Vocabulary reading passages

121 original short passages — history, science, nature, the arts — written so ISEE and SSAT vocabulary words appear where they belong: in real sentences.

Arts

Colors Behind the Screen easy · 20 words
The Question on Stage easy · 10 words
Six Hours to Curtain easy · 10 words
The Missing Crown easy · 10 words
The Hall Comes Alive easy · 11 words
Seven Beats Together easy · 20 words
The Light Between Paintings easy · 12 words
The Brightness Debate medium · 20 words
Inside the Sound medium · 10 words
Writing at the Edges medium · 20 words
The Turning Walls medium · 20 words
The Speaking Ground hard · 20 words
The Counterfeit Lesson hard · 16 words
Against the Metal hard · 17 words
The Velvet Rebellion hard · 10 words
Clay and Conviction hard · 20 words
An Opera by Post hard · 17 words
The Late Correction hard · 15 words
The Open Corner hard · 16 words
The Final Impression hard · 13 words
The Engineered Tempest hard · 10 words
The Visible Scars hard · 10 words

History

A Waterway Opens easy · 20 words
The Merchant Governor easy · 10 words
The Agreement at Alder Crossing easy · 20 words
Secrets Beneath the Vines easy · 10 words
The Gazette's Hidden Reports easy · 20 words
Ink Before Dawn easy · 20 words
The Queen's Paper Roads medium · 20 words
Where the River Moved hard · 20 words
The Threads in the Ledger hard · 17 words
The Northern Channel hard · 17 words
The Eastern Turn hard · 20 words
The Cipher at Court hard · 11 words
Seven Votes at Dawn hard · 10 words
The Ledger Conspiracy hard · 11 words
The Disputed Leaves hard · 9 words
The Officers' Correspondence hard · 16 words
The Varen Customs Crisis hard · 9 words
The Negotiators of Cambrai hard · 9 words
The Reform Standoff hard · 8 words
Beyond the Gates hard · 16 words
The Season of Reckoning hard · 11 words
The Sealed County Papers hard · 12 words

Narrative

The Silver Key easy · 10 words
The Boat in the Rain easy · 20 words
Stitches Before Saturday easy · 9 words
The Lantern Captain easy · 11 words
A Better Ending easy · 11 words
Signal in the Storm easy · 20 words
The Quiet Before the Bell easy · 10 words
Ten Tests Ahead easy · 10 words
The Locker Choice easy · 10 words
The Ridge Vote easy · 10 words
The Line Between Them easy · 20 words
The Line Between Gardens easy · 20 words
The Hearing Room medium · 10 words
The White Road medium · 20 words
The Slanted Signature medium · 20 words
Before Sunrise hard · 20 words
The Refusal at Ashdown hard · 14 words
The Unsmoothed Voice hard · 15 words
The Altered Shore hard · 20 words
The Marker on the Slope hard · 17 words
The Clockmaker's Fever hard · 10 words
The Unfinished Finale hard · 16 words
The Chair at Center Stage hard · 8 words
The House at Mallow End hard · 11 words
The Case She Carried hard · 16 words
The Weight of Fifteen Years hard · 14 words
The Empty Chair hard · 11 words

Nature

Before the First Snow easy · 9 words
The Returning Shore easy · 20 words
Beneath the Green Canopy easy · 10 words
The Garden Below easy · 20 words
Beyond the Ridge easy · 9 words
Gardens Beneath the Forest easy · 20 words
The Meadow Notebook medium · 20 words
The Winter Choice medium · 20 words
When the Water Returned medium · 20 words
The Valley Remembers hard · 16 words
A Basin Between Tides hard · 20 words
The Moraine Calendar hard · 17 words
The Ninth Spring hard · 15 words
The Tremor Above hard · 14 words
The Patient Burn hard · 20 words
The Thawing Refuge hard · 11 words
The Juniper Recovery hard · 10 words

Science

Secrets of Red Mesa easy · 10 words
Testing a New Shield easy · 20 words
Mosquitoes in the Marsh easy · 10 words
Life Under Glass easy · 10 words
Secrets in Stone easy · 10 words
A Battle Inside easy · 10 words
Voices Through a Wire easy · 10 words
The Singing Span easy · 20 words
The Long Descent medium · 20 words
A Place on the Table medium · 20 words
The Archive in Wood hard · 20 words
The Bone That Would Not Settle hard · 15 words
The Drift Above hard · 17 words
Signals After Midnight hard · 20 words
The Fault in the Bronze hard · 16 words
The Returning Hinge hard · 20 words
When the Curve Breaks hard · 13 words
The Chamber Argument hard · 9 words