Timelinks Leveled Readers

Thirty-three cars zip around the track at speeds higher than 200 miles per hour! Much has changed since the first Indy 500 in 1911, but the race still includes traditions from long ago.

Giant pandas once lived in mountains and valleys all over China. But now the bears are in danger of disappearing. Workers at Wolong Nature Reserve are doing everything they can to help pandas survive.

Trouble grew between the North and the South until states began to leave the Union, one after another. As the Union determined to hold its forts in the South, the stage was set for a showdown. Read about the events that led to the U.S. Civil War.

For almost 200 years, military schools have been an important part of the Southern United States’ military tradition. Some famous schools, such as Virginia Military Institute and the Citadel, have survived through hard times and many changes. And some of today’s well-known military bases were established in the South during times of crisis.

Kids, scientists, and ancient Native Americans were among the explorers who ventured deep into Indiana’s Wyandotte Cave. They discovered miles of winding passages, huge rooms, and unusual animals.

Robert E. Lee and his wife lived at Arlington House on their plantation, until Lee had to make a tough decision: Should he remain in the U.S. Army and fight for the Union during the Civil War, or resign and join the Confederacy? The dramatic events of the following years transformed Arlington into a memorial that millions of people visit today.

Trespassers moved into the Lakota hunting grounds and killed the buffalo the Lakota depended on for food. Under the fearless leader Sitting Bull, the Lakota fought for their survival.

When thousands of lead miners flocked to Illinois, the Sauk warrior Black Hawk and his followers didn’t want to give up their sacred homeland. Rumors and misunderstandings triggered the deadly battles that followed.

Moctezuma II ruled as king of the mighty Aztec Empire in Mexico. When strangers arrived with huge, snorting beasts and terrifying weapons, the king was mystified. Were the strangers men, or gods?

A few decades ago, most of Puerto Rico’s people were farm workers who received little pay, and the small island didn’t have enough land for everyone to farm. Some people thought that Puerto Rico’s economic problems couldn’t be solved. But island leaders came up with a plan for Puerto Rico to pull itself out of poverty.

More than six years had passed since the American Revolution had begun. Now General George Washington planned to trap the British army at Yorktown, Virginia. But the plan would work only if he could catch the British by surprise.

Mansa Musa, king of the West African empire of Mali, made a long journey with thousands of servants and thousands of pounds of gold. His riches sparked rumors about a legendary city of gold called Timbuktu. For centuries, explorers risked their lives traveling through the scorching desert to try to reach the mysterious city.

In 1789, the people of France were ready to revolt against the king and queen. The Marquis de Lafayette, who had helped Americans fight for independence in the American Revolution, tried to maintain peace. But Lafayette soon found his own life in danger.

Stretching from temperate regions in the south to arctic regions in the north, Quebec is Canada’s largest province. But that’s not all that sets it apart from other provinces. Its culture is so different that Quebecers have long debated the question: Should they separate from Canada and form an independent nation?

Young Octavius grew up during a time of trouble in Rome. His great-uncle, Julius Caesar, took control and then was killed by his enemies. It was time for Octavius to act, but he would have to overcome major obstacles to become Augustus, one of the most powerful rulers in history.

The rivers and streams in more than half of the state of Virginia wind their way to the Chesapeake Bay. If these waterways become polluted, so does the bay. In her long career as a conservationist, Denise Doetzer used a variety of strategies to protect Virginia’s waterways.

Both as a child and as an adult, James Madison was slight and sickly, but he was a determined man who always fought for his ideas. This determination helped him as a lawmaker who pushed for a stronger U.S. constitution, and as the President who led the nation through the War of 1812.

As a young man, Oliver P. Morton earned a reputation as a great debater. As Governor of Indiana during the U.S. Civil War, he earned the nickname “the Soldier’s Friend” by finding many ways to look after Indiana’s soldiers.

Christopher Columbus set out to find a sea route to Asia but instead discovered a route to a New World. But that wasn’t Columbus’s only adventure. On other voyages he experienced shipwreck and attack by pirates.

In 1836, a hard-working blacksmith named John Deere headed west, where he learned that farmers had a problem. To find a solution, Deere turned a broken saw into a new kind of plow. He never dreamed where his experiment would lead.

When Abraham Lincoln was born in a one-room cabin in the Kentucky woods, it didn’t seem likely that he would become the most powerful man in the nation. After he was elected President, Lincoln faced a crisis no other American President had ever faced—a civil war.

For thousands of years, the Tlingit people lived in Alaska’s temperate rain forest. But then trouble arrived. First the Tlingit fought for their land. Later, they had to battle discrimination.

Mexico was part of the Spanish colony of New Spain when Miguel Hidalgo was born there in 1753. Hidalgo became a priest, but he often clashed with the church and the government—until he finally led his followers in a revolt.