A Colorful Cultural Connection
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ReadOasis Step 3 Mia and Sam lived in Los Angeles. Mia's family came from Mexico. Sam's family came from Japan. Raised in different cultures, they grew up learning different things. Mia loved spicy food and danced to Latino music. She often greeted people with a hug. Sam enjoyed sushi... Read more
ReadOasis Step 2(Part 1) El Expolio by El Greco El Greco wanted to be a great artist. (His name means “the Greek.”) Like many Greek artists of his time, El Greco moved to Venice, Italy. Venice was alive with cultural change, achievement, and art during a period of time... Read more
ReadOasis Step 2 Every day Medgar Evers worked hard. He was doing his best to bring equal rights for African Americans. Evers lived in Mississippi in the 1960s. It was a place where African Americans did not have equality. They did not have the right to vote. Gasoline stations... Read more
ReadOasis Step 4 The Spanish painter Picasso demonstrated remarkable artistic aptitude at a very young age. According to his mother, his first words were "piz, piz." "Piz" is short for "lápiz," which means "pencil" in Spanish. Picasso's father was an art professor who raised his son in a world... Read more
The Boy who Became Buddha
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ReadOasis Step 2 He was born in 1935 -- in a poor farmer's home in northeast Tibet. At age 2, he was recognized as the 14th Buddha of Compassion. Buddha's soul had again appeared in a child. And this boy was the Buddha. He was taken to a palace... Read more
The Drama of Darwin (Step 3)
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ReadOasis Step 3 Annie Darwin was her father's joy, and she treated him with tender kindness. But in 1849 Annie became sick with severe fever. Charles struggled to cure her, but in 1851, Annie died and was buried in a small church in Worcestershire. The words on her grave... Read more
ReadOasis Step 2 Many years ago a man named Francis lived in a small town in Italy. Francis was kind and loving to all living things. The creatures he loved most were birds. He called the birds his little brothers of the air. He wanted to protect them and... Read more
ReadOasis Step 2by Cana Short Sacajawea with Lewis and Clark (Wikipedia) Hello. My name is Sacajawea, and I am a Shoshone Indian. My people live in the vast hill country of the Rocky Mountains. You may be wondering, “How about you?” Well, when I was only 12 years old,... Read more
ReadOasis Step 2 (Part 1) One day Yukichi went to Yokohama for sight-seeing. At the time, the place was not much of a town. Foreigners had made a few temporary buildings there for living and selling their goods. Yukichi tried to speak with them, but to his distress and... Read more
A Coach for Life (Step 2)
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ReadOasis Step 2 Coach John Wooden The students looked at the score of the game. And they could not believe their eyes. But the numbers still read Notre Dame - 71, UCLA - 70. It was impossible, even unbelievable. Between January 30, 1971, and January 17, 1974, UCLA did... Read more
Johnny Cash: The Man in Black (Step 3)
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ReadOasis Step 3 Johnny Cash was a man of great presence, as if born from an ancient legend that reveals the contradictions of human life. Cash died in 2003, but he gave us a vast collection of over 50 years of music. He also created his own genre, between... Read more
Henry Ward Beecher, Friend of Slaves (Step 2)
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By Max L. Knowles ReadOasis Step 2 On February 5, 1860, a strange thing happened at Plymouth Church in Brooklyn, New York. Church members were not having a “bake sale.” They were having a “slave sale.” But this sale was backwards. Church members were buying the freedom of a... Read more
By Cana Short ReadOasis Step 2 Mother Teresa in 1986 (Image Wikipedia) It was pouring rain. I was walking to a store, and as I did, I passed by a man. A homeless man for sure. He was huddled under a bench, trying to shield himself from the rain... Read more
Mohandas Gandhi: Promoter of Peace (Step 2)
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ReadOasis Step 2 Mohandas Gandhi is known as the father of India. He was a politician, thinker, and religious leader. In Gandhi's time, the British had ruled India for about 190 years. And many Indians suffered under the British. Gandhi helped India become free from British rule. He fought... Read more
Gandhi: Promoter of Peace (Step 3)
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ReadOasis Step 3 Mohandas Gandhi is known as the father of India. He was a politician, patriot, philosopher, and religious leader. In Gandhi's time, the British had ruled India for about 190 years. And many Indians suffered under the British. The British did not give Indians equal status. And... Read more
Yoshitoshi, Master of Block Prints
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ReadOasis Step 2 In Japan, there is a special kind of painting called "ukiyo-e." The word literally means "pictures of the floating world." Ukiyo-e are woodblock prints. This form of art is widely known through the paintings of Hokusai, especially his famous "Great Wave." Many ukiyo-e artists left their... Read more
ReadOasis Step 2(Part 1) Hemingway Collection, Kennedy Presidential Museum “A writer is always alone, always an outsider," Ernest Hemingway said. Hemingway created many characters in his books. Some people said that Hemingway was his own best creation. Ernest Hemingway was born in 1891. He grew up in Oak Park,... Read more
By Max L. Knowles ReadOasis Step 1 Five times they tried to kill him. Five times they failed. But today was different. It was a usual day. Gandhi was on his way to a meeting. He was going to talk to the people. He always talked about peace. But... Read more
A Coach for Life (Step 3)
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ReadOasis Step 3 The students stared at the lights on the scoreboard. Through their tears, the numbers were hard to see. They rubbed their eyes in disbelief. But the numbers still read Notre Dame - 71, UCLA - 70. It was impossible, even unbelievable. Between January 30, 1971, and... Read more
Lady Sings the Blues (Part 1)
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ReadOasis Step 2 Southern trees bear strange fruit Blood on the leaves and blood at the root Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees These sad words open the song “Strange Fruit.” The song was written by Abel Meeropol, and it was... Read more
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