® Rebecca's Journey Diary of a Young Girl By Barbara Wood Illustrated by Eion McKeown@ May 10, 1848 Independence, Missouri I'm far too excited to sleep! Our wagon train leaves for Oregon at daylight. Oregon has free land! There are tall trees, plenty of rivers, and flowers that grow all year. T've already said good-bye to my best friend, Sarah. Her family will follow us in a few days, after the ground dries. But our trail guide says, “Better to get stuck in mud now than to get stuck in snow later.”© May 11, 1848 @ On the Trail We're on our way at last! Our wagon is filled with barrels of food, blankets, candles, and tools. Ma brought the rocking chair to rock baby Alice. I don't think we need it—the trail is bumpy enough already! I walked all day beside the wagon with our dog Pepper. I liked walking, but I hated the mud! It made my shoes feel as heavy as Pa's big boots! Ma said to be thankful that the wagon wheels didn’t get stuck. Tonight Pa played his fiddle and everyone sang. It was fun!@ May 26, 1848 On the Trail Pepper is gone! Pa and I asked at every wagon, but nobody saw Pepper taday. We could not stop the wagon train, so I left a letter for Sarah. Pa helped me cut an opening ina stick. I wrote a letter and pushed it into the opening. ft. Pra ae We pressed the stick into the ground, right by the trail. I hope that Sarah will find my letter and look for Pepper. June 8, 1848 Near Fort Kearny We have been on the trail almost one month. We have five months to go. It has become hot and dusty, but at least we can rest. —aGS beeid @ We will be stopping at Fort Kearny for two days. Pa hopes to trade cloth and fishing hooks for Indian moccasins. We will repair the wagons, too. June 10, 1848 Fort Kearny T can hardly believe it! Sarah's wagon train pulled in today—with Pepper! Here is what happened. Pepper showed up at Sarah's campfire. He was hungry and muddy, but as friendly as ever. Sarah was worried! Where were the rest of us? Were we sick, or in trouble? Then Sarah found my letter beside the trail. Her wagon train was able to travel faster than ours, because the mud had dried. Tonight, Sarah and I are all smiles! Pepper, too!«Mae Jemison: Flying High! By Beverly Hansen Illustrated by Holly Gault €2@ Dr. Mae Jemison calls herself a “fraidy-cat." She says she is afraid of heights. Yet in 1992, this “fraidy-cat” flew 200 miles above Earth! Mae Jemison was the first African-American woman to fly into space.@ Mae overcame her fear of heights to become an astronaut. But that wasn't her only challenge. Mae grew up in Chicago, Illinois, in the 1960s, Friends laughed when Mae said she wanted to go into space. No women and no African-Americans were astronauts that time.® Mae didn't give up her plan. She studied very hard. She was one of the smartest students in her school. She even finished high school early. Then she studied science in college. Mae also learned three languages: Japanese, Russian, and Swahili. She learned jazz, ballet, and other types of dance. She liked sewing clothes. She read lots of books. ? >@ Mae became a doctor in 1981. For two years, she treated sick people in West Africa and other places. Working there was hard. Many people did not have clean drinking water. One town had electricity. Mae wanted to find ways to fix thes kinds of problems. But first, she had another goal to reach. She still 71 to be an astronaut. €e2@ In the United States, NASA is in charge of sending people into space. Mae told NASA she wanted to be an astronaut. Many, many people want to become astronauts. But only a few are chosen. In 1987, NASA told Mae she would get t into space! For a year, she learned about space travel. She made her body strong andy healthy. She practiced the skills she wo! need in space. She spent time inside a model of the space shuttle. She practiced q moving around underwater because that's a lot like moving in space. Finally, she was ready for a trip into space.@ In 1992, Mae blasted off. On the space shuttle, Mae did experiments. She even did one on herself! Like many astronauts, Mae felt sick in space. She tested ways to stop the sickness. She also watched tadpoles grow into frogs in space. People thought they might not grow right or they might not be healthy. But the frogs grew the way they were supposed to grow.®@ Scientist, doctor, astronaut—those are three very big jobs. But Mae didn't stop there. She still wanted to help people. Mae wanted poor countries to have better health care. So she started a company called The Jemison Group. This company shares technology with doctors and other people around the world. Mae wanted everyone to love science. So in 1994, she started a science camp for high school students. Mae wanted scientists to help people in poor countries. So today, she teaches at Dartmouth College. Her students learn about ways to bring people water, electricity, and other things they need.@ Will Mae ever go back into space? She has said that she would love to go to the planet Mars. Dr. Mae Jemison may be afraid of heights, but she is never afraid to fly high! Facts About Mae Jemison te * She was born in Decatur, Alabama; grew up in Ch now lives in Houston, Texas. * Her birthday is October 17. She was born in 1956. + She is 5 feet 9 inches tall. * She has two cats. One is named “Sneeze” and thi * She acted in a television show.© Mari’s Scavenger Hunt By Susan Korman Illustrated by Holly Gault@ Chapter 1 “What time is it. Oba-chan?"” Mari asked for the third time that morning. Grandmother looked up from her pot on the stove. She was making miso soup. “You must learn to wait, Mariko," she said. “It is only noon. The party doesn’t start until three o'clock.” Mari let out a sigh. Why was it so hard to wait sometimes? ? €/e Every year Maris family had a big party. Her aunts, uncles, and cousins came. So did several of the Otas’ neighbors. This year, Mari had planned a new game for the party—a scavenger hunt. Each team would have to find eight objects in the neighborhood. Mari hoped it would be a lot of fun. Mari's mother hurried into the kitchen. “Mariko!” she said. “There is so much to do! Why are you just sitting there?” “Sorry, Mom," answered Mari. She jumped to her feet. Soon Mari was busy sweeping floors and making beds. Next, her mother asked her to move some chairs to the porch.@ Mari carried two folding chairs outside. It was a sunny afternoon. Mr. Evans was in the yard with his grandson, Jason. Mari waved to them. “Hello, Mari," Mr. Evans called to her. "What a great day fora party!" Mr. Evans lived on the lower floor of the building. The Otas lived upstairs. Mr. Evans came to their party every year. He always brought a salad made with the vegetables from his garden. Dd@ Mari started to set up the chairs on the porch. Just then, she felt someone's eyes on her. She saw her new neighbor watching her from the yard next door. | “Hello, Mrs. Perez,” Mari called. | The woman answered back. “Excuse me?” Mari could not understand what she said. Mrs. Perez didn’t reply. Instead, she went back inside. “Suit yourself,"" Mari thought. She had tried to speak to Mrs. Perez several times before. Each time, Mrs. Perez had turned away. Mari wished her neighbor would be more friendly. But she wasn't going to let it upset her. Not today—the day she'd been waiting for. & >)®@ Chapter 2 By four o'clock, the Otas' apartment was filled with guests. Grandmother and Mr. Ota handed around cheese and crackers and spicy ginger mushrooms. Mari explained the scavenger hunt to everyone, She broke the group into pairs. Then she handed each team a sheet of paper. “Here is the list of objects you will need to find,” she said. &Ddold newspaper drinking straw business card pink flower subway map bus tokene “Is there a prize for the winning team?” Mari's cousin Steve asked. He was 19 and went to college. Mari was glad he was her partner. “Yes.” Mari held up a small card. “The winners will share a gift card for the bookstore.” “Cool,” Steve said. “Let's go!" Finally, everyone was ready. Grandmother blew a whistle to start the hunt.@ Mari and Steve ran downstairs and outside. They quickly found the first three objects on the list. Their next stop was a bodega. The owner of the food store gave them a straw and a business card. Soon Mari and Steve had every object but the pink flower. Mari stopped to think. Mrs. Lewis sold flowers nearby. But it was after five o'clock, and her shop would be closed. Mari could see Mrs. Perez's building down the street. Mrs. Perez had a small garden, Mari remembered. Maybe she had pink flowers! & dD]@ She took Steve's arm. “Come on!" They ran up the steps. Mari knocked on the neighbor's door. She wondered if this was the right thing to do. Mrs. Perez always seemed so unfriendly. What if she shut the door in their faces? Mari knocked again. No one came to the door. “That's strange,” Mari said. “Mrs. Perez was home a little while ago. I saw her.” “Maybe she went out," said Steve. “Come on." He started down the steps. Mari was about to follow, but something held her in place. It was a sound—a low moan from inside the building.e “Steve!” Mari whispered. “Wait!” They stood quietly at the door. A faint moan came again. “Someone is in there, Mari,” cried Steve. He tried to open the door, but it was locked. “There's a fire escape outside,” Mari said. “Maybe we can use it to get in the window.” They raced to the side of the building, Steve looked up at the iron stairway several feet above his head. “Here, Mari," he said. “I'll lift you.”@ = Mari climbed onto her cousin's back and reached up. She wasn't tall enough to reach the fire escape. Mari jumped down and looked all around. Finally, she spotted some weoden crates next to the building. Together, Steve and Mari dragged the crates over and began stacking them up. Steve climbed up the stack and pulled himself onto the first landing. Mari started her climb. She had almost reached the top when she felt the boxes give way under her feet. “Steve!” Mari cried in panic.@ Mari threw herself at the fire escape just as the boxes started to fall. Her fingers gripped the metal bars. She had to use all her strength to hang on. Steve reached down and pulled her up. “Are you okay?” “Whew. ..!" Mari sat for a moment, a hand over her heart. “That was close.” Just then, the moaning sound came again. This time, it sounded close. “Por favor,"" someone said softly. “Help me.” e >@ Mari jumped to her feet. Quickly, she and Steve climbed through the open window behind them. “Oh no!” Steve said. Mari drew in a breath. Mrs. Perez lay on the floor, her eyes closed. Next to her lay a ladder and a framed picture. “Mrs. Perez! Are you okay?” Mari asked. The woman whispered some words that Mari could not understand. Steve was learning Spanish in college. “I think she’s saying she fell and hurt her leg,” he said to Mari. “Your leg?" he asked Mrs. Perez in Spanish. “Si,"" Mrs. Perez replied. “Yes.” Suddenly, Mari figured it out. “Mrs. Perez doesn't speak much English,” she realized. “That's why she seemed so unfriendly.” ry@ “I'm going to callan ambulance,” Steve said. “Mari, you stay with Mrs. Perez.” “Okay.” Mari sat next to the older woman. She held her hand and told her she would be okay. She wasn't sure if Mrs. Perez understood her. Mrs. Perez kept her eyes closed, not saying anything. Steve hurried back to the roam. He spoke to Mrs. Perez in Spanish. Soon Mari heard sirens in the distance. “At last, help is on the way," she thought thankfully. A few minutes later, the sirens were right outside. Red lights flashed through the dark windows. & »e Steve led three paramedics upstairs. One of them checked Mrs. Perez. “It looks like her leg is broken,” the paramedic told Mari and Steve. “It was a good thing that you found her. We'll take her to the hospital right away.” The paramedics placed Mrs. Perez ona stretcher. Mari followed them outside, where the ambulance was waiting. The rest of Mari's family was lined up on the sidewalk. They watched the scene with wortied faces. “Mariko!” Mrs. Ota rushed over. “What happened?” & D>e Mari's father ran over, too. “Everyone else came back from the scavenger hunt an hour ago! When we heard the siren, we thought that maybe you had been hurt!" Mari hugged her parents and told them about Mrs. Perez's fall. “I'm sorry,” she said. There wasn’t time to call you.” Mari looked up as the paramedics slid the stretcher inside the ambulance. “Good luck, Mrs. Perez!" she called out. Suddenly, the woman opened her eyes. “Gracias,” she said softly. This time, Mari didn't need Steve to explain Mrs. Perez's words. She knew her neighbor was saying “Thank you.” “You're welcome,” Mari replied.@ Chapter 3 “Here.” Grandmother handed Mari a plate. It was late. Mari was helping Grandmother wash the last of the dishes. “Your scavenger hunt was a big success, Mariko,” said Grandmother. “But maybe you should have put ‘new friend’ on your list instead of ‘pink flower.'" Mari grinned. Grandmother was joking, but what she said was true. Steve and Mari had found a friend today. Even more, Mari had discovered something about Mrs. Perez: She wasn’t unfriendly at all. She was just shy about using her few words of English.e@ Mari dried a few more plates. ‘I’m already looking forward to next year’s party," she told Grandmother. “Mariko..." Grandmother shook her head. "I can see that you still haven’t learned how to wait." “It's not that | can’t wait, Oba-chan,” Mari explained. “It's just that next year’s party is going to be better than ever.” “And why is that?” “We'll be able to ask another neighbor to come to the party,” Mari replied with a smile. “Mrs. Perez.”Life on a Space Station By Mary Kay Carson How would you like to live in space someday? Some people already do— on a space station. The station circles Earth, 230 miles above us. It whizzes around our planet at over 17,000 miles per hour. & Astronauts from different countries have called the space station home since the year 2000. Groups of three people take turns living on the station. They travel between their space home and Earth on the space shuttle.@ What’s it like to live on the space station? “It’s like taking a four-month camping trip — in space!” says John Charles, a NASA scientist. The mem- bers of the station crew eat dried food, bathe with wet cloths, and sleep in sleeping bags. The sleeping bags are A tied to a_ wall. Otherwise the crew would float around all night. The weightless- ness of space can be fun. The crew mem- bers do somersaults and play catch in slow motion. They also like to “Earth- gaze” out the window.There’s work to be done, too. The space station is a busy place. The station’s crew mem- bers do _— science experiments. They also spend a lot of their time adding new parts to the station. The space shuttle brings the parts. The astro- nauts sometimes make space walks outside the station to attach the new parts. Building a house can take less than a year, Building the space station will take at least eight years!The Myste! # of fie a of Purple Eon 7 Sy By e Mitchell Ga, oP ilustra ates Bye rn Matanes @= es - € D>® Chapter 1 “Our garbage can is back!” said Veena. “Was it gone?” asked her brother Ravi. “Yes, it blew away in the storm,” said Mom. f=Veena held up two paper shapes. “These purple footprints were taped to it.” Mom looked at them. “There's some writing on the back! ‘Greetings from Captain Purple.’ Who is that?” ~d “Beats me,” said Ravi. “I had my paper route this morning. And | didn't see anyone hiding in the bushes.” “Hmm...we're not the first to get these footprints," said Mom. “Mrs. Levin next door said she found some, too. They appeared after someone changed a broken light bulb above her door.” “| love a mystery!” said Veena. “Let's investigate!” Ravi shook his head. “Not today. I've got soccer practice.” ede “Then I'll do it alone!” said Veena. Veena thought about the mystery. f ax Then she started a list of events and clues: EVENTS: - Garbage can returned - Light bulb changed CLUES: - Paper footprints (two sets) “Who could Captain Purple be?" wondered Veena. "He or she must be someone who knows our neighborhood." She added two suspects to her list: SUSPECTS: - Garbage Collector - Police Officer Q e >