This Issue:

Table of Contents

Cover Story

Cover Story - Spanish Version

Mini-Lesson

Comprehension Quiz

Teacher's Guide and Worksheets

Oklahoma City Remembers

Empty chairs are a painful reality for many families in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Five years ago, a bomb shattered the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in that city, killing 168 people--19 of them children in a day-care center. Since then, the victims' places around dinner tables, at work, in churches and in classrooms have gone unfilled.

On April 19, the anniversary of the 1995 bombing, officials dedicated the stunning, somber Oklahoma City National Memorial to the victims. The husband-and-wife team of Torrey and Hans-Ekkehard Butzer designed the memorial, which includes 168 empty chairs, one for each victim of the worst terrorist attack ever on U.S. soil.

Building the memorial cost about $29 million. At more than 1,000 U.S. schools, kids collected 168 pennies apiece. This effort raised $455,000!

The bombers are in jail, and one of them was sentenced to death. The two men were angry at the government and chose the building because it held many government offices.

Survivors of the blast and relatives of the dead gathered for last week's ceremony. "I hope you can come here and find solace in the memory of your loved ones," President Clinton told them.

Marsha Kight, who lost her son Frankie Merrell, was moved by what she saw: "When I got down here this morning, the moon was still up, the clouds were in the sky and it reflected in the water," she said. "It was like heaven was right here."

Next: The Nation's Library Turns 200