Twelve short stories by such famous authors as Chopin, O. Henry, Twain, Poe, Conan Doyle, Hawthorne, and Melville, a full length play, and an Agatha Christie novel. Each story includes the following features: (1) pre-reading contextual vocabulary exercises , (2) pre-reading word attack exercises, (3) pre-reading questions , (4) biographical headnote , (5) journal entry worksheet asking students to identify the key elements of the story, such as main and supporting characters, setting, plot, and symbols, (6) follow-up questions , which test how well students have understood the story, (7) discussion questions , and (8) writing prompts for further writing. A sample lesson at the beginning of the text introduces reading skills, note-taking skills, and commonly used literary terms (carefully defined with the developing reader in mind). The sample lesson also uses a very short story ("Ripe Figs," by Kate Chopin) to illustrate the book's pedagogy (see next point). The stories are arranged by literary elements: characters and conflicts, plot, irony, and so forth. An alternative thematic table of contents is provided. A full glossary of prefixes and suffixes related to the content is provided at the end of the text.