When I was a kid, we read Silver Burdett textbooks like "Mysterious Wysteria" and "Air Pudding and Wind Sauce". One of the stories I read back in second grade (I was reading a bit ahead) was about an elderly woman and her grandson (?); the woman was obviously not going to live to see the next time the Leonids came around, and there was a huge build up followed by her missing them, stuck in a subway or something. I was reminded of it after missing the Leonids this time around.
Anyway, I can't remember which story it was, and searches have not revealed tables of contents or even a complete list of the books available. I'd love to have a list, on the off chance that someone out there shared the same textbooks. I can remember "Air Pudding and Wind Sauce", "Mysterious Wysteria", "Silver Twist", and "Cinnamon Peaks", but that's it. They had companion workbooks, but I don't remember them very well. Something about the Doppelganger Gang? One of the books had an excerpt from Theodore Taylor's The Cay, I remember, and they were stuffed with poetry and short stories. I loved to read, but it didn't hurt that so many of the collections I encountered were so good. Anyway, if anyone else remembers this stuff, drop me a line.