ELA

Both Maggie Fortini and her brother, Joey-Mick, were named for baseball great Joe DiMaggio. Unlike Joey-Mick, Maggie doesn't play baseball - but at almost 10 years old, she is a dyed-in-the-wool fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Maggie can recite all the players' statistics and understands the subtleties of the game.

Kevin is trying to remember what he's supposed to do if there's an intruder in the house: stay calm, don't look scared, call 911. At the same time, he's doing his best to figure out how the heck some guy with a bow and arrow got into the room. The archer's explanation - "I lost my balance, fell off the tiger, and landed here" - just adds to Kevin's bewilderment.

When Ramón Salazar swims into an underwater cave in a deserted lagoon, he discovers the black pearl, the Great Pearl of Heaven. As the son of a pearl merchant, Ramón knows that this is the rarest and most valuable pearl in the world. He quickly scoops it up and brings it home to his father.

While awaiting trial for murder and withholding from the king the obligatory fifth of the gold found in Cibola, Esteban, a 17-year-old cartographer, recalls his adventures with a band of conquistadors.