Book excerpt: With the rigorous reading standards called for in the Common Core State Standards, teachers need easy access to reading passages at an increasing level of complexity so students will have opportunities to read closely and stretch their skills as the school year progresses. This collection of passages offers just that. Each of the 25 passages comes with text-dependent comprehension questions, including open-ended questions that require students to use higher-order thinking skills when writing their responses. The lessons include teaching tips that target the challenges students will encounter in the passage and provide text-complexity information-- quantitative (Lexile level), qualitative, and reader and task considerations--to help teachers meet the needs of their class. For use with Grades 7-8.