Sources used for this story include: “Rai… Heaven: Where Rocks Go Wandering,” by Tim Cahill (National Geographic). The world still holds many wonders that science—so far— cannot explain. As you learn about the three mysteries described, see if you can hypothesize any scientific...

Luís lived in the Arctic Circle with his parents who were researching the effects of global warming. Luís wondered about that as he went out for a walk. He didn’t think there was much global warming going on today. It didn’t feel warm to Luís, who was bundled up in a snowsuit, mittens, hat,...

By Janeen K. Grohsmeyer, in her book A Lamp in Every Corner: Our Unitarian Universalist Storybook (Boston: Unitarian Universalist Association, 2004)....

From Christian scripture, John 6:1-19, New Revised Standard Version (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1990). A large crowd kept following [Jesus], because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples....

A Celtic pagan story from Ireland, told by Erica Helm Meade in her book of wisdom tales, The Moon in the Well (Peru, Illinois: Open Court/Carus, 2001). Permission pending....

As a child, Joseph Priestley noticed something that would influence the rest of his life: If you keep a bug in a jar for too long, it will die. At the time Joseph Priestley didn’t understand why that was true—nobody did. No one really studied the air; it was something everyone took for granted.

This Korean folk tale, translated by Heinz Insu Fenkl, is similar to the European folk tale “The Frog Prince.” Used with the translator’s permission. Once there was a woman who had a son late in life, and much to her surprise, he was born as a snake. She covered him with the bamboo hat she...

There once was an inquisitive, thoughtful girl named May. She was born in Belgium, about 100 years ago. She lived there only a few years until the German invasion in 1914. Fleeing Europe, May Sarton and her family came to live in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where May’s father became a professor.

In 1927 a Roman Catholic priest and scientist Georges Lemaitre proposed what later became known as the Big Bang theory of the origin of the Universe, based on work by Edwin Hubble who theorized and then proved that the Universe was getting bigger and bigger. Many scientists have discovered other...

A retelling of a story from Cherokee tradition. When the earth was first made, it was very dark, and the animals were afraid. One day Bear said, “I have seen light on the other side of the world, but the people will not share. Perhaps we could steal some for ourselves.” The others thought this...

A retelling of a Hawaiian legend. The god Maui was the smallest but smartest of his brothers, who often made fun of him because he couldn’t fish very well. Sometimes Maui would go out on a boat with his brothers, distract them when they had a fish on the line, and steal it from them, claiming it...

Genesis 1: 1-31; 2:1-4 (New Revised Standard Version) In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light," and there was...

Isaiah 52: 1-2, 13-15; 53: 1-8, 54: 2-4, 7-8 (New Revised Standard Version) Awake, awake, Put on your strength O Zion! Put on your beautiful garments... Shake yourself from the dust and rise up, O captive Jerusalem; Loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter Zion! ... See, my servant will...

Genesis 22: 1-13 (New Revised Standard Version) After these things God tested Abraham....

Joshua 1: 1-3, Joshua 2:1-7,15-18, 21, Joshua 6: 1-25 (New Revised Standard Version) ... The Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun... saying, "... Now proceed to cross the Jordan [River], you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, the Israelites. Every place that the sole of your...

Exodus 16: 1-31; 35 (New Revised Standard Version) The whole congregation of the Israelites set out from Elim; and Israel came to the wilderness... The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness....

1 Samuel 17 (New Revised Standard Version) Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle... The Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion...

From The Kids' Book of Awesome Stuff (Brotman-Marshfield Curriculum, June 2004). Used with permission. Take a deep breath. The air you just breathed in is different from the air you just breathed out. The air you breathed out is a gas that can suffocate you if too much of it gets in the air. That...

When Wangari Maathai was a little girl growing up in central Kenya in Africa, the land was green, the streams full, and the trees grew thick and lush. To help her family with meals, Wangari gathered firewood from the trees around her village. On her first day gathering, her mother told her "Don't...