Boxcars and Bottle Caps

This was David's book from 1982 that I inherited along with Twirling Parallels. Boxcars was given to Dave by Sister Jane Catherine, who I'm guessing was his second grade teacher. I wonder if kids today have textbooks like this, full of short stories old and new, by the famous and the lesser-known. I kinda think they don't. Isn't that just a bit sad? Kids need their own library in their room where they can escape into a story whenever they need to or want to.