Excerpt 1: On the island, salt wind tangled Miriam's hair as church bells tolled noon. Neighbors nailed shutters while telegraph wires hissed. Papa said the barometer kept falling, but the trolley rattled past the gingerbread houses. When waves slapped across Broadway, Mama lit kerosene lanterns and packed quilts, letters, and the family Bible. By evening, water boiled through alleys, lifting barrels and chickens alike. Miriam clutched her brother's hand as men roped themselves together, shouting through rain. The night roared with wind and prayer. At dawn, the storm had ripped porches away, yet the bell tower leaned, stubborn as a live oak.

Excerpt 2: The trophy vanished during pep rally rehearsal, and Principal Reyes tapped the mic, frowning. I'd been filming from the bleachers, so I rewound my phone clip. In the frame, our armadillo mascot waved, then Coach Vega stacked megaphones by the stage door. A janitor's cart rolled past, mop dripping. After the cheer, lights flickered, and everyone gasped. Back in the empty hallway, I found glittery paw prints ending at a locked closet. Inside, only pom-poms and a dusty banner. The prints were pressed on tape—too neat. I checked the video again and zoomed in on a megaphone rim, reflecting gold.

Which genres best match Excerpt 1 and Excerpt 2, and what textual evidence supports your choices?

Excerpt 1: The drone's carbon wings whirred as it mapped the dust field outside Habitat Three. I watched oxygen readouts steady at ninety-eight percent while the rover's AI calculated a new route around the sinkhole. Dad says the terraforming schedule slipped again, but our algae bioreactor doubled output after I rewrote its light cycle. Through the viewport, Phobos knifed across the twilight like a thrown pebble. A warning pinged: microfractures in the east airlock. I printed a polymer patch, clipped my helmet, and thumbed the seal test. Ten minutes, minimal risk. If we didn't fix it, sunrise pressure swings would do worse.

Excerpt 2: The river spoke at dusk, when cattails trembled and minnows stitched quick silver letters. I knelt on the muddy bank, holding Grandmother's bone-etched charm. Across the water, the ruined bridge glowed with mossy runes, and a moth as big as my palm perched on a stone like a watchful eye. "You've waited long enough," the river sighed, voice bubbling through reeds. I dipped the charm; warmth pulsed up my arm. The moth unfurled, scattering pale dust that shaped a doorway. Behind me, the oak bent low, offering a branch as a staff. I stepped forward, trusting old stories and promises.

Identify the best-fit genres for Excerpt 1 and Excerpt 2 and cite evidence from each.

Excerpt 1: Abuela's pan dulce cooled on the counter while I copied algebra problems and tried not to stare at the clock. The after-school bus would hit rain, and I still had to close the register. Tourists drifted in from the River Walk, pointing at conchas, laughing when sugar dusted their sleeves. Abuela adjusted my apron and said my face looked like a thundercloud. I told her Coach moved me from flute to percussion for the Fiesta concert, and I'd never held mallets before. She tapped a tray. "Rhythm is recipe," she said. "Listen to the oven. You'll find your beat." Today.

Excerpt 2: By sunrise we were two miles into Santa Elena Canyon, paddles slicing green water while cliffs rose like sleeping giants. The river bent hard left, wind shoving the canoe toward a rock garden. "Draw!" I shouted, and Luis dug deep. We skimmed a boulder, spun, and took a wave full in the chest. My map flashed through my mind—rapid at mile three, eddy on the right. A branch snagged the bowline; the current tugged us sideways. I knifed into the shallows, boots grinding gravel, and hauled until the rope burned my palms. When we finally eddied out, we whooped, shaking.

Which genres best fit Excerpt 1 and Excerpt 2? Choose the option that uses evidence from the text.

Excerpt 1: I knew Monday had it out for me when my shoelace tied itself to the bus seat. By the time I escaped, my hair looked like I'd wrestled a tumbleweed and lost. In science, our gummy-worm lab was going great until mine launched across the room and stuck to the principal's sleeve like a neon leech. Lunch was pizza, a word which here means triangular rubber. When the fire alarm squealed during algebra, I didn't panic. I simply calculated the probability the universe was pranking me: one hundred percent. Then I sneezed, and my homework parachuted out the window. Gracefully.

Excerpt 2: Before the first campfire, when mountains still remembered their footsteps, Trickster grew bored. He stole two eagle feathers and a drumskin from Night's tent and stitched them to the west wind. "Fly," he said, "and do not be quiet." The wind obeyed, thunder booming as the drum beat the sky. Trees shivered; rivers rattled their stones. People asked the elders what angered the heavens. The elders said, "Not anger—laughter. Trickster laughs so loudly it shakes clouds." To prove it, Trickster leaped, caught a lightning tail, and rode it, hair crackling, grinning so wide the moon hid behind her sleeve shyly.

Select the genres that best match Excerpt 1 and Excerpt 2, using evidence from the text.

Excerpt 1: Frost clung to the dome as the sun edged over the crater rim. Liora checked her suit's seals; the habitat's AI, Caretaker, pinged her visor with a path overlay and a reminder to recalibrate the oxygen scrubbers. Beyond the rover bay, dust devils danced like ghostly spirals across the red plain. She launched a beetle-sized drone; its sensors mapped subsurface ice pockets, streaming data to her wrist display. If the terraforming array held through another storm, the colony might finally plant more than nutrient paste. Liora grinned, kicked on mag-boots, and stepped into the airlock's hiss and blue safety lights.

Excerpt 2: Moonlight pooled along the river's bend, turning the water quicksilver. When Elena pressed her palm to the carved trunk, the ancient oak shivered and a silver door flickered into being. Runes glowed like fireflies around the handle. The coyote beside her spoke in a voice like dry leaves, promising safe passage if she remembered the old rhyme. From across the water, a shadow-winged shape circled, scattering sparks that smelled of cinnamon and rain. Elena tightened her grip on the charm her abuela had tied with red thread, whispered the rhyme, and felt the door warm beneath her hand, answering.

Which genres best match Excerpt 1 and Excerpt 2? Use specific textual evidence from each excerpt.

Excerpt 1: By late afternoon the barometer had fallen so low Mr. Alvarez stopped whistling. He sent his last telegram from the crowded office and hurried my sister and me toward the raised seaside boulevard, though the wind shoved us backward. Gas lamps rattled. Wagons lurched through water that climbed the steps of wooden porches. Neighbors shouted above the roar as shingles flew like cards. When the bay met the Gulf, a gray wall rose where the street had been. We linked arms and moved toward St. Mary's brick building, the only place that looked strong enough to stand the night.

Excerpt 2: The final bell released a swirl of voices into the humid San Antonio afternoon. Maya jogged to the band hall, dodging a line for the activity bus and the chalked hopscotch squares someone had left on the sidewalk. She texted Mom that rehearsal would run late—region tryouts were next week—and tucked her phone away before Mr. Perez's count-off. The trumpet section missed their entrance, and Maya hid a grin behind her clarinet. Sweat beaded along her hairline, and the metronome's click stitched the measures together. Outside, a thunderhead stacked purple over the stadium, but inside everything felt ordinary and possible.

Which genres best match Excerpt 1 and Excerpt 2? Use specific textual evidence from each excerpt.

Excerpt 1: The note tucked under the library's front mat was folded into a tight triangle, like the ones Grandpa used for grocery lists. Inside, a message ran backward, every fifth letter underlined. I held it to the glass door and read the reflection: "Bring back what you took." Someone had also pressed a red thread into the fold; the same color was snagged on the display case that morning. Outside, the rain had smeared a line of small, square footprints toward the alley—too neat for a dog. I checked the catalog: only one person had borrowed the missing map this week.

Excerpt 2: Rocks hammered the raft as the river pinched into a throat of white water. Tessa dug her paddle deep, feeling the current rip it sideways. The guide's voice was lost under the roar; all she could see was the V of dark water threading between two boulders and the drop beyond. They shot through it, skidded, and slammed into a wave that slapped cold across her eyes. Behind them, the supply drybag thumped against the rope; if it tore loose, the food and first-aid kit would vanish downstream. A black cloud stacked over the canyon rim, and the wind rose.

Which genres best match Excerpt 1 and Excerpt 2? Use specific textual evidence from each excerpt.

Excerpt 1: By noon the sky over the Panhandle had turned the color of a bruise. Mama pinned damp feed sacks over the windows while I swept grit from the dinner plates, though no one had eaten yet. The radio crackled with static and talk of a relief truck on the highway from Childress. When the wind hit, it came like a train, sealing the house in dust. We pulled kerchiefs over our noses, soaked them again from the jar. Daddy said the county agent promised seed loans if the wheat failed, but his hands shook as he latched the door against the dark.

Excerpt 2: On the research farm outside Laredo, the sorghum glowed faintly under the biotube's filters, engineered pigments sipping light our eyes couldn't see. Ana checked the moisture sensors and watched the irrigation drones skate low, misting each row with recycled vapor. The desal pipeline from the Gulf hummed underground, a silver vein feeding the parched flats. Her tablet flashed a forecast: the climate model's new patch might let the seedlings survive the heat spike due Thursday. If the test held, ranchers could license the gene edits by fall. A dust devil flirted with the fence, then unraveled like a spun thread.

Which genres best match Excerpt 1 and Excerpt 2? Use specific textual evidence from each excerpt.