CASI 5Reading PassagesContentsThe Living Town by Nigel Hester 3 Why the Sky Is Far Away retold by Marci Stillerman 5 The Wild Horses of Sable Island by Laurie Mackenzie 8 Shonar Arches by Nazneen Sadiq 11 Birds: Grounded 16 Granpa Is Missing on the Mars Tranship by Julia West 18Where Black Meets White by Doug Cowell 22 The Island That Took Care of Itself by Shelley Tanaka Albert Einstein by Ibi Lepscky 27 Elizabeth's Wish by Debbi Chocolate 30

CASI 5 Reading PassagesDEVELOPMENT TEAMProject Director Anne Gibson Superintendent, Academic Accountability Authors Roz Doctorow Educational Consultant Maria Bodiam Consultant Heather McGowan Consultant Development Team Julia Arnold Instructional Leader, Literacy Donna Creighton Consultant, Academic Accountability Rosemary Dale Consultant, Academic Accountability Sandy Quinn Consultant, Academic AccountabilityMary Reid Consultant, Academic Accountability Reviewers Toronto District School Board Literacy Team Toronto District School Board Equity Department Many thanks to Barbara Taylor, Principal, Flemington Public School, for helping to select reading materials and the approximately 600 teachers and 15 000 students who field tested CASI and approximately 60 teachers/ administrators who marked the students' work, and to the clerical and support staff in the Toronto District School Board's Academic Accountability Department.THOMSON NELSON PUBLISHING TEAM Director of Publishing David Steele Publisher Mark Cressman Program Manager Norma Kennedy Senior Managing Editor Nicola Balfour Senior Production Editor Joanne Close Production Coordinator Helen Locsin Composition and Cover Design Suzanne Peden Printer TranscontinentalCOPYRIGHT © 2003 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. Printed and bound in Canada 3 4 05 04 For more information contact Nelson, 1120 Birchmount Road, Toronto, Ontario, M1K 5G4. Or you can visit our Internet site at htt p://www.nelson.com ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced, transcribed, or used in any form or by any means--graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, Web distribution, or information storage and retrieval systems-- without the written permission of the publisher. For permission to use material from this text or product, contact us by Tel 1-800-730-2214 Fax 1-800-730-2215 www.thomsonrights.com Every effort has been made to trace ownership of all copyrighted material and to secure permission from copyright holders. In the event of any question arising as to the use of any material, we will be pleased to make the necessary corrections in future printings.National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data Doctorow, Roz CASI 5 reading assessment [kit] / Roz Doctorow, Maria Bodiam, Heather McGowan. ISB N 0-17-626462-0 (kit).-- ISBN 0-17-626468-X (program guide).--ISBN 0-17-626480-9 (Passages booklet).--ISBN 0-17-626470-1 (scoring guide).-- ISBN 0-17-626474-4 (question sheets) 1. Reading--Ability testing. I. Bodiam, Maria II. McGowan, Heather, 1964- III. Title. LB1050.46.D64 2002 428.4'076 C2002-903458-2 Credits "The Living Town" by Nigel Hester, excerpted from Watching Nature: The Living Town by Nigel Hester. © Franklin Watts 1992; "Why the Sky Is Far Away" by Marci Stillerman, reprinted by permission of SPIDER magazine, November 1996, Vol. 3, no. 11, © 1996 Marci Stillerman; "The Wild Horses of Sable Island" by Laurie Mackenzie, Wild Magazine; "Shonar Arches" from Camels Can Make You Homesick and Other Stories by Nazneen Sadiq, James Lorimer & Company Ltd., Publishers. Reprinted by permission; "Birds: Grounded" From Birds: A Reader'sDigest Pathfinder. All rights reserved; "Granpa Is Missing on the Mars Tranship." Used by permission of Julia West, author; "Where Black Meets White" by Douglas Cowell. Appeared in Wild Magazine. Reprinted with permission of the author; "The Island That Took Care of Itself" from A Great Round Wonder: My Book of the World. Copyright © 1993 by Shelley Tanaka. Published in Canada by Douglas & Mclntyre Ltd. Reprinted by permission of the publisher; "Albert Einstein" by Ibi Lepscky. First paperback edition published 1992 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. First English language edition published 1982 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. © copyright 1982 by Emme Edizioni. All rights reserved. Reprinted with arrangement with Barron's Educational Series, Inc, Hauppauge, NY; "Elizabeth's Wish" by Debbi Chocolate. Excerpted from Elizabeth's Wish, Just Us Books. Reprinted by permission. Illustrators Vesna Krstanovic, Jock MacRae, Rene Mansfield, Sharon Matthews, David Moore, Scot Ritchie, Gordon Sauv, Margot Thompson Photo credits pp. 16-17: Weldon Owen Pry Limited; pp. 27-29: Illustrated by Paolo Cardoni. Used by permission of Barron's Educational Series, Inc.

Wherever people live, animals live also. The Living Town by Nigel Hester

Living Close to People. At night, when most people are asleep, many animals are moving about in our towns. Some of them, such as raccoons and opossums, are surprisingly large, but they may be harder to spot than small ones, such as rats, rabbits, and bats. All these animals live in urban areas as well as in the country. Many of them feed at night and rest during the day.

Rabbits need plenty of grass to eat. You may see them at dawn or dusk feeding in parks or in large gardens. Black and brown rats will eat almost anything, but black rats prefer fruit and brown rats like to eat cereals. Urban raccoons often overturn garbage cans and spread litter in their search for food.

Rabbits live in burrows.

Black rats are excellent climbers. They live in the rafters of buildings in ports.

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Foxes live in many towns and cities. They take food scraps from garbage cans and dumps.

High-Rise Life. The buildings that make up our towns and cities provide homes and places of work and leisure for people. However, to many kinds of wildlife, these buildings are good substitutes for natural habitats. Tall office blocks and warehouses are treated as inland "cliffs" by some kinds of birds. The pigeon, for example, has evolved from the rock dove, which lives on rocky coasts. The pigeon roosts and nests on tall buildings. Seagulls also nest on tall buildings. Urban gulls usually breed more successfully than their coastal relatives.

As the sun sets in many large towns and cities, the twittering and chattering of huge flocks of starlings may be heard above the noise of the traffic. Starlings, andpigeons, gather together on the ledges and sills of buildings to roost for the night.

Wherever people live, animals live also. Think about where you live--whether that's in a city, in a town, or on a farm. Which animals share your home?

Tall buildings provide roosting and nesting sites for birds.

The sky became angry because of the waste and the people's ingratitude for his gift.

Why the Sky is Far Away   A Nigerian Folktale retold by Marci Stillerman.

In the beginning, the sky was close to the earth, and the people didn't have to work for their food. All they had to do was cut away a piece of sky to eat. It tasted delicious, like meat or corn or honey or anything else they felt like eating. Since they didn't have to hunt for their food, all they did was weave and carve and tell stories all day.

When the great King Oba wanted to give a party, his servants would cut out pieces of the sky and shape them into wonderful forms--animals, diamonds, leaves, or flowers.

But as time went on, the people forgot to appreciate the sky. They took their food for granted, and they became wasteful. They

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cut far more sky than they needed and threw what they didn't use onto the garbage heap. The sky became angry because of the waste and the people's ingratitude for his gift. One day, the sky grew very dark. The people were frightened. "Oba," a voice boomed above the king's palace. "Wasteful one, king of wasteful,

ungrateful people. If you continue to waste food, you will have no more of the sky to cut." Oba was terrified. He sent messengers all over his kingdom. "Take only what you

need," they warned. "The sky is angry because of your greed. Stop wasting the sky, or there will be trouble."

For a while, the people were very careful. They cut only what they needed from the sky. They ate all they took. Nothing was thrown on the garbage heap. Nothing was wasted.

Once every year, there was a great festival in Oba's kingdom in celebration of this greatness. All the people looked forward to wearing their best clothes, dancing all day and night, and feasting on wonderful foods.

Oba's servants prepared magnificent food. They pulled pieces of sky down and shaped them into flowers and animals and every imaginable form. They coloured them and cooked them and placed them on huge platters so that the food looked tempting and inviting.

The people came in gorgeous robes. Music played, and everyone danced. Soon the people became hungry and started to eat. The food was so delicious that they ate and ate until everything was gone.

But the people were greedy and wanted to eat more, even though they were no longer hungry. They pulled down great quantities of sky and gobbled them up. What they couldn't stuff into themselves, they threw on the garbage heap. Greedy and wasteful, they forgot all about the sky's warning.

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Suddenly, while the festival was still going on, the sky grew ominously dark. Thunder rumbled and roared, and fearsome knives of lightning sliced through the sky.

"People of the earth," the sky boomed, "you are wasteful and greedy. I warned you. I will no longer give you food. You will have to work to eat."

The sky sailed up high above the earth, far out of the reach of the tallest person.

Ever since then, no one has been able to reach up and grab a piece of it, and the people must work hard on farms and in factories for their food.

Sable Island's horses have been running free for over 200 years.

The Wild Horses of Sable Island   by Laurie Mackenzie.

Sable Island. There's a special place in Canada where horses still run wild. Sable Island lies in the Atlantic Ocean southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia. The island is just 44 km long and a little over 1 km wide. It is often blanketed by fog.

Some people think that explorers brought horses to the island when they visited between 200 and 400 years ago. Others believe that an American merchant brought farm horses from Acadia (now the province of Nova Scotia) to Sable Island in the mid-1750s. He may have been moving them to America and left some behind on Sable Island.

A Different Breed of Horse. Most Sable Island horses are a solid reddish-brown colour, called bay. But some of the animals have white markings on their faces and legs. This animal's deep chest, heavy neck and shoulders, and stocky legs give it a chunky, thick-bodied look.

Banded Together. Almost 300 horses range across Sable Island today, living in families, or bands, of about six

Page 9The horses of Sable Island play by frolicking among grass-covered dunes and galloping along sandy beaches.

members. An adult male, or stallion, leads his band of females and young over their territory of about 3 km. They know that his lowered head, stretched out neck, and pinned back ears mean: "Keep grazing and moving together.

" One or more females, called mares, live with the male. The oldest mare decides when and where the band will graze and water. While the others eat and drink, the stallion stands guard. He is watching for other males who might try to steal his mates.

Pregnant mares leave their bands in May or June. They go off on their own to give birth, usually to a single baby, or foal. Wobbling on its shaky legs, the newborn foalstands within an hour and begins nursing. It will remain close to its mother for about 10 months.

Sandhills. On Sable Island, there are no trees, but the bands find shelter from the wind among the sand dunes. These rounded hills of sand are shaped by ocean winds and can be 25 m high.

There is plenty of food and fresh water for the horses. The horses' favourite foods include beach grass, beach pea, and sandwort. The animals have no problem finding drinking water, either. Small freshwater ponds lie between some of the sand dunes. The horses also dig their own wells. Using their front hooves, they dig

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holes in the sand to reach the water underneath. When the water turns to ice, they eat snow.

Sable Island's horses are always hungry, and during the summer and fall they grow fat from all the plants they eat. Building a thick layer of fat is important; they need it to survive the winter. There isn't much snow on the island and it doesn't get very cold, but the horses have only winter-dried leaves to eat.

Running Wild. Sable Island's horses have been running free for over 200 years. They've shared their home with humans from time to time, but the only people who live there now are the scientists who work at the weather station. People are allowed to visit the horses only with permission from the Canadian government. With this kind of protection, these wild horses will continue to gallop over the sandy dunes for a long time to come.

Sable Island horses always have sand in their food.

She doesn't look like a regular grandmother, Amit thought to himself.    

Shonar Arches       by Nazneen Sadiq.

Amit scowled at the stalk of broccoli on his dinner plate. Then he narrowed his eyes, pretending they were laser guns. Zap! shot the beam, and all that was left on his plate were traces of melted butter.

"Eat your vegetables, Amit," said his father. "I'm going to," he muttered in disgust. It   never worked. Somebody, he thought, should

arrest all the farmers who grew vegetables. Meanwhile, the best thing that could happen was for Mom to be struck with a sudden case of colour blindness. Then she wouldn't see all the horrible    

green vegetables in the supermarket. "Why can't we have French fries?" he grumbled."Because you had them yesterday," Mom replied. "Amit!" snapped Dad, a warning note in his voice. "Guess what's for dessert?" asked Mom, and Amit knew that she was changing the

subject. That was his mom, all right! Whenever things got sticky, she changed the subject. "I know a boy at school who choked on Brussels sprouts," he whispered to Mom. "And his mother had probably made his favourite dessert too," she said, sounding

sympathetic, but not looking it. Knowing that the battle was lost, Amit viciously speared the broccoli with his fork. "This

stuff," he muttered, "could kill me." "We'll risk it, son. I'm sure you're tougher than you look." The edges of his father's lips

pressed away a smile.

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Crazy, thought Amit. Sometimes parents were really crazy. What was so funny about watching your child choke himself over vegetables! He swallowed the entire stalk with a glass of water.

His mother said, "Gulab jamuns, Amit, that's what I made for   yOU.

Amit tried to scowl at her, but the announcement really cheered him up considerably. He knew how long it took to make the special Bengali dessert. When he was younger, he used to watch in fascination as the round confectionery balls spun crazily in the sugar syrup on the stove. But the best part was the taste. The spongy balls were smooth, creamy, and never quite melted away. The syrup was piercingly sweet. Even a double fudge sundae didn't taste as good. But no way he was going to give Mom a break; he was going to let her sweat it out for making him eat broccoli!

"I'm going to have to bring Bob home from the office one day to eat your gulab jamuns," Dad said with smile.  

  "Has he ever had them?" asked mom."Yes. I took him to a Bengali restaurant for lunch one day, but they     weren't half

as good as yours" Mom brought the glass bowl out of   the fridge and set it on the dining room  

table in front of Amit. "As many as you want," she whispered to him, and sat down in her chair.

Amit dug the spoon into the syrup and lifted two of the golden-brown spongy balls into his bowl. Then he ladled three large spoonfuls of syrup over them. The

tantalizing smell of cardamom and rosewater filled the air, and for a moment he just sat there inhaling deeply.

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"Get your nose out of that bowl, Amit," said his father. "How do you get our food to smell so good?" he asked his mom as he passed the bowl to his father.

"Wait till your grandmother comes, Amit. Her food is even more wonderful," replied Mom.

"That's right son. You're in for a real treat," agreed his father. Amit didn't know what to think. He had never seen his grandmother before. She

lived in a place called Calcutta in West Bengal, India. His parents had come from the same place, but he had only been two years old when they moved to Canada. He knew nothing about Calcutta, except what his parents told him. Mom went to Calcutta every two years to visit his grandmother, but this year she was coming to Canada for a visit. He could see that Mom was excited; she had been cleaning out the spare bedroom and running around the house rearranging things. The worst part was that she had started coming to his room and nagging him to tidy up.

"You have to get rid of all the junk," she said, pointing to his prize rock collection.

"Junk!" Those are fossils, and some of them are millions of years old," he explained.

"Oh, well, then at least make them look neater," she replied. "They're not supposed to look neat or anything. Anyway, it's my room!" he

shouted. "Don't you talk back to me," snapped his mother. Here we go again, thought Amit. Now I'm going to get a lecture about how

Bengali children were taught to respect their elders. Mom could be a real pain at times. She kept harping about Bengali this and Bengali that. Didn't she know he really didn't believe all the stories about kids who never talked back?

"Don't forget to wear something nice, Amit," said his mother the next morning as he was getting ready for school.

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Amit pulled his Star Wars sweatshirt over his head and asked, "How's this?" "How about the nice plaid shirt I got from Sears?" replied his mother, walking toward his

closet. "C'mon, Mom what's wrong with this?" demanded Amit as he tried to keep her from opening his closet.

"Amit, I want you to look   nice at the airport for your grandmother," she insisted. "So why don't you rent me a tux?" he said airily. His mother grinned at him and then got that look in her eye which meant, you're not

getting away with it. She whipped open the door to his closet and asked, "Where's that lovely shirt?"

"I think it's lost," said Amit hopefully. "It has to be here somewhere." His mother was impatiently pulling apart the bunched-up

hangers. "I hate it. The collar is too tight," Amit said in a final attempt to stop her.

"No, it's not. Here it is! Oh, Amit, it's filthy. What have you done to it?" wailed his mother.

"I guess I forgot to throw it in the laundry." He tried to look apologetic. "I'm going to be late, Mom. I've gotta go." And he charged out of his room.

"We'll pick you up at school. Don't forget." His mother's voice followed him into the kitchen as he grabbed his lunch bag. He also heard something that sounded like "washing hands" behind him as he slammed the screen door.

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Amit was scowling again. Instead of playing the first baseball game of the summer gym period, he was sitting in a traffic jam on Highway 401 on the way to the Toronto airport. He had complained to his parents, but they had hushed him, saying "This is your dida's first visit to our home, and that's more important than a baseball game.

" He didn't even like the word dida. It was Bengali for grandmother. He didn't like the way Mom kept babbling on about her. It was almost as though she was the most important thing in the world. His best friend, Rick, had said at school   this morning, 'You won't   catch me missing a baseball game for any old grandmother!"  

One hour later a very plump woman wearing a   vibrant blue sari rode up   the escalator at Lester B. Pearson Airport. Amit had never seen his mother like this:she was jumping up and down like a kid, squealing, "There she is, there she is!" Both his parents dashed forward.

Dad took the two bulging bags Amit's grandmother was holding, and Mom flung herself into her mother's arms. She doesn't look like a regular grandmother, Amit thought to himself. Her hair was shiny and black, and she had podgy feet stuffed into the most delicate-looking sandals he had ever seen.

BIRDS: GROUNDED.It seems only natural for birds to fly. But quite a few birds never take to the air. No one is sure why they developed this way. The most likely theory, though, is that they lost the ability to fly simply because they stopped needing it. Many flightless birds evolved on remote islands, such as the Galapagos Islands or New Zealand. Island birds were safe on the ground as there were no humans or other predators such as cats, rats, or foxes. And they didn't need to fly to gather food as supplies were always close by. So they gradually quit flying because it takes so much energy. When humans and other predators arrived, flightless birds couldn't escape them. Some, like New Zealand's Moa, became extinct as the new- comers took their places in their old habitats. Some birds lost the ability to fly and then grew huge. This happened to the Ostriches, which can grow to be about 9 feet (2.75 m) tall. They survived because they developed long, powerful legs on which they could run faster than a racehorse to escape predators. When cornered, they could also defend themselves by kicking. They still have small wings, though, which they use mainly for balance.FLIGHTLESS In NEW ZEALAND. There are five flightless birds living in New   Zealand's Fiordland National Park - the Little - Penguin, Kakapo, Takahe, Weka, and Brown Kiwi. The Kiwi is the country's national bird. It is nocturnal, and is one of only a few bird species to have a good sense of smell.The Kakapo is the largest parrot in the world, and the only one that cannot fly. It can, however, climb trees and glide to the ground. Because it lives on the ground and nests in holes, it is vulnerable to predators - there are fewer than 50 still alive.the name the Maoristhat became New Zealand's national mascot K/w/is also a all New Zealanders.Yellow. eggs take 21 days,!penguinOstrichINTERNATIONAL REIITIONS Rheas, the Fnu, and the Ostrich are veLv large flightless birds. They live on the continents of South .taerica, Australia, and Africa, respectively. Because they look alike, it's possible they came from a common ancestor when the continents were joined. Or they may have evolved to be so similar to one another because they all live in open grassland, and feed on grass and insects."['he qhkahe is a large, flightless rail, It was thought to have been extinct fir 50 ),ears, but in 1948, a small mmber were fi)und, qbday, there are about 180 'lhkahes living in a grassy hillside reserve near Te Anau, These solitaLw birds nest betaveen tufts of grass, bnt live in the frests during winter,The Xka is a flightle.s rail has well-developed wings, but onl uses them for balance when running. It survives because it is a strong fighter. ,Vekas are known to kill rats as well as other hirds that live on the ground.

Rusty didn't want to miss Mars now because of a stuffed bunny.

Granpa is Missing on  the   Mars Tranship by Julia West.

Rusty backflipped off the living room sofa. Pulling in his knees, he bounced from the padded wall into a somersault. Weightless acrobatics on the Mars Tranship were more fun than jumping on the trampoline at home.

Four-year-old Jay floated through the bedroom door. He was crying, and his tears drifted away in little drops.

Rusty grabbed a handhold on the wall to stop his somersault. He caught Jay and hugged him. "What's wrong?" he asked. "Granpa Bunny-bunny's gone," said Jay. "I can't find him anywhere in this stupid spaceship. I wanna go home!"

"Hey, Jaybird, calm down." If Jay   caused trouble, Mom and Dad might decide to send the boys home on the cargo shuttle. Most of the scientists on theMars Tranship had left their kids with relatives on Earth. Rusty didn't want to miss Marsnow because of a stuffed bunny.

"I'll help you find Granpa," Rusty said to Jay. "Where could he hide?" Jay squirmed away and drifted off. "He's not anywhere. I already looked."

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Rusty hooked his foot through the handhold and snagged Jay again. "When did you have him last?"

"This morning at breakfast," Jay said. Jay and Rusty popped through the kitchen door. They found Dad typing at the

computer. It was clipped to the table so it wouldn't float away. "Hi, Dad!" said Rusty. "Have you   seen Granpa Bunny-bunny?" "Not since yesterday." Dad   unstrapped himself from his chair and floated to the

refrigerator. He tossed each of the boys a juice tube. "Here, have a drink. I'm going to the cargo hold to check supplies. By the way, my   toothbrush wasn't in its holder this morning. Will you look for it? Bye!

" Jay squeezed blobs of juice from the tube. He caught them in his mouth. "I want Granpa," he said.

Rusty finished his juice and stuffed the tube in the garbage chute. "Bring your juice and let's fly, Jaybird," he said. "Now we have two things to find."

The Mars Tranship would be the family's home for the next nine months. Their living section had five rooms. The living room was in the middle. From the living room, doors led to two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom. All the furniture was bolted down or built into the walls. A grey stuffed bunny should be easy to find.

Rusty checked the cupboards in the bare kitchen, but he saw only clipped-in dishes. The bathroom was just a shower stall with foldout sink and toilet. Nowhere to hide a toy there.

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In the boys' bedroom, a ball and a few books drifted from the closet. Jay's bedsack floated like a big blue ghost against one wall. When Rusty shook it, a picture book flew out. Rusty found a sock in his own bedsack, but nothing else. He towed Jay into the living room again.

"Good morning, boys," said Mom,   floating out of her bedroom. "Mom!" said Rusty. "Have you seen Granpa Bunny-bunny?" "Last night in the kitchen," she answered. "We looked there. Can we check your

bedroom?" asked Rusty. "Help yourselves. There's hardly space to turn around, though. Look for my green notebook, too, please. I've got to go help Dad."

Mom and Dad's closet was empty, and the drawers held only a few coveralls under elastic straps.

"This place is too little," said Jay. "How can we lose so many things?" "I don't know." Rusty frowned. "He's got to be in the living room." Cupboards lined the living-room walls. Rusty slid the doors open one by one.

"Not here," he said. No grey bunny floated by the exercise bike, the video cabinet, or the computer. The boys didn't see the toothbrush or the notebook, either.

"Granpa's gone." Jay's mouth quivered. "I wanna go home!" "Let's watch a video," Rusty suggested. He had to get Jay's mind off his bunny.

He wanted to spend the next four years on Mars, not back on Earth with Grandma. But they had searched every room. What if Granpa had floated into the cargo hold and out into space?

Jay slid a video disk into the player, and the boys strapped themselves into chairs. Jay's juice tube drifted between him and the

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screen. He waved his arm, and the tube tumbled across the room. When it got to the wall, it disappeared behind the sofa.

"Hey!" Rusty said. He unstrapped himself and pushed across the room. Grabbing a handhold, he felt behind the sofa. His fingers touched a metal screen in the wall.

"What's back there?" Jay asked. Rusty felt an amazing number of things. He pulled out a crumpled paper tube, sticky with

orange juice. Then he touched something soft--a dirty sock. He reached farther down. "Here's Dad's toothbrush," he said. Then he slowly pulled out something furry and grey.

"Jaybird!" Here's Granpa!" Jay unstrapped himself and kicked off from the chair. He flew across the room and

grabbed his bunny. "Granpa! Granpa!" The corridor door slid open, and Dad floated in. "What's the ruckus?" he asked. "We found Granpa! "Jay squealed. "And lots of other stuff, too," said Rusty. "Here's your toothbrush, Mom's notebook, and

my pocket computer." Dad grabbed a handhold and pulled himself closer to look. He laughed. "It's where air

goes to be cleaned," he said. "Since the opening sucks in the air, anything else floating around comes, too. Good detective work, star pilots. Let's go watch the last cargo shuttle leave for Earth. We won't see another spaceship until we reach Mars."

"Yippee!" yelled Rusty. If this was the last shuttle, they couldn't be sent back to Earth now. They were on their way to Mars. "Come on, Jaybird. Let's fly!"

The only difference is that a Kermode bear can be black or white.

Where Black Meets White by Doug Cowell.

One hundred years ago, William Hornaday, a scientist at the New York City Zoo, was studying black bear skins. Suddenly, he stoppedwhat he was doing. One of the bear skins in his laboratory was not black; it was white!

The label on the skin said it had come from the coast of British Columbia. That's 3500 km away from the Arctic, so Hornaday knew the skin wasn't from a polar bear. He asked his friend Francis Kermode, head of the B.C. Provincial Museum, to find out whether any white bears were living in   British Columbia's forests.

Kermode spent four gruelling months searching the wild coastal forests between Vancouver Island and Prince Rupert. In that time, Kermode found three more white bear skins in the hands of trappers. He shipped the skins to Hornaday, who declared that the

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pelts belonged to a new species of bear. Hornaday named it the Kermode   bear after his brave Canadian friend.

Today we know a lot more about the Kermode bear. Scientists have learned that it's similar in every way to the black bears found along British Columbia's coast. It's the same size and lives to the same age.

It eats the same plants, insects, berries, and salmon. The only difference is that a Kermode bear can be black or white. Most Kermode bears live on Princess Royale Island, which lies halfway up British Columbia's coast from the city of Vancouver. Scientists who've studied the Kermodes on the island say they've

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noticed that the bears aren't afraid of people. Because Princess Royale Island is so remote, the bears hardly ever meet any humans. This situation might change soon. A logging company has already begun cutting down trees on the northern part of the island. The company thinks it can log without hurting the bears. People concerned about the animals disagree. They would like to turn a large part of the island into a park where loggers can't go.

Kermode bears, just like black bears, need lots of wilderness to survive. All spring and summer, the mother bear leads her cubs through the forest showing them what plants to eat. In the fall, she teaches them how to catch salmon that swim up streams and rivers. Fall is when the bears need to get really fat, so they can sleep all winter without getting hungry.

When the cubs are about a year and a half old, it's time for them to leave their mothers and begin their lives as adult bears. Soon they'll have their own cubs, too, and although most will be coloured black, some will be white. As long as humans let the Kermode bears live in peace, there will always be white bears wandering the faraway forests along the British Columbia coast.

But then an extra-cold winter came along. The Island That Took Care of Itself by Shelley Tanaka.

Somewhere in the middle of the ocean, there was a little island. The island looked very bare, covered only by sand. There were no trees. There were no hills or lakes or rivers.

But the island wasn't as empty as it looked. Enough rain and snow fell to fill ponds with fresh water. Between the humps of sand there were green grasses and cranberry bushes for birds to eat. There was even enough grass and water to feed a small herd of wild horses that ran free on the island.

Although there wasn't much on it, the island looked after itself. The horses grew up and had more and more babies, until it looked as though there would not be enough grass to feed them all. But then an extra-cold winter came along. The older and weaker animals died, but their dead bodies rotted and decayed and made the soil rich so the grass could grow well.

The island managed just fine this way for a long, long time.Then one day, people found the island - and decided to move in. They didn't want to eat horses, so they brought rabbits over on a ship

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and let them loose. The rabbits had so many babies that soon there were too many for the people to eat. The rabbits ate up the plants and grass, until there was little left for the people or the horses. So the people brought over cats to eat all the rabbits. The cats did this, but then they started having kittens. Soon there were wild cats all over the island. They were as much of a nuisance as the rabbits. And the people didn't want to eat the cats.  

So the people brought over foxes to eat the cats. But the foxes started to eat up all the birds, too.

With few birds around to eat them, grasshoppers started to eat up all the plants. Finally, the people decided enough was enough. They shipped the foxes back to where

they came from. Then they packed their bags and went away themselves. Soon the birds came back and started eating grasshoppers again. The plants grew back. With no rabbits, cats, foxes, or people, the island was back to the way it was in the first place.

Once again, it could look after itself.

He was a child different from others.

Albert Einstein by Ibi Lepscky.

About one hundred years ago, there lived a boy named Albert Einstein. Albert was a strange boy. Always absentminded. Always messy.It was a difficult job for him to tie his shoes.But he knew how to play the violin very well. He did not like to play marbles or ball like other boys his age. Instead, he enjoyed

looking for hours and hours at the shape of a leaf and playing with wooden blocks like a little child.

He disliked long sleeves, and as soon as he could, snip went the scissors as he cut his sleeves above the elbow.

He was not interested in the boys in his neighbourhood, who invited him to play tag. He preferred to chase the white chickens scratching in the gardenand to try to make friends with them.

Albert felt happy only in the company of his little sister, Maja, whom he loved very much and who looked exactly like him. They were as alike as two drops of water.

"Albert is weird," said his cousins when they came for a visit and tried to make him join in their games. Albert ignored them and, with his sister, watched a colony of ants

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busy at work. He was a child different from others. His parents loved him very much, but they were very worried about him.

"Albert is a good boy," said his father one night. "But I would like it if he would study a little more and if he would show some interest in history and geography.

" It was true. Albert did not like school. He hated history and geography, and he refused to memorize any lessons. He was interested only in learning arithmetic.

"It would be nice if you could leave, Albert," a teacher told him one day. "Your behaviour at school, so distracted and absentminded, and your poor interest in all I teach set bad examples for the whole class.

" Albert's mother felt a special love and tenderness for Albert. She painted his picture on a little cup, and for the occasion, he was unusually well-groomed. The little cup was always displayed on the family's fireplace.

Albert's mother loved music very much, and in the evenings, she and Albert would improvise little concerts for the rest of the family. She would be at the piano and Albert at the violin.

One day, when Albert had a fever and had to stay in bed for a few days, his father gave him a compass.

"Albert, you can pretend to be a captain of a ship," said his father, "and control the route with the compass." But Albert was not interested in the game his father suggested. He wanted to know right away why the compass needle was pointing to the

big N and what were magnetic fields all about and where were the poles of the earth. He asked question after question. It seemed they would never end.

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Finally his father, exhausted, said curtly, "Because that's the way it is. That's all." Later, Albert's father, thinking back about the boy's questions, was amazed that

they were such thoughtful questions, so precise and sharp. Suddenly, he realized the truth about Albert. It was a truth that filled him with anguish, pride, and tenderness.

Albert was indeed a child different from all others. His gaze, which everyone thought to be absentminded, really reflected a very busy mind, a mind that was exploring places where nobody else could follow. It was the mind of a genius.

Albert's father was not mistaken. When Albert grew up, his interest in every process of nature and science never

stopped. He became a great scientist and developed new theories in physics that radically changed people's ideas about the universe. He discovered scientific truths never known before.

His mind made some of the greatest contributions in the history of human thought.

Then, all of a sudden, a DJ's voice blared from the boom box.   Elizabeth's Wish By Debbi Chocolate.

Liz smiled at the thought of her friends and began to get dressed for school. She was trying to decide whether to wear jeans or a skirt when she heard humming. Liz glanced up from the mirror long enough to notice her honey-coloured older sister. Sandy was busy brushing her teeth, humming, and bumping to the rhythms jamming on the radio.

When Liz looked back at the mirror, she realized for the first time how much she and Sandy contrasted with each other in appearance. The mirror showed a thirteen-year-old, coffee- coloured girl whose eyes were of the same hue. She saw a pair of almond-shaped eyes, much like those of the Egyptian queens that she had read about in her African-American history book. She studied her full lips, which suddenly blossomed into a radiant smile. Her shoulder-length braids were neatly interwoven with bright, colourful African beads, which bounced loosely about her neck. The beads always reminded her of Angie, Liz and Sandy's four-year-old sister, who loved to play with beads and braids.

The aroma of coffee and bacon floated upstairs from the Butler kitchen and Liz hurried to finish dressing in time for school. But she took a little extra time to admire herself, and bumped to the easy rhythms floating from her night stand while she finished putting on the final touches. Then, all of a sudden, a DJ's voice blared from the boom box.

"V93!" the radio voice announced, "is sponsoring its first annual gospel, blues, rhythm, soul, and rap talent search for junior-

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high and high-school aged students! Contestants must be students currently enrolled in city-wide schools in order to participate." The radio announcer punctuated the words as though his voice were a bass drum driving through the street in a Fourth of July parade.

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"The grand prize to the best individual or group will be a cool five thousand dollars. Half will go to the winner or winners, and half will be donated in prizes to the individual's school. Pick up your contest applications at any Rose Records store. The deadline for applications is Saturday, October 10th. We're radio station V93! Your music radio, and we're looking for this city's next shining star ..."

As soon as the radio voice fell silent Liz started screaming at the mirror: "That's me! V93 is looking for me!" she shouted over and over again, jumping on top of Sandy.

"Oh, no!" groaned Sandy, narrowly escaping drowning in the current of Liz's waterbed. "Not another talent show," she sighed while making a beeline for the safety of her own bedroom across the hall.

"Elizabeth!" shouted Ms. Butler from the kitchen. It took the sound of her mother's voice to jolt Liz back to reality. Liz hurried with the finishing touches on her flavour-mad outfit. She slipped on the Kente cloth jacket that her parents had bought for her in Ghana the month before. Then she broke out a red leather baseball cap and a pair of red-rimmed sunglasses. She checked her hair beads and took one last look at her outrageously cute self before grabbing her book bag and running down to breakfast.

Downstairs in the kitchen, she quickly gobbled up her bacon and eggs, much to the disapproval of her mother, and was off like a shot, jogging towards DuSable Junior High. Not

only were her feet racing but her mind was racing, too. As she passed the corner bakery, images of new clothes, new shoes, a new CD player, and all of the things she could buy with her contest winnings helped to keep her in step. Liz broke into a run. She couldn't wait to spread the good news to her NEAT friends about the cool five thousand dollars in prize money that could be awaiting her and her classmates.