This book is the third in a series of books for a literature-inspired curriculum for grades 1-3 organized around thematic units. The book's "story stretchers" are a means to extend children's enthusiasm for stories and to better connect children's books and teaching ideas with other areas of the curriculum. The book contains 18 units or themes with 5 focus books per unit. Each focus book has read-aloud suggestions for the book and five story stretchers per book. Thus, there are 90 read-aloud suggestions and 450 story stretchers for 90 different children's books. For each of the book's 18 themes, the books selected are "stretched" into different centers, activities and areas of the curriculum, including art, creative dramatics, games, classroom library, mathematics, music and movement, science and nature, special projects, special events and the writing center. The units, or themes, are as follows: (1) I am Me, I am Special, Look What I Can Do!; (2) Families; (3) Friends; (4) Feelings; (5) Celebrations; (6) I Care about My World, the Environment; (7) Weather; (8) Machines and Things; (9) Animal Life; (10) Life in the Sea, Real and Imagined; (11) Pets, Dogs, and Cats; (12) Another Time and Place; (13) Native American Legends and Folktales from Other Countries; (14) Mysteries, Secrets and Adventures; (15) Bears in Tall Tales, Funny Tales, Stories and Poems; (16) Fun with Words; (17) Poems, Chants, Rhythms and Rhymes; and (18) Tall and Funny, Funny Tales. (SR)