Distant Thunder contains authentic short stories, poems, and excerpts from novels by ethnic minority writers. Informed by reader response theory, the text uses student-centered activities and a reading-process approach to literature. In the spirit of communicative language teaching, Distant Thunder provides abundant opportunities for students to share their written and spoken responses. The text is rich with themes of inner conflict and cultural confrontation and adaptation. It contains stories and poems by Americans of Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Mexican, Native-American, and African descent, whose work will engage readers and encourage meaningful communication. Distant Thunder contains ten units, each centering on a single story or poem accompanied by student-centered, reader response activities and language exercises. The book introduces various literary structures (such as point of view, character, setting) and devotes a section in each unit to a focus on language. The text encourages students and teachers to discover meaning together. Teachers can guide the students"s transaction with the stories and poems using the text"s numerous activities, ensuring a relevant and meaningful language experience with its high-interest literature.