The Sand Castle

The Sand Castle by illustrated by Sela Greenblatt Bernard Adnet HOUGHTON MIFFLIN

The Sand Castle by Sela Greenblatt illustrated by Bernard Adnet Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright law. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be addressed to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt School Publishers, Attn: Permissions, 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777. Printed in China ISBN-13: 978-0-547-02732-6 ISBN-10: 0-547-02732-X 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 0940 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 If you have received these materials as examination copies free of charge, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt School Publishers retains title to the materials and they may not be resold. Resale of examination copies is strictly prohibited. Possession of this publication in print format does not entitle users to convert this publication, or any portion of it, into electronic format.

Marcelo sat on the beach and looked at the big world around him. “The sky is so wide,” he said. “The clouds are so large. The waves are so tall!” Marcelo looked down at himself. He felt very small. 2

Just then, the wind blew a big ball across the beach. It hit Marcelo and sent him flying across the sand. “That does it!” said Marcelo. “I may look small, but I am going to do something big. . . something really big!” 3

Marcelo thought and thought. Then an idea popped into his head. “I’ll build a sand castle! It will be the biggest castle ever.” Marcelo got right to work. He scooped some sand, added water, then dumped it out. The sand stood up by itself! 4

Marcelo worked hard. His castle was going to be HUGE! Then Marcelo heard a loud roar. A big wave rose up and then—SPLASH! It flooded his castle. When the wave rolled away, all that was left was a mound of wet sand. 5

“Nooooooo!” shouted Marcelo. His friends came over to see what was wrong. “I was making the biggest sand castle in the world,” said Marcelo sadly. “Now I just have a lump on the beach.” 6

“You should build another castle!” said Bird. “Make it farther from the water. Then the waves won’t reach it.” Marcelo shook his head. “I’m too small for such a big job.” “We’re all small,” said Crab. “But we can do a big job if we work together.” 7

Everyone nodded. Marcelo grinned. “Let’s make the biggest sand castle ever!” said Marcelo. They found a new spot and began building. One wall of the castle fell down. “Don’t worry,” said Marcelo’s mouse friend Marta. “We’ll find a way to fix it.” 8

“This sand is too dry,” said Marta. She added more water and built the wall a second time. It stood strong and tall. Bird used her beak to peck out windows and doors. 9

“Great work!” cried Marcelo. He climbed the castle and shouted, “I have the world’s biggest sand castle!” Marcelo saw his friends smiling up at him. He shouted even louder, “I have the world’s best friends!” 10

Responding TARGET SKILL Story Structure Who is this story about? Where does the story happen? What happens in the story? Make a chart. Talk About It Text to Text Think of another story about friends who had a problem. Do you think the friends in that story worked together? Tell what you think and why. 11

WORDS TO KNOW across head second ball cried heard should large LEARN MORE WORDS flooded mound scooped TARGET SKILL Story Structure Tell the setting, character, and events in a story. TARGET STRATEGY Infer/Predict Use clues to figure out more about story parts. GENRE A fantasy is a story that could not happen in real life. 12

Level: K DRA: 20 Genre: Fantasy Strategy: Infer/Predict Skill: Story Structure Word Count: 388 1.6.28 HOUGHTON MIFFLIN Online Leveled Books ISBN-13:978-0-547-02732-6 ISBN-10:0-547-02732-X 1032766