tail!" =Theodore's face was red as he crawled out from under the desk. The animals grinned. "I wasn't hiding, if that's what you're all thinking," he snapped. "I was-uh-considering something-that's what I was doing." "Oh? And what were you considering?" asked =Oscar. =Theodore glared. "I was considering that we will need a new forecaster to take Stan's place. So there!" Theodore looked around the room. "Does anyone know a groundhog who needs a job?" Seals are shaped like long footballs. Blubber, or fat, under their skin gives them this odd shape. Blubber is important to help the seals survive. Most seals live in the icy, cold waters around the North and South Poles. Unlike fish who swim in the same cold waters, seals are warmblooded. They need the blubber to keep them warm as they swim in the cold water or walk on the ice. Blubber also gives them extra energy. Most seals can stay underwater for at least twenty minutes, and some can even stay under for almost an hour! Then they need to come up for air. How does a seal hold its breath so long? A seal's heartbeat slows down underwater, so it needs less air underwater than it does on land. When swimming under ice, seals make breathing holes in the ice. They make these holes by chewing with their teeth and scratching with their claws or by using their warm breath to melt the ice. Seals can even sleep underwater. If the water is not too deep, they sink to the bottom and rise to the top to get air when they need it. In deep water they sleep with just their noses above the water. An elephant seal swims off the coast of =California. "Maybe I can run it for the town," =Jason said. Talking to nine adults sounded scary, but =Jason wanted to give it a try. On the night of the next council meeting, he and his father went to the town hall. A two-storied stone building constructed in the =1890s, =WhiteRock School was now the town hall. There in a large room he found the council members sitting around an oval table talking about town matters. They barely looked up when =Jason came into the room. The council was talking about the new fire engine and how to fix the roads. The mayor, a thin, serious-looking man, sometimes looked over in =Jason's direction. A council member, a gray-haired woman with large gold earrings, also watched him. When it was =Jason's time, everyone looked at him. At first he hesitated, then began to speak. "I want to start a library in =Elsinore. It needs one very badly." The council listened closely. Jason spent almost an hour talking with the council. "We'll have to think about it," the mayor finally said to the brown-haired boy. "At least they didn't say no," =Jason told his parents after the meeting. A week went by without any news from the town hall. =Jason phoned the mayor at his home to ask if a decision had been made about the library. The mayor answered, "The council is still thinking about it." =Beethoven's Early Life How could this extraordinary man create music that he was unable to hear? =Beethoven was not born deaf. He grew up hearing music practically all the time. He was born into a talented, musical family. His father, =JohannvanBeethoven, was a famous singer and a musician. He played the violin and clavier, an early form of piano. He was also a talented music instructor. =Beethoven learned to play music when he was a very young boy. He was only four years old when his father began giving him piano lessons. Soon after, he also learned to play the organ and violin. When he was only eight years old, he gave his first public concert, and by the time Beethoven was twelve, he was conducting an orchestra. Beethoven loved to play music, but playing did not come easily to him. He had to practice for many hours. His hands were short, and sometimes he could not stretch his fingers to reach the notes that he wanted to play. Sometimes, when he found it difficult to play a piece of music, he would change the melody or make up a new melody. This surprised his teachers, but they knew that =Beethoven had to be very talented to be able to do those things. As =Beethoven grew older, his father earned less and less money. Then, in =1787, his mother died. So =Beethoven had to work hard to help support his father and his two younger brothers, =Johann and =Karl. To do this, =Beethoven played in many, many piano concerts. Before long, his talent had made him famous. A window opened. A head poked out. "Look to the east!" =Sybil shouted. "=Danbury's burning! Gather at =Ludingtons' !" She did not beat on every door. She did not shout at every house. Neighbors called to each other; and in the little hamlets along her way, one of the first ones awakened rushed out to ring the town bell. When the alarm began to sound, =Sybil would stop her shouting and ride on into the darkness. Her throat hurt from calling out her message. Her heart beat wildly, and her tired eyes burned. Her skirt seemed to be filled with heavy weights, for it was wet and caked with mud. She pulled her mother's cloak closer against the cold and rain that would not stop. =Sybil would not stop, either. All the soldiers in the regiment must be told. She urged =Star on. Outside the village at =Mahopac Pond, =Star slipped in the mud. He got up right away, but =Sybil's eyes stung with tears. She would have to be more careful! If =Star were hurt, she would blame herself. She must walk =Star over loose rocks and pick through the underbrush where there was no path. Again and again, =Sybil woke up sleeping soldiers. Nearing =RedMills, =Star stumbled and almost fell. He was breathing heavily. "You are fine, =Star," =Sybil whispered. Some people who liked my stories formed a group called "=FriendsoFLindaGoss." They invited me to tell stories at a library in =Germantown, a neighborhood in =Philadelphia. Five hundred people came to hear me. The next thing I knew, I was telling stories everywhere. I traveled on airplanes, trains, and riverboats to get to places where I had ss been invited to tell stories. I had become a Did all the traveling storyteller. ideas fit the topic? Where I Find Stories Make a topic map for this section. find stories in many different places and get them in many different ways. I get them from books, friends, other storytellers, and from countries around the world. Some of the stories I tell are folk tales. These are stories that have been passed down from one generation to the next. Folk tales were first told aloud. They were not written down for many, many years. Some of the folk tales I enjoy telling are "how and why" tales. A "how and why" tale tries to explain how or why something came to be. For example, it may tell how the elephant got its long trunk, or why bears have short tails. I also make up some of my stories, and sometimes, my husband writes stories for me. Mrs =Quimby's absentminded answer was, "Not really. =Caramel is bad for your teeth. " She was wearing slacks so =Ramona could not say the line about pantyhose. Since the =Quimbys no longer bought potato chips or pickles, =Ramona found other foods-toast and apples and carrot sticks-to practice good loud crunching on. When they had chicken for dinner, she smacked and licked her fingers. "Ramona," said Mr =Quimby, "your table manners grow worse, and worse. Don't eat so noisily." =Ramona was embarrassed. She had been practicing to be on television, and she had forgotten her family could hear. =Ramona continued to practice until she began to feel as if a television camera were watching her wherever she went. She smiled a lot and skipped, feeling that she was cute and lovable. She felt as if she had fluffy blond curls, even though in real life her hair was brown and straight. One morning, smiling prettily, she thought, and swinging her lunch box, =Ramona skipped to school. Today someone might notice her because she was wearing her red tights. She was happy because this was a special day, the day of =Ramona's parent-teacher conference. Since Mrs =Quimby was at work, Mr =Quimby was going to meet with Mrs=Rogers, her second-grade teacher. =Ramona was proud to have a father who would come to school. Feeling dainty, curly-haired, and adorable, =Ramona skipped into her classroom, and what did she see but Mrs =Rogers with wrinkles around her ankles. =Ramona did not hesitate. She skipped right over to her teacher and, since there did not happen to be an elephant in Room =2, turned the words around and said. "Mrs =Rogers, your pantyhose are wrinkled like an elephant's legs." Ms =DeLay listened to the tape and thought that =MiDori's playing was "extraordinary." Ms =DeLay wanted =MiDori and her mother to come to the =UnitedStates so that =MiDori could study with her in =Newyork. Even though it was hard to leave their home in =Japan, =MiDori and her mother decided to move to =NewYork. =MiDori was eleven at the time. =MiDori now attends the =ProfessionalChildren'sSchool in =Newyorkity. Most of her classmates there are actors and actresses. =MiDori says that school in the =UnitedStates is different from school in =Japan. "I never knew any actors and actresses in =Japan, and now I see lots of my friends on television." Besides going to school, =MiDori practices the violin four to five hours a day. She takes extra classes at =Juilliard, the most famous music school in the country. She also plays the piano and the viola. =MiDori studies the piano because it is required at =Juilliard. But she plays the viola, which is like a large violin, just because she likes it. =MiDori enjoys many other things besides music. When she was eight, =MiDori saw a TV show about the =Inca, people of =SouthAmerica who lived long ago. She began to read all she could about the =Inca. =MiDori says that she might like to learn more about the =Inca when she is older. She also likes to write stories and says she may become a writer. Despite her fame, =MiDori likes to do many of the same things that you like to do. "I like to skip rope. I like to jog a little, watch television, and read." She also likes to play with her cat and listen to popular music. &&000 &&000 USA SCHOOLBOOKS [US903SF.TXT] PUBLISHER: SCOTT FORESMAN 1993 GRADE: 3RD XEROXED AT Elmira college, scanned, OCR'd and edited by DPH 30 June 2004 &&111 "Look here, boy," growled the king, "I've got no time for tomfoolery." "Oh, I didn't mean all of him," said the boy. "Only his head sleeps by my bed. He sticks his neck through the window and the rest of him stays outside." "Well now, son, that's a bit more like it," said the king. "In fact, that gives me an idea. A grand idea! I'11 borrow your dragon just for special occasions, and I'll pay you twenty quadrooples each time. What do you say to that?" "It's up to the dragon," said the boy. "Make it =thirty =quadrooples," said =Droofus. "Then =thirty it is," said the king. =Droofus made his first visit to the king's castle on the eighth day of April, the day of the Grand Spring Festival. People came from miles around, crowding into the great hall, which was splendorously bedecked with banners and streamers and festoons of flowers. High up on the wall a giant of a dragon's head appeared through an elegant window framed in gold. A happy, smiling dragon's head that brought cries of surprise and squeals of delight and sent the crowd into "a jolly frolicsome mood. Soon they were all singing and dancing to the music of trumpets and flutes and the Spring Festival was going full tilt. Meanwhile, =BenjaminFranklin was busy living other lives. He loved =Philadelphia. It was a new city full of promise, and =Benjamin was there at the right time. He started a club called the =Junto, where friends met to discuss books and ideas. He lent out his books, and soon others did the same. This began the first free lending library in =America. He found new ways to light the streets, and to have them cleaned and paved. too. He started a police force, a fire department, a hospital, and an =Academy. He helped make laws. =Philadelphia became as famous as =BenjaminFranklin. "What a lovely house you have," the strangers commented. "What do you call this place?" "=Bellmore," =Shirley politely answered. The visitors nodded. "We're from away. Far away. And we've been traveling for years on our way to the next galaxy." "How about a sandwich, you must be hungry," Shirley nervously interrupted. "Would you like to stay for dinner?" "Gee!" they replied. `"We'd love to. We'll return at six o'clock." The spacemen went back to their ship and flew off. =Moe and =Shirley ran into the house. The house was old and small. The yard was mostly bare red dirt. There was a broken-down shed and a broken-down fence. "I don't want to stay here," said =lanetta. =Momma said, "This is where I grew up." An old man came out onto the porch. "Say hello to your grandaddy," =Momma said. =Janetta was too shy to say hello. "You hear me, =Janetta?" =Momma asked. "Let her be," said =Grandaddy. So =Momma just said, "Stay out here and play while I visit with your grandaddy." They left =Janetta standing on the porch. She didn't know what to do. She had never been in the country before. She thought she might sit on the porch, but there was a mean-looking cat on the only chair. She thought she might sit on the steps, but there was a wasps' nest up under the roof. The wasps looked meaner than the cat. Some chickens were taking a dust-bath in the yard. When =Janetta came near, they made mean sounds at her. looked at =Lucas and =Julio sternly. "Is that understood?" =Lucas remembered that he had promised his mother he wasn't going to call out in class. But once again, he seemed to have forgotten. It seemed as if the words were always flying out of his mouth before he could remember to keep still. So now, even though he was furious at what =Cricket had said, he kept quiet. He waited until they were walking out of class at the end of the day to tell her something he bet she didn't know. "My name is =Roman," he said. "And =Marcus and =Marius have =Roman names, too. That's because my grandparents came from =Italy, and in the olden days =Rome was the most important place in the world." "='Nell, that doesn't make you so important now," said =Cricket. "You think you are so special because you have twins at your house. I bet my sister is going to be smarter than your brothers. And she's prettier, too." "Don't you say anything against my brothers. They're better than your baby sister any day," said =Lucas angrily. "You haven't even seen my sister," said =Cricket, sticking her tongue out at =Lucas. "You'll see," said =Lucas knowingly. "Babies aren't all that great. They make a lot of noise and they smell, too. And they take up a lot of your parents' time. At least =Marcus and =Marius are two years old; they can learn things from me." "If you are teaching them to be just like you, then they're going to get into trouble all the time, just like you." Later still, winter's snow, they asked one another, "Where did he go "Will he come again "His house looks so empty, so dark in the night." "And having him gone doesn't make us more right." That =Henry. "Maybe, some other rime, we'd get along not thinking that somebody hms to he wrong." "And we don't have to make such a terrible fuss because everyone isn't exactly like us." So =Anansi and =LittleBushDeer went walking, walking, walking in. the cool forest. After a while =Anansi led =LittleBushDeer to a certain place. "=LittleBushDeer! Look over there! Do you see what I see?" =LittleBushDeer knew all about =Anansi's trick. She looked. "No. =Anansi. I don't see anything." "You must see it. Look very carefully." =LittleBushDeer looked. "No. I still don't see anything," she said. =Anansi began to get angry. "You must see it. Look over here. Look right where I'm pointing. Do you see it now?" "No. =Anansi," said =LittleBushDeer. =Anansi stamped his feet. "You see it. You just don't want to say it." "I had to refuse, of course," said =Harvey. "The King gave me the Gift of Good Luck and I am in a hurry to find my riches. "Well, before you go," said the wolf, "what did the King have to say to me?" "Oh, yes," said =Harvey: " I almost forgot. The King told me to tell you that you may meet a foolish pig with patches on his trousers and no shoes who doesn't know his good luck when he sees it." "Then what?" asked the wolf eagerly. "Then what does the King sav I should do?" "Eat him!" said =Harvey. &&000 &&000 USA SCHOOLBOOKS [US903HB.TXT] HARCOURT BRACE 3RD GRADE 1997 Xeroxed at Brockport, scanned, ocr'd and edited by dph 9 July 2004 &&111 What's the smallest your million could be? =One-hundred-dollar bills are the largest made today, and it would take ten =thousand of them to pay you for your feat of ogre taming. But a check for =$1'000'000 would easily fit in your pocket or purse. And it's worth the same as the towering stacks of pennies or bills. =Ramona clapped her hands over the burs. "No!" she shrieked and stamped her foot "I won't let you cut off my hair! I won't! I won't! I won't!" =Beezus handed her mother the scissors and gave her sister some advice. "Stop yelling. If you go to bed with burs in your hair, you'll really get messed up." =Ramona had to face the wisdom of =Beezus's words. She stopped yelling to consider the problem once more. "All right:' she said, as if she were granting a favor, "but I want =Daddy to do it" Her father would work with care while her mother, always in a hurry since she was working full time, would go snip-snip-snip and be done with it. Besides, supper would be prepared faster and would taste better if her mother did the cooking. "I am honored:' said Mr =Quimby. "Deeply honored." Mrs =Quimby did not seem sorry to hand over the scissors. "Why don't you go someplace else to work while =Beezus and I get supper on the table?" Mr =Quimby led =Ramona into the living room, where he turned on the television set. "This may take time;' he exclaimed, as he went to work. "We might as well watch the news:' =Ramona was still anxious. "Don't cut any more than you have to, =Daddy;' she begged, praying the margarine boy would not appear on the screen. "I don't want everyone at school to make fun of me:" The newscaster was talking about strikes and a lot of things =Ramona did not understand. Ramona had an uneasy feeling she had displeased her teacher. She was sure of it when =Howie said, "=Ramona, you sure weren't very polite to Mrs =Rogers." =Howie, a serious thinker, was usually right. Suddenly =Ramona was no longer an adorable little fluffy-haired girl on television. She was plain old =Ramona, a second-grader whose own red tights bagged at the knee and wrinkled at the ankle. This wasn't the way things turned out on television. On television grown-ups always smiled at everything children said. During recess =Ramona went to the girls' bathroom and rolled her tights up at the waist to stretch them up at the knee and ankle. Mrs =Rogers must have done the ' same thing to her pantyhose, because after recess her ankles were smooth. =Ramona felt better. That afternoon, when the lower grades had been dismissed from their classrooms, =Ramona found her father, along with =Davy's mother, waiting outside the door of Room =2 for their conferences with Mrs =Rogers. =Davy's mother's appointment was first, so =Quiniby sat down on a chair outside the door with a folder of =Ramona's schoolwork to look over. =Davy stood close to the door, hoping to hear what his teacher was saying about him. Everybody in Room =2 was anxious to learn what the teacher said. Wolves communicate in other ways, too. They show their teeth when they are angry. When a wolf is scared, its ears go flat against its head. A wagging tail means the wolf is happy. If just the tip of the tail wags, it could be ready to attack. Wolves often mate for life. Wolf pups are born in the spring. The alpha female is the only one of the females in a pack to give birth to a litter of pups. There can be three to fourteen pups. They only weigh about one pound at birth and cannot see or hear. They nuzzle up against their mother to drink her milk in the den where they live. A pair of cardinals is swooping down on grasshoppers. I can't help hoping that no snake or owl raids their nest in the hedge, but that's a possibility. The tiny house wren parents are tireless hunters, making continuous trips from dawn until dark to satisfy the high-pitched hunger cries of their babies in the nest box near our kitchen window. A young bird may eat its weight in insects every day! In the spring, we watch the birds compete for inchworms, hopping from twig to twig, picking the leaves clean. We saw the female =Baltimore oriole peel dried fibers off last year's tall dogbane plant with her beak and fly high up in the oak tree to weave them into her nest. She and the male who courted and won her fed their nestlings with soft parts of insects, and themselves ate caterpillars, beetles, wasps, Once there was an island. It was an island with trees and meadows, and many kinds of animals. There were mice, rabbits and deer, squirrels, foxes and several kinds of birds. All the animals on the island depended on the plants and the other animals for their food and well-being. Some animals ate grass or other plants; some ate insects; some ate other animals. The island animals were healthy. There was plenty of food for all. A family of wolves lived on the island, too, a male wolf, a female, and their five cubs. One day the wolf cubs were playing on the beach while their mother and father slept. The cubs found a strange object at the edge of the water. &&000 &&000 USA SCHOOLBOOKS [US903HM2.TXT] PUBLISHER: HOUGHTON MIFFLIN sample 2 from that decade 1990s 3rd GRADE XEROXED FROM BROCKPORT. SCANNED, OCR'D AND EDITED BY DPH 9 July 2004 &&111 =AlbertoRuzLhuillier stared at the flagstone floor of the =TempleofInscriptions, high atop a terraced pyramid at the ancient city of =Palenque. There was something peculiar about it. Near the center of the room lay an unusually large stone with circular holes drilled around its edges, all filled with plugs to conceal them. No one had been able to figure out what they were for-and the site had been studied intensively since =Stephens and =Catherwood had stopped there more than a century before. But =Ruz, an archaeologist from the =CenterforMayaStudies in =Mexico, noticed something other explorers had missed: the walls of the temple seemed to continue on below the floor, as though another room lay beneath it. On a hunch, Ruz =decided to raise the stone. As workmen struggled to lift the heavy slab, =Ruz could make out the outlines of a narrow opening completely filled with large stones and clay. There was nothing to do but haul out this debris. After a few days of digging, a series of stone steps began to appear, an interior staircase leading down into the pyramid. =Ruz resolved to follow the stairway to its end, even though he knew it would involve an enormous amount of labor. For two and a half months =Ruz and his men struggled against heat, humidity, and choking dust while they hauled up the heavy rocks with ropes and pulleys. It took them four such stretches-a total of ten months to clear the staircase. By the end of the first season, in the summer of =1949, only =twentythree steps had been uncovered. At the end of the third season they had dug out =sixty-six steps and were down about =seventythree feet beneath the temple floor, near ground level. They still had no idea where the stairway was leading and no clues to its original function. No inscriptions were visible on the walls, no sculpture had been found. But at the bottom of the stairs they did find a box of offerings, pottery dishes, jade beads, jade earplugs, and a beautiful tear-shaped pearl. They knew they were getting close. During the summer of =1952 the diggers encountered a wall. "The wall turned out to be more than =twelve feet thick;" =Ruz wrote, "breaking through it took a full week of the hardest labor of the entire expedition. The mortar held so firmly that the stones often broke before they separated, and the wet lime =Jacob would stay in the house in the afternoon for half an hour every day and not say anything to me when he came out. He would just smile and smile. On my birthday, my mother made a cake for me with eight candles, and =Jacob's mother made a cake for him with seventeen candles. We sat on the porch and sang and blew out our candles. =Jacob blew out all of his in one breath because he's bigger. Then my mother smiled and =Jacob's mother smiled and said, "Give it to him, =Jacob dear." My friend Jacob smiled and handed me a card. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAM JACOB He had printed it all himself! All by himself, my name and everything! It was neat! My very best friend =Jacob does so much helping me, I wanted to help him too. One day I decided to teach him how to knock. =Jacob will just walk into somebody's house if he knows them. If he doesn't know them, he will stand by the door until somebody notices him and lets him in. "I wish Jacob would knock on the door," I heard my mother say. So I decided to help him learn. Every day I would tell =Jacob, but he would always forget. He would just open the door and walk right in. My mother said probably it was too hard for him and I shouldn't worry about it. But I felt bad because =JEMMY: What? =AMANDA: In the middle of the sea. They got off the ship-and they were safe on land. =NARRATOR: He was quiet then. Both he and =Meg were quiet for a long time. There was another day of storm, and another night, and the ship stayed afloat. But there were new leaks. The pumps could not keep the water out of the hold. People began to climb up the ladder and onto the deck. =Amanda felt the water rising over her feet. She pushed jemmy and Meg up the ladder ahead of her. They were on deck, and the rain and waves swept over them. =Amanda was thrown off her feet. She reached out for =jemmy and =Meg. Only =Jemmy was there. =AMANDA: =Meg! =JEMMY: She's gone! =Meg, =Meg! =NARRATOR: They tumbled across the deck and came up against the animal pen. It was broken now. The animals were gone. =JEMMY: I see her! =NARRATOR: said =jemmy. =Meg was there. She was holding on to a wooden bar of the pen. =AMANDA: Don't let go! =NARRATOR: said =Amanda. Now she and =Jemmy were holding on to the pen. A woman was there beside them. She screamed each time the ship rolled. "I wouldn't be caught dead in that outfit," said his sister, =DW. "The best part in the Thanksgiving play is still open," said =Arthur over the =PA system at school. "If you're interested, please come to the office at once." No one came to the office. =Arthur put posters in the cafeteria and placed ads in the school paper, but nothing worked. =Arthur had other problems, too. =Muffy complained about everything. =Francine would not take off her movie-star glasses, and she was having a hard time seeing what she was doing. =Buster couldn't remember his lines. "In =1620," he recited, "we sailed to =America on the cauliflower." The rehearsals went from bad to worse. "When the =Pilgrims and =Indians decided to celebrate their friendship," narrated =Francine, "they began to hunt for a turkey. They finally found one, and =re was great rejoicing. Today when we think of =Thanksgiving, we think of turkey." She glared at =Arthur. "Don't worry," =Arthur promised. "I'll find a turkey in time." "If you don't get turkey by tomorrow's performance," said =Francine, "I quit." Everyone agreed. No turkey, no play. =Arthur went home to think. He thought about turkeys while he did arithmetic. He thought about turkeys while he played the piano. And he thought about turkeys while he and =DW did the dishes. In the ant's mouth is a tongue, which it uses to clean itself and its sister, too. It also uses its tongue to lick up liquids. The ant's jaws work sideways like a pair of scissors. The jaws are large. They are used to carry things, to crush food, to dig and pack soil in the tunnels, and to fight enemies. The second part of the ant's body, the thorax, is long and slender. The queen ant and males are born with wings at the top of the thorax. Worker ants do not have wings. Ants have six legs, three on each side of the body. The legs are long, and an ant can run very fast for its size. In the first pair of legs toward the head there is a notch. Ants clean their antennae by fitting them into this notch. It is called the antennae comb. Summer was especially difficult. The hot sun would dry up the springs so that the grass wouldn't grow, and as =Abu's father pitched the tent he would sigh, "Tomorrow we will move on again. Farther ahead there may be better pasture for the animals." So almost every day they would pack up their things, load the donkeys and camels and move on to a new place. Most of the time =Abu was happy. He liked to watch the sun rise like a big pink ball right out of the sand in the morning. And at night, when his mother and father sat outside the tent talking, he liked to hear the quiet sound of their voices in the night, murmuring like water running over rocks. On nights when the sides of the tent were up to let in the cool night air, =Abu would try to count all the shimmering little stars in the sky. Other times, after a very hot day in search of a water hole, =Abu would pretend that each star was a drop of water. "If we had all that water," he would murmur, "we would never have to move again. Then our tent would be a real home and =Mother would not be so tired packing and unpacking. And =Father could sit-on a real chair instead of a camel saddle." &&000