Real Stories is a writing and reading text that works. The method Toni Ortner discusses is classroom-tested and designed to meet the needs of multi-cultural high school students. It contains three sections: The Process of Writing covers the basic building blocks of writing. Time Savers for Grammar and Punctuation includes types of sentences, how to find and eliminate runs-ons, comma splices and fragments, comma use, nouns, capitalization, direct quotes, verb tenses, and irregular verbs, practice exercises, an answer key, and tests. The Reader contains students' personal stories for analysis and discussion. Real Stories helps students use words to empower and enrich their lives.