The higher standards students today are expected to meet call for literacy instruction that focuses on the close reading of complex texts. These literary text passages are organized around high-interest topics connected to the curriculum and to key comprehension skills. The readings are specially formatted to provide practice with text marking, a proven, powerful tool for building comprehension skills, such as describing characters, settings, key events and details, and story structure; identifying points of view; determining the meaning of key vocabulary and figurative language; and making inferences. For use with Grade 1.