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A May/June 2000 BookSense ’76 Selection

Accelerated Reader Program Selection

In China, a beautiful ceramic tile lies shattered on the ground, and the artist who dropped it is sentenced to the land’s worst punishment. The fierce warlord will execute the artist unless some wise person can put the seven pieces back together. That person will then be invited to live in the castle. Both locals and strangers from far away wait their turns for a chance to solve the warlord’s puzzle.

After learning why these people are waiting to enter the castle, a peasant boy convinces his poor but wise father to join the line. This little boy starts them off on the first step to solving the puzzle—entering the contest.

Ghost stories from America’s “Jewel of the Sierras” have never been so creepy, fun, and full of mystery!

Welcome to the spooky shores of Lake Tahoe!

Stay alert! Ghosts lurk around every corner. Even the most unexpected places might be haunted by wandering phantoms.

Did you know Tahoe has a lake monster named Tessie? Or a prehistoric flying beast roaming the skies? Can you believe you might bump into ghostly legends like Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe—and even Elvis!—just hanging around your hotel?

Pulled right from history, these ghostly tales will change the way you see Lake Tahoe, and have you sleeping with the light on!

Ghost stories from Southern California have never been so creepy, fun, and full of mystery!

Welcome to spooky Southern California!   

Stay alert! Ghosts lurk around every corner. Even the most unexpected places might be haunted by wandering phantoms. 

Did you know the Hollywood Forever Cemetery is home to ghostly movie stars? Or that some ghosts get to spend eternity at Disneyland, “The Happiest Place on Earth?” Can you believe spirits from all over have turned Silver City into a literal Ghost Town?  

Pulled right from history, these ghostly tales will change the way you see Southern California, and have you sleeping with the light on! 

Once a twenty-seven-thousand-acre parcel named for the hills it features, Rancho Los Cerritos is a place where the past meets the present and provides a fascinating glimpse into California’s history.

Home of the Gabrielino-Tongva for more than five thousand years, the land was claimed and colonized by Spain and then Mexico before it became part of the United States. New Englander John Temple, together with his wife, Rafaela Cota, bought the land in the early 1800s. Through a workforce of Indigenous laborers, he built a unique two-story adobe to be the headquarters of a large-scale cattle ranch, propelling Temple and Rancho Los Cerritos to the forefront of Southern California’s prosperity.

Over the next two centuries, the Rancho adobe was home to gold rush miners, Mexican vaqueros, Chinese cooks, and more. These intrepid individuals persisted through feasts and famine, floods, droughts, and even war. Today, the adobe houses a historic museum and connects visitors to those who left an indelible mark on the region.

Join Dr. Leslie Reese as she shares the stories of the people who called Rancho Los Cerritos home.

Once a twenty-seven-thousand-acre parcel named for the hills it features, Rancho Los Cerritos is a place where the past meets the present and provides a fascinating glimpse into California’s history.

Home of the Gabrielino-Tongva for more than five thousand years, the land was claimed and colonized by Spain and then Mexico before it became part of the United States. New Englander John Temple, together with his wife, Rafaela Cota, bought the land in the early 1800s. Through a workforce of Indigenous laborers, he built a unique two-story adobe to be the headquarters of a large-scale cattle ranch, propelling Temple and Rancho Los Cerritos to the forefront of Southern California’s prosperity.

Over the next two centuries, the Rancho adobe was home to gold rush miners, Mexican vaqueros, Chinese cooks, and more. These intrepid individuals persisted through feasts and famine, floods, droughts, and even war. Today, the adobe houses a historic museum and connects visitors to those who left an indelible mark on the region.

Join Dr. Leslie Reese as she shares the stories of the people who called Rancho Los Cerritos home.

Set in the middle of a lush California valley, Danville, in the last century, has grown from an agrarian hamlet to a bustling town.

On land that once belonged to Native peoples whose lives were upended by Spanish conquest, pioneers came for the Gold Rush and stayed for the fertile land. Farms and ranches took root, and a community arose. The Danville Grange No. 85, Patrons of Husbandry, promoted better farming practices and spurred on the founding of the town’s first library. Nobel Prize–winning playwright Eugene O’Neill called Danville home when he wrote his final, great plays, including Long Day’s Journey into Night, twenty years before a brand-new freeway led the charge into the modern era.

Join local author Beverly Lane as she shares gems from Danville’s past.

From the largest explosion in human history to the infamous Port Chicago Mutiny trial, Concord After World War II captures pivotal moments in California's history.

Explosive growth after the war made Concord a popular stop for presidents, celebrities, and musical events. A small town of about 1,500 people in the 1940s now is home to more than 120,000. Jazz musician Dave Brubeck was born here, and the internationally acclaimed Concord Blue Devils still perform here. The 1960s saw the birth of the annual Concord Jazz Festival and Concord Jazz Records. Concord became sister cities with Kitakami, Japan, in the 1970s. The controversial Spirit Poles were erected in the 1980s, and De La Salle High School’s unbelievable 151-game football winning streak began in the 1990s.

Area native Joel A. Harris is the author of Images of America: Concord and Past & Present: Concord. He is a state bar certified specialist in estate planning, trust, and probate law. Harris is a board member of the Concord Historical Society, who provided many of the outstanding images presented in this book. Other wonderful photographs are provided courtesy of the Contra Costa County Historical Society and local residents.

In the early 19th century, Prohibitionists believed that banning alcohol would combat the problems of society caused by liquor such as alcoholism, family violence, crime, and political corruption occurring in the local saloons. In 1919, the Eighteenth Amendment passed, prohibiting the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages. In San Jose, alcohol had already been banned in the city two years prior, and it was only sold and consumed in a few selected city-licensed restaurants. This gave San Jose’s residents a two-year head start on the alcohol underground economy, as many stills were in full production in the valley and many speakeasies were already open for business when the countrywide Prohibition began. San Jose Prohibition showcases a variety of unseen images and stories from the family members of San Jose’s known bootleggers as well as from the city, county, and state archives. 

Author Ted Ramos is a part-time San Jose historian who has studied the city’s underworld history and amassed the largest collection of San Jose gambling paraphernalia while writing his earlier book San Jose Gambling, a similar photographic book from this same series about the area’s gambling past.