Seventy-four years ago, Spencer gave his sister Hattie a wooden box as a wedding gift, and though it was empty, told her there was something special in it.Through the years, it became clear that love was the special gift inside the box, and eventually, Hattie brings the box for Spencer’s 100th birthday party. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt StoryTown, 2008)

This lesson was created as part of the Basal Alignment Project, during which teachers created CCSS-aligned lessons for existing literary and information texts in basal readers. All page numbers and unit/week designations found in this lesson relate to the edition of the basal reader named above. If you are using a trade book or different edition of this title, the page/unit/week references in this lesson will not match. Consult the content referenced in the body of the lesson to determine appropriate page numbers for your text.