A key word is a word you must know in order to follow the general meaning. Five unknown key words on one page means the book is difficult for you. No unknown key words means the book is easy. Decide how many books you would like to read during the semester. Set a time and place for reading. Read for at least thirty minutes at a time so that you can become involved in your book.
Write about your reactions to the book or any thoughts that are stimulated by your reading. Then make an appointment with your teacher for a book conference to share your thoughts and reactions to it. What matters most is that you find a book at an appropriate level that interests you. Note: The number of pages is included to give you an idea of the approximate length.
Other editions may be of slightly different length. Achebe, Chinua. A classic African novel about how a Nigerian faces conflict within his society, as well as the effects of British colonialism. Alcott, Louisa May. A talented New York musician is falsely accused of a crime and put in prison. His girlfriend is determined to free him. Bruchac, Joseph. A novel about a young Native American woman in the early nineteenth century who helped two explorers find a safe route across North America to the Pacific Ocean.
Coetzee, J. Cormier, Robert. Fielding, Helen. Fitzgerald, F. The American Revolution and life in Boston in the s, as seen through the experiences of a youth. Gaines, Ernest J. The moving story of an unusual friendship between a young teacher and a man in prison for murder, waiting to be executed. Godwin, Gail. A young woman's search for an understanding of the mother who left her when she was six years old and died soon after.
Guterson, David. Hemingway, Ernest. Hentoff, Nat. Hornby, Nick. The hilarious account of a friendship between an adolescent and a thirty-six-year-old man. Through their relationship, they both grow up and learn to cope with their lives. Hosseini, Khalid.
Narrated by a young Afghani, this novel gives a vivid picture of contemporary Afghanistan and the conflict and hardships endured by the Afghan people. Ishiguro, Kazuo. A novel that reflects the author's own experience as a Japanese person in England. Kafka, Franz. The story of a young man who wakes up one morning to discover that he has turned into a beetle-like insect.
Keyes, Daniel. A sad tale of a mentally challenged man who is given an experimental drug. For a short time, he becomes normal. Kingsolver, Barbara. A woman gives her a little girl. The touching story of how they grow to love each other. Kosinski, Jerzy. A simple gardener inherits a fortune, becomes adviser to the U. Lahiri, Jhumpa. Lee, Harper. Racism in the southern United States in the s, as viewed by a young white girl, whose lawyer father defends a black man unjustly accused of a crime.
Lessing, Doris. A novel about racism and the inability to accept another culture in white South Africa during the s. In his daydreams, a boy becomes a cat and then the dreams seem to become real. Monk, Sue Ellen. An orphan girl is accepted into a loving family and small community on Prince Edward Island, Canada.
Myers, Walter Dean. An African-American family's history from the time of slavery. Their farm unites them in this story of pride, determination, struggle, and love. The story of two young people who struggled against racist policies in South Africa under apartheid. Patchett, Ann. Plath, Sylvia. In a semiautobiographical novel, a brilliant young woman slides into a depression that almost takes her life. Remarque, Erich Maria. A classic antiwar novel that describes the horrors of trench warfare in Europe during World War I.
Smith, Betty. The dreams and trials of a girl growing up in Brooklyn, New York, in a poor, but proud family. Can a pearl bring happiness to his family? Steinbeck, John. Tan, Amy. Tyler, Anne. Wharton, Edith. Wilde, Oscar. Dorian Gray remains handsome and young, but his portrait, hidden in the attic, shows his age and the effects of his evil.
Brown, Dan. Christie, Agatha. All they have in common is a secret, evil past. One by one, they die. Follett, Ken. Greene, Graham. One man trades his wealth for his life— and then has to pay. Grisham, John. Released from prison by the American president, he flees to Europe and begins a new life in order to stay alive. King, Stephen. Le Cane, John. Paretsky, Sara.
Warshawsky finds a prominent attorney's wife dead in her office while a homeless family disappears. She finds that these events are connected. Rendell, Ruth. A victim's belongings are found in an antiques shop and everyone who knew her is a suspect. Tartt, Donna. As a new student at Hampden College, Richard is accepted by a circle of friends who share a terrible secret.
Asimov, Isaac. Includes the "three laws of robotics. Bradbury, Ray. LeGuin, Ursula K. This poses a challenge to an explorer from planet Earth. A story that reflects any place where freedom is attacked. Rowling, J. Tolkien, J. A small creature with hairy feet has a gold ring that belongs to a creature called Gollum. Books about history, biography, and science are examples of nonfiction. Reading nonfiction can help develop your vocabulary and knowledge in a specialized area.
Angelou, Maya. A prize-winning American poet writes about her childhood experiences and how she survived violence and racism. The true story in diary form of how a fifteen-year-old girl became addicted to drugs. Baker, Russell. Tolkien's life experiences as an orphan, a scholar, a soldier, and a professor and how they helped him to create his famous trilogy.
The funny and sometimes shocking childhood and school experiences of this famous writer of children's books. Dillard, Annie. Dinesen, Isak. The author's experiences from to running a coffee plantation in Kenya, first with her husband and later alone.
Fadinan, Ann. A Hmong family settles in California and comes into conflict with American doctors. The diary kept by a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl hidden in an apartment with her family for two years in Amsterdam, Holland, during World War II. The author's childhood in China and the dramatic escape of her family at the time of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Hillenbrand, Laura.
The story of a racehorse named Seabiscuit who became a winner, and the people who believed in him. Kidder, Tracy. Paul Farmer, who has dedicated himself to the idea that "the only real nation is humanity. Krakauer, Jon. Malcolm X with Alex Haley. The dramatic life story of an important figure in African-American history, as told by Malcolm X himself.
Mandela, Nelson. Mandela's life story, written while he was in a South African prison. Parks, Rosa, with Jim Haskins. A key figure in the civil rights movement tells how she refused to give up her seat to a white man on a bus. This is the life story of one of the most successful writers of our time. Kung Woman. Shostak, Marjorie. The remarkable story of an African woman and her people in the Kalahari Desert, as told by an anthropologist.
Sparks, Beatrice. White, M. A biography of Stephen Hawking, the English scientist who is often considered the smartest man alive. Helen Keller became deaf and blind when she was a small child. This is the story of her success as a student, a writer, and a lecturer. Clear explanations of scientific principles, with references to mythology and literature by this famous writer. Fonseca, Isabel. A striking portrait of the life and history of the Roma Gypsies in Eastern Europe.
Gore, Al. Pictures and text showing the consequences of climate change are accompanied by personal essays. Gore makes a complex and serious issue easy to understand. Hickham, Homer. How Hickham and his friends were inspired in by Sputnik, the Russian satellite, to spend their lives working on rockets for space launches.
Kolbert, Elizabeth. This book brings the science of climate change to life. The author describes how global warming threatens the traditional way of life in a small Alaskan village.
Mowat, Farley. Orwell, George. Pollan, Michael. Pollan follows the journey of four meals from farm to table, weaving together literature, science, and hands-on investigation. This book shows the serious consequences of the way we eat. Rothenberg, David. This book explores the tweets, squawks, and flute-like songs of birds to investigate the scientific mysteries of bird song and how it sparks the human imagination. Read the first paragraph.
Can you tell what the article will be about? Scan the article for names, dates, numbers, and boldface type. Read the last paragraph on the next page. Now read the article all the way to the end.
As you read, underline any unfamiliar words with a pencil but do not look them up in a dictionary now. You can do that later. Millions of people now rent their age of instant electronic communica- People naturally write fewer letters movies the Netflix way. They fill out tion has been predicted at least as of- when they can send e-mail messages. But the consumption of paper respondence is to know what has the first few DVD's in the mail; when keeps rising.
It has roughly doubled been lost in this shift: the pretty they mail each one back, the next one since , with less use of newsprint stamps, the varying look and feel of on the list is sent. And so, with some nuances and dence, the tangible object that was haustively analyzed for its disruptive, internal changes, does the flow of ma- once in the sender's hands. To stay in new-economy implications. What will terial carried by mail. On average, an instant touch with parents, children it mean for video stores like Block- American household receives twice as and colleagues around the world is to buster, which has, in fact, started a many pieces of mail a day as it did in know what's been gained.
What will it mean for the 's. But even before e-mail, personal movie studios and theaters? What "Is the Internet hurting the mail, letters had shrunk to a tiny share of does it show about "long tail" busi- or helping? Critelli, a the flow. As a consultant, Fouad H.
Critelli's day job is chief ex- duced to a minimum with the prolif- gle target audience? Most of that personal mail flix envelopes come and go as first- sight q PB. They are joined by millions findings about the economic, techno- announcements, and other mail with of other shipments from online phar- logical and cultural forces that affect "emotional content," a category that macies, eBay vendors, Amazon.
Critelli says. If most letters. Whatever shrinkage e- cause of choices created by the you have just moved, for example, mail has caused in personal corre- Internet. In turn, hanks, telecommu- that may mean mail from your new spondence, it is not likely to do much nication companies, insurance com- area's window-cleaning or handyman more.
He says response rates to The Internet and allied technolo- more mail. Everyone takes for The most touching artifact among The first follows the Netflix exam- granted that FedEx and the United these e-mail studies is a survey con- ple: Postal Service fulfillment of trans- Parcel Service can track the move- ducted by the Postal Service called actions made on the Internet.
About ment of each item through their sys- "The Mail Moment. The Postal Service has now "Two thirds of all consumers do roughly one-fifth of the total—are de- installed similar scanning equipment, not expect to receive personal mail, livered by first-class mail. EBay's and in principle it can bar-code and but when they do, it makes their vendors list five million new items scan every envelope or postcard and day," it concluded. In real- keeps them coming back each day.
One Pitney Bowes ity, it does this mainly for a fee, for Even in this age of technology, ac- study found that online retailers were businesses that want to know their cording to the survey, 55 percent of increasingly using paper catalogs sent material has reached the right audi- Americans said they looked forward through the mail to steer people to ence at the right time—for instance, to discovering what each day's mail their sites.
The second force also involves fi- a local store. Now I'll confess my bias. My first nance. Many studies conclude that In Internet terms, this and related real job was at the post office. On the people are more and more willing to improvements are intended to make day when 1 was paroled from the sort- make payments online, but that they advertising mail less like spam—un- ing floor to substitute for an absent strongly prefer to receive the original wanted and discarded—and more like letter carrier, I felt as if I were bringing bills on paper, by mail.
It's nice to think that such households from credit card compa- "Over time, there is an increasing moments will survive the Internet. Source: The New York Times. September 4, A. Write any unfamiliar words that made comprehension difficult and write their dictionary definitions.
Compare your words with those of another student. Do you have any of the same words? Discuss the article with another student. Consider these questions. Where does the writer tell you what this article is about? What do you already know about this? Were there any parts of the article that you did not understand? Read the article again. Then discuss these questions with a group of three or four students.
Why does the writer believe that the Internet is not the death of the Post Office? Do you agree with the writer? Why or why not? What evidence does the writer give to support his ideas?
How do you use the post office? Do you ever buy things over the Internet? Before you read, discuss these questions with another student. Have you ever heard of this author? Have you read any of his stories or books or seen movies made from them? Do these titles help you to guess what kind of fiction Bradbury writes? Think about the title of this story, "All Summer in a Day," and try to imagine what the title might refer to.
Guess what type of story this will be. Read the story all the way to the end. Mark any confusing parts of the story with a question mark?
Make notes in the margin about your reactions. Then complete the exercises that follow. All Summer in a Day Ready? Will it happen today, will it? It rained. It had been raining for seven years; thousands upon thousands of days compounded and filled from one end to the other with rain, with the drum and gush of water, with the sweet crystal fall of showers and the concussion of storms so heavy they were tidal waves come over the islands.
A thousand forests had been crushed under the rain and grown up a thousand times to be crushed again. And this was the way life was forever on the planet Venus, and this was the schoolroom of the children of the rocket men and women who had come to a raining world to set up civilization and live out their lives.
They were all nine years old, and if there had been a day, seven years ago, when the sun came out for an hour and showed its face to the stunned world, they could not recall.
She knew they thought they remembered a warmness, like a blushing in the face, in the body, in the arms and legs and trembling hands. But then they always awoke to the tatting drum, the endless shaking down of clear bead necklaces upon the roof, the walk, the gardens, the forests, and their dreams were gone. All day yesterday they had read in class about the sun.
About how like a lemon it was, and how hot. And they had written small stories or essays or poems about it: I think the sun is a flower, That blooms for just one hour. That was Margot's poem, read in a quiet voice in the still classroom while the rain was falling outside. But that was yesterday. Now the rain was slackening, and the children were crushed in the great thick windows.
Margot stood alone. She was a very frail girl who looked as if she had been lost in the rain for years and the rain had washed out the blue from her eyes and the red from her mouth and the yellow from her hair. She was an old photograph dusted from an album, whitened away, and if she spoke at all her voice would be a ghost. Now she stood, separate, staring at the rain and the loud wet world beyond the huge glass.
Margot said nothing. But she did not move; rather she let herself be moved only by him and nothing else. They edged away from her, they would not look at her. She felt them go away. And this was because she would play no games with them in the echoing tunnels of the underground city. If they tagged her and ran, she stood blinking after them and did not follow. When the class sang songs about happiness and life and games her lips barely moved.
Only when they sang about the sun and the summer did her lips move as she watched the drenched windows. And then, of course, the biggest crime of all was that she had come here only five years ago from Earth, and she remembered the sun and the way the sun was and the sky was when she was four in Ohio.
And they, they had been on Venus all their lives, and they had been only two years old when last the sun came out and had long since forgotten the color and heat of it and the way it really was. A great feeling of relief and joy went through the household. They swarmed around the doctor and poured out their gratitude.
He sat in his seat beside the bed, gazing sternly at the patient's face, hardly showing any signs of hearing what they were saying to him. The sick man's wife asked, " Is he now out of danger? She felt restless. She felt she must know the truth whatever it was. Why was the great man so evasive? The suspense was unbearable.
Perhaps he could not speak so near the patient's bed. She beckoned to him from the kitchen doorway. The doctor rose and went over. She asked, " What about him now? How is he? Unless you must know about it, don't ask now. She clasped her hands together and implored : " Tell me the truth.
A terrible wailing shot through the still house ; the patient stirred and looked about in bewilderment. The doctor got up again, went over to the kitchen door, drew it in securely and shut off the wail.
When the doctor resumed his seat the patient asked in the faintest whisper possible, " Is that someone crying? You mustn't talk. It was already agitated by the exertion. The patient asked, " Am I going? Don't hide it from me. He had never faced a situation like this. It was not in his nature to whitewash. People attached great value to his word because of that. He stole a look at the other.
The patient motioned a finger to draw him nearer and whispered, " I must know how long I am going to last. I must sign the will. It is all ready. Ask my wife for the despatch box. You must sign as a witness.
You must be quieter. I can trust your word. I can't leave my property unsettled. That will mean endless misery for my wife and children.
You know all about Subbiah and his gang. Let me sign before it is too late. Tell me. He walked off to his car, sat in the back seat and reflected. He looked at his watch. If the will was to be signed, it must be done within the next two hours, or never. He could not be responsible for a mess there ; he knew too well the family affairs and about those wolves, Subbiah and his gang.
But what could he do? If he asked him to sign the Will, it would virtually mean a death sentence and destroy the thousandth part of a chance that the patient had of survival. He got down from the car and went in. He resumed his seat in the chair. The patient was staring at him appealingly. The doctor said to him- self, " If my word can save his life, he shall not die.
The will be damned. He stooped over the patient and said with deliberate emphasis, " Don't worry about the will now. You are going to live. Your heart is absolutely sound. He asked in a tone of relief, " Do you say so? If it comes from your lips it must be true. You are improving every second. Sleep in peace. You must not exert yourself on any account. You must sleep very soundly. I will sec you in the morning. The doctor picked up his bag and went out shutting the door softly behind him.
On his way home he stopped for a moment at his hospital, called out his assistant, and said, " That Lawley Extension case. You might expect the collapse any second now. Go there with a tube of Next morning he was back at Lawley Extension at ten. From his car he made a dash for the sick bed. The patient was awake and looked very well. The assistant reported satisfactory pulse. The doctor put his tube at his heart, listened for a while, and told the sick man's wife, " Don't look so unhappy, lady.
Your husband will live to be ninety. He will live to be ninety. He has turned the corner. How he has survived this attack will be a puzzle to me all my life," replied the doctor. This is what happened to ex-gateman Govind Singh. And you could not blame the public either. What could you do with a man who carried about in his hand a registered postal cover and asked : " Please tell me what there is inside?
Everywhere the suggestion was the same till he thought everyone had turned mad. And then somebody said : " If you don't like to open it and yet want to know what is inside you must take it to the X-ray Institute. It was explained to him. But before saying anything further about his pro- gress, it would be usefiil to go back to an earlier chapter in his history. After war service in , he came to be recommended for a gatekeeper's post at Engladia's.
He liked the job very much. He was given a khaki uniform, a resplendent band across his shoulder and a short stick. He gripped the stick and sat down on a stool at the entrance to the office. And when his chief's car pulled up at the gate he stood at attention and gave a military salute. The office consisted of a staff numbering over a hundred and as they trooped in and out every day he kept an eye on them. At the end of the day he awaited the footsteps of the General Manager coining down the stairs and rose stiffly and stood at attention, and after he left the hundreds of staff poured out.
The doors were shut ; Singh carried his stool in, placed it under the staircase, and placed his stick across it. Then he came out and the main door was locked and sealed. In this way he had spent twenty-five years of service, and then he begged to be pensioned off. He would not have thought of retirement yet, but for the fact that he found his sight and hearing playing tricks on him ; he could not catch the Manager's footsteps on the stairs, and it was hard to recognize him even at ten yards.
He was ushered into the presence of the chief, who looked up for a moment from his papers and muttered : " We are very pleased with your work for us, and company will give you a pension of twelve rupees for your life. This was the second occasion when the great man had spoken to him, the first being on the first day of his service. As he had stood at his post, the chief, entering the office just then, looked up for a moment and asked " Who are you?
And he spoke again only on this day. Though so little was said, Singh felt electrified on both occasions by the words of his master. In Singh's eyes the chief had acquired a sort of Godhood, and it would be quite adequate if a god spoke to one only once or twice in a lifetime. In moments of contemplation Singh's mind dwelt on the words of his master, and on his personality. His life moved on smoothly. The pension together with what his wife earned by washing and sweeping in a couple of houses was quite sufficient for him.
He ate his food, went out and met a few friends, slept, and spent some evenings sitting at a cigarette shop which his cousin owned. This tenor of life was disturbed on the first of every month when he donned his old khaki suit, walked to his old office, and salaamed the Accountant at the counter and received his pension. Sometimes if it was closing he waited on the roadside for the General Manager to come down, and saluted him as he got into his car. There was a lot of time all around him, an immense sea of leisure.
In this state he made a new discovery about himself, that he could make fascinating models out of clay and wood dust.
The discovery came suddenly, when one day a child in the neighbourhood brought to him its little doll for repair. He not only repaired it but made a new thing of it. This discovery pleased him so much that he very soon became absorbed in it. His backyard gave him a plentiful supply of pliant clay, and the carpenter's shop next to his cousin's cigarette shop sawdust. He purchased paint for a few annas. And lo! He sat there in the front part of his home, bent over his clay, and brought into existence a miniature universe ; all the colours of life were there, all the forms and creatures, but of the size of his middle finger ; whole villages and towns were there, all the persons he had seen passing before his office when he was sentry there that beggar woman coming at midday, and that cucumber vendor ; he had the eye of a cartoonist for human faces.
Everything went down into clay. It was a wonderful miniature re- flection of the world ; and he mounted them neatly on thin wooden slices, which enhanced their attractive- ness. He kept these in his cousin's shop and they attracted huge crowds every day and sold very briskly. More than the sales Singh felt an ecstasy when he saw admiring crowds clustering around his handiwork. On his next pension day he carried to his office a street scene which he ranked as his best , and handed it over the counter to the Accountant with the request : " Give this to the Sahib, please!
It created a sensation in the office and disturbed the routine of office working for nearly half an hour. On the next pension day he carried another model children at play and handed it over the counter. He made it a convention to carry on every pension day an offering for his master, and each time his greatest reward was the Accountant's stock reply to his question : " What did the Sahib say?
A model of his office frontage with himself at his post, a car at the entrance, and the chief getting down : this composite model was so realistic that while he sat looking at it, he seemed to be carried back to his office days.
He passed it over the counter on his pension day and it created a very great sensation in the office. A sudden fear seized Singh and he asked : " The master won't be angry, I hope? A week later when he was sitting on the fyol kneading clay, the postman came and said : " A registered letter for you.
Now a registered letter! This was his first registered letter. Please take it back. I don't want it," said Singh. Shall I say 'Refused'? Singh seemed to have no option but to scrawl his signature and receive the packet. He sat gloomily gazing at the floor. His wife who had gone out and just returned saw him in this condition and asked : "What is it?
He said: "How should I know. Perhaps our ruin. His wife watched him for a moment, went in to attend to some domestic duty and returned, still found him in the same condition, and asked : " Why not open it and see, ask someone to read it? It cannot be opened. They have perhaps written that my pension is stopped, and God knows what else the Sahib has said. I will never show my face there again.
That must also have reached the Sahib's ears. He lost taste for food, wandered about unkempt, with his hair standing up like a halo an unaccustomed sight, his years in military service having given him a habitual tidiness. His wife lost all peace of mind and became miserable about him. He stood at the cross-roads, clutching the letter in his hand. He kept asking everyone he came across : " Tell me, what there is in this?
As he entered the gate he observed dozens of cars parked along the drive, and a Gurkha watchman at the gate. Some people were sitting on sofas reading books and journals. They turned and threw a brief look at him and resumed their studies. As Singh stood uncertainly at the doorway, an assistant came up and asked : " What do you want?
But Singh replied : " They said you could tell me what's inside without opening it " The assistant asked : " Where do you come from? I knew trouble was coming " There were tears on his cheeks. The assistant looked at him curiously as scores of others had done before, smiled, and said : " Go home and rest. You are not all right. Go, go home. The assistant took it in his hand, examined it and said : " Shall I open it?
There was a look of terror in his eyes. The assembly looked up from their pages and watched him with mild amusement in their eyes. The assistant kindly put his arms on his shoulder and led him out. I tell you are not all right. That's it, is that it? He now understood the looks that people threw at him. He laughed. He felt a curious relief at this realization. Every little action of his for the last so many days seemed mad ; particularly the doll- making.
He wanted to fly. He swung his arms up and down and ran on with a whoop. He ran through the Market Road. When people stood about and watched he cried : " Hey, don't laugh at a mad man, for who knows, you will also be mad when you come to make clay dolls," and charged into their midst with a war cry.
When he saw children coming out of a school, he felt it would be nice to amuse their young hearts by behaving like a tiger. So he fell on his hands and kneels and crawled up to them with a growl.
He went home in a terrifying condition. His wife who was grinding chilly in the backyard looked up and asked : " What is this? He could not answer because he choked with mirth as he said : " Fancy what has happened! Ranged on the floor was his latest handiwork. After his last visit to the office he had been engaged in making a model village.
It was a resplendent group ; a dun road, red tiles, green coconut trees swaying, and the colour of the sarees of the village women carrying water pots. He derived the inspiration for it from a memory of his own village days. It was the most enjoyable piece of work that he had so far undertaken. He lived in a kind of ecstasy while doing it. A memento of my father's village," he declared.
He raised his foot and stamped everything down into a multi-coloured jam. They were still half wet. He saw a donkey grazing in the street. It is a nice village. This was a quieter outing. He strode on at an even pace, breathing deeply, with the clay helmet on, out of which peeped his grey hair, his arms locked behind, his fingers clutching the fateful letter, his face tilted towards the sky.
He walked down the Market Road, with a feeling that he was the sole occupant of this globe : his madness had given him a sense of limitless freedom, strength and buoyancy. The remarks and jeers of the crowds gaping at him did not in the least touch him. While he walked thus, his eye fell on the bulb of a tall street lamp : " Bulb of the size of a Papaya fruit! It had been a long cherished desire in him to fling a stone at it ; now he felt, in his joyous and free condition, that he was free from the trammels of convention and need not push back any inclination.
He picked up a pebble and threw it with good aim. The shattering noise of glass was as music to his ears. A policeman put his hand on his shoulder : " Why did you do it? The constable said : " Come to the station. He paused, tilted his head to the side and remarked : " This road is not straight He found that everything was wrong about them.
They seemed to need some advice in the matter. He stopped in the middle of the road, stretched out his arms and shouted : " Halt!
One of the cyclists who resumed, jumped off the saddle again and came towards him with : " Why! It is Singh, Singh, what fancy dress is this? What is the matter? Singh clicked his heels and gave a salute : " Excuse me sir, didn't intend to stop you. You may pass. He recognized it although it was mud-stained and crumpled. Do not speak of it. A big crowd gathered to watch this scene.
Singh pressed the letter to his eyes. He beat his brow, and wailed : " Tell me, sir, am I mad or not? Singh fell at his feet and said with tears choking his voice : " You are a god, sir, to say that I am not mad. I am so happy to hear it. As they handed him the envelope they asked : " What toys are you making now? Never again. It is no occupation for a sane man. I wandered up and down the country probing, exploring, and digging, in search of antiquities, a most interesting occupation, although cynics sometimes called us " grave-diggers.
I had a master who was a famous archaeologist called Doctor something or other. He was a superb, timeless being, who lived a thousand years behind the times, and who wanted neither food nor roof nor riches if only he was allowed to gaze on undisturbed at an old coin or chip of a burial urn.
He had torn up the earth in almost all parts of India and had brought to light very valuable information concerning the history and outlook of people of remote centuries. His monographs on each of his excavations filled several shelves in all the important libraries.
And then, as our good fortune would have it, he received an inspiration that Malgudi district was eminently diggable. I am not competent to explain how he got this idea, but there it was. Word was brought to me that the great man was staying in the dak bungalow and was in need of an assistant. Within an hour of hearing it I stood before the great man. He was sitting on the floor with the most crazy collection of articles in front of him pots and beads and useless coins and palm leaves, all of them rusty and decaying.
He had a lens by his side, through which he looked at these articles and made notes. He asked me : " What do you know of the archaeological factors of your district? Honestly I didn't know there was any archaeology in our place. He looked at me through his old spectacles, and I realized that my living depended upon my answer. I mustered up all the knowledge of elementary history I had acquired in my boyhood, and replied : " Well, nothing has so far been done in any methodical manner, although now and then we come across some ignorant villagers ploughing up old unusual bits of pottery and metal.
He engaged me on the spot at fifty rupees a month, and my main business was to follow him about and help him. I had my wits alive, and within a month I was in a position to lead him by the hand. Not the slightest object escaped my notice. I picked up everything I saw, cleaned and polished it, and held it up for his opinion.
Most times, I am sorry to confess, they were useless bits of stuff of known origin namely, our own times. But I am glad to say that once I scored a hit. We camped one week-end at Siral a village sixty miles from the town.
It is a lovely ancient place, consisting of a hundred houses. Sarayu River winds its way along the northern boundary of the village. The river here is broader than it is anywhere else in the district.
On the other bank of the river we have the beginnings of a magnificent jungle of bamboo and teak. The most modern structure in the place was a small two- roomed inspection lodge. The doctor occupied one room and I the other. We were scouting the surroundings for a mound under which was supposed to be a buried city. This discovery was going to push the earliest known civilization three centuries farther back and rival Mohenjadaro in antiquity.
We might be pardoned if we set about our business with some intensity. Our doctor some- how seemed to possess an inexplicable feeling of rivalry with the discoverers of Mohenjadaro and such other places.
His greatest desire was to have a monopoly of the earliest known civilization and place it where he chose. This seemed to me a slight weak- ness in his nature, but pardonable in a great man, who had done so much else in life.
This is all beside the point. Let me get on with the story. One day I had gone to the river for a bathe. It was an exhilarating evening ; I had done a good day's work, assisting the doctor to clean up and study a piece of stained glass picked up in a field outside the village. The doctor kept gazing at this glass all day. He constantly shook his head and said : " This is easily the most important piece of work which has come under my notice. You and your best friend find a beautiful sports car parked outside your home.
The keys are inside and the door has been left open. Write a short story about a mad scientist who has found a way to combine human DNA with animal DNA to create superhumans. As an orphan child, Cassie always felt alone. Until she joined an art club and met her two best friends, Edwin and Miranda. Each snowflake is unique and delicate. With only a few seconds before you melt, write a short monologue from the perspective of a snowflake falling from the sky.
A cure for a rare disease mutates humans into flesh-eating zombies. Who raised you the most when growing up? What lessons did they teach you? How do they inspire you? There are many benefits to being a middle child. But still, you always feel misunderstood by your family and are always on the outside. Earth was created as a prison for all badly behaved humans.
And now that the prison sentence is over, everyone can finally go home to their real planet. Your main character follows a street cat and ends up in a world where cats rule the planet and humans are their pets. The lights turn off, as your master goes to sleep. One dog sits by the bed of his master — What is he wondering about? You find an old pen in a magic shop. Every time you write something down using that pen it becomes true.
A hard-working lawyer decides to leave the city life behind to start a new life in the country. As he ventures off to the country he realises that country life is not as calm or as relaxing as he thought it would be. Your main character is a spy in the year They have been hired to protect the queen from a secret league of assassins.
After years of learning from human behaviour, the robot servants develop a mind of their own and start to attack humans.
For two whole years, you thought Catelyn was your best friend. So many secrets shared. So many moments shared. But she was just a fake friend — She was never there when you really needed her. One by one students from your class are going missing.
In a monologue, talk about your struggles and the judgement, you face every day. Write about something that brings you great joy in your life. Jerome the chameleon hates people staring at him, so he always camouflages. One day he sees a human and wants her to adopt him. But she never sees him. However on the first night of the circus opening things end very badly. Sarah can move objects with her mind, but her power is super weak. Until she connects with a group of girls from another high school.
Together their bond forms the greatest power that anyone has seen. In the future, there has been a serious drop in the human population. Now humans are considered an endangered species. How was the first-ever newspaper or media company started? Your main character in this story is the first-ever reporter. Until one day you actually become a doll. After years of horrific weather conditions and natural disasters, humans have learned to adapt to the various environmental changes.
Not everything is rainbows and cotton candy on the planet of unicorns. Something deadly lurks underground. On a bus ride to an important college interview, your character goes through many self-doubts.
An alpha wolf is kicked out of his pack for playing around with humans. Will he ever become alpha again? It has always been you and you mom. Until one day your mom introduces you to a lady and tells you that they are getting married. Mysterious symbols are appearing all over town.
It is up to your main character to decipher the code and find out the meaning of these symbols. But only the rich and important people are offered this treatment. Write a monologue scene from the point of view of one of the ugly step-sisters in Cinderella. During a football game, the ball falls into the forest behind your school.
When you go to find the ball, you discover small fairy-like creatures in the forest. No-one believes you when you try telling them, but you know the truth. Suddenly out of the blue their father turns up asking for a place to stay. For centuries humans have evolved. From apes to modern-day men and women. This evolution has not stopped. In the year, , some humans have special abilities or superpowers, such as mind-reading powers or the ability to fly.
This has caused great destruction on Earth. After a huge argument, you learn your parents are getting a divorce. Your mom wants you to stay with her, while your dad wants you to come with him. What will you do? Write a short story about a magpie with a stealing problem. Dragons are at war with humans. While foraging for food near the mountains you find a small ice dragon that helps hunt for food.
Together you end the war between dragons and humans. Scientists invent a teleportation machine which allows people to travel all over the world within a few seconds. However, the machine goes bust and starts sending people into different dimensions. Complete the following story starter: The music stops, everyone turns around and they see… After the death of your uncle, you inherit his magical sword.
When held in a fighting position, the sword turns you into a legendary superhero, called the crimson knight. A family camping trip gets dangerous when a pack of wolves start circling your tents in the middle of the night. Cats and dogs rule the world and humans are their pets. Little Red Riding meets the wolf in the forest.
Instead of being scared of him, they become close friends. Later that night when you are alone in the house, the pumpkins start talking to you with the mouth you carved on them. After years of getting all the attention from your parents. Your parents bring home a baby boy and now it seems like no-one even notices you anymore. Known as the Floral Slayer, there is a serial killer on the loose. Why are they doing this and who can stop them? When the world is about to end, a superhero and supervillain must work together to save it.
A poem dedicated to your mother. Going to Paris on holiday. Dedication poem to your favourite celebrity. The creepy shadows in your room remind you of… What is life like on a fluffy white cloud?
Being on stage with everyone looking at you. Can you think of some common stereotypes that people have of women? Why are these stereotypes wrong? For example, some people think women should stay at home and not work — do you agree or disagree with this statement? Think about something your mom is always saying and write down how you can help out.
You then hear a calm whisper from one of the seashells. We all heard the legend of mermaids and the loch ness monster. But can you write your own legend about a mysterious sea creature?
Write a limerick about the summer sun. Write one journal entry into your nature journal about the great outdoors. Your favourite celebrity is about to give a talk on violence against pets. Can you help them by writing a powerful speech for their talk? Your new pet dog has superpowers! What are its powers?
Write a short story which must include the following items: Vanilla Ice-Cream, Jam Sandwiches and a monkey. You are the manager of your favourite football team. Create a game plan on how they can win their next game. Crystal was one of the most powerful witches of all-time. She defeated many evil warlocks and villains. Is she really a witch or is she just crazy? After reading a forbidden book, the most horrific and disgusting creatures from hell crossover to Earth.
A boy helps out an old lady, in return, he is given magical powers. Instead of using his powers for good, he uses it to destroy the world. Scientists accidentally create a vaccine which gives humans super strength, along with other traits.
A hurricane destroyed a whole city. Write a story about a search and rescue dog. Old sites are a maintenance challenge and therefore a risk. Maintaining the Tucows Downloads site pulls people away from the work that moves our businesses forward.
Tucows Downloads has had an incredible run. Any certificates purchased through ARC remain valid. Feel free to reach out to us at help tucows.
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