There are no rips or markings other than the wroting in the front and back inner covers. This book is a collection of various stories and poems for 6th graders (or so i gather from it being book 6 and the stories are definitely appropriate for that grade) by various authors to give the readers a balanced taste of literature fot for thay particular age range. Some of the authors included are Eleanor Estes, Robert Frost, Beverly Cleary, Eric Knight, Robert Lawson, Thor Heyerdahl, C.S. Lewis, and Jean Little. The stories are excerpts from longer books, and poems are interwoven between them. This book was published in 1989, but the stories are from various years. The stories are categorized into six different categories: Friendships, Building a Nation, Confronting Nature, Images and Illusions, Living With Change, and Accepting Challenges. All of my books come from a smoke-free home! Questions are welcomed, as I love to enlighten people about old books.