Title - Babylon's Ark Author: Anthony, Lawrence Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books Print Synopsis Authors Purpose Genre The astonishing story of one of the world's greatest animal rescues. When the Iraq war began, conservationist Lawrence Anthony could think of only one thing: the fate of the Baghdad Zoo, caught in the crossfire at the heart of the city. Inform Informational RDQ (Reading Difficulty Quotient) Accelerated Reader Lexile Find at 4446 7+ 1150 Amazon RDQ based on a maximum of 3000 words Levels are suggested levels based on RDQ, not official levels Sentences Total Words Different Words Max Word/Sent 46 Total # of Words 3709 # of Different Words 1292 Ave Word/.Sent 14 Hi Freq occurs 2494 67.2% # of Hi freq words 423 32.7% % of Long Sentences 27.2 Low Freq occurs 531 14.3% # of Low freq words 421 32.6% Subjective Criteria Illustrations: No support Dialog: Multiple speakers Dialog: Broken dialogue Dialog: Unlabeled Speaker Vocabulary: Many difficult words Language: Many descriptive words Sentences: Many Long Complex Text structure: Story/Poem Inferences: Several Implications Complexity: Several unrelated ideas Concepts: Abstract/Complex Environmental Chapters Sequence of Events: Mostly chronological Mature Concepts: With some uncommon experiences Features Character traits Integral Setting Integral Setting - Cultural/Regional Complex Problem/Solution Clear cause/effect Mood/tone Targets adult reader Difficult names Foreign words Topics Zoos Challenges Teams/Teamwork Danger War *Animals Animals: Zoo Rescue *Feelings, Behaviors Low Frequency Words abandoned abrams absolute absurdly accuracy acrid administration administrator adrenaline advice affected aleikum alien amazement anarchy animatedly appealed approach approached arabic ardor asses assured astonishment asylum atmosphere authority authorization available ba'athist ba'athists barren barricade barricades barrier biblical billowing binoculars bravado brooding burnt camouflage careered cartridges casually ceramic challenge chaos civilian civilians clatters claustrophobic coalition collaborators comical communal communication companions complexion concerned concrete confetti confines confirmed congested conniption considerably conspicuous continuous contrasted convoy convoys credentials crouched cult curiosity curious dangled dashboard deflate deposed designated desolate despite detritus disappearing discarded disguise dismay dispelled dominant dominoes dread dune dunes ease eastern eerie elation element emerged escapees eventually evidence exposed expressions eyeballed facial fanatically fanatics fedayeen feral fetid fiction firefights firepower flabbergasted flourished footage foreign foreigner foreigners formula fortress frantically frontline fuck furnace gangs garments garner gasoline gathering gauntlet gen gestured gingerly glimpse glinting granting grasp grasped gridlocked group's guides gunmen gunshots gutted hailstorm hardware harrowing harshly hastily headquarters heavily heeding hell here're hijack hillah holed hollowed hookah hopelessly horror hostile hostility hunker hussein hussein's illusion illusions imaginable imaginary immemorial incongruous incredulously indicated inquisitive insane instant instructions intelligent intention interim interloper internal intersection intersections invasion iraq iraqi iraqis jamhooriah jeez jerricans journalists journeys juiciest karbala keen khaki kuwait kuwaiti kuwaitis landscape language launch legitimate lethal lethargy level license likely littered loitering loyal loyalists madman mangled mansur marines massive measure menacingly mere metallic military militia mingled mirage misgivings missiles mission moments monitoring monuments motion motoring muhammad must've mustard najaf narcotics narjaf nasiriya navigating nervously neutral numerous obey obvious ominously omnipresent onlookers openmouthed opportunity opposite originally overburdened overly palaces pall palpable paranoid partner passenger peered pensive periphery permission pervasive pictured pitiless pitted pollution pondered portraits potholed presence previously prime primed propaganda prophet pungent purpose python queued radiated radioed raging raising random raucous razor reckless rectangle reflected refuel refuse refused registration reinforcing rejoicing relics relishing remnants renamed renegade rental repertoire riddled ridiculous rivaled roadside rubble ruefully rummaged saddam saddam's salaam sandbags sardine scant science scrutinized scrutiny scuds scurrying security sensation shatteringly sheltering shield shimmering shoved signaled sinister situation skies skirted slithering sloshed slouched smoldering soldier solitary somewhat soporific spanking spanning specifically spiked squashed squat squinted stark starkly statues stillness strategic studiously stunned suicide superior supplies supreme surely surgical surrounding survive survived sweat swerved swiftly swirling tangled tarmac technology tempered tensely territory testimony there're tigris toppled transformation trigger triggers truly twitched unarmed unassuming unauthorized unaware unchanged uncomfortable understandably unnerving unwelcome upmarket urban urgent valid vaporized vicious vigorous villagers visible visuals warriors weird whipped whirlwind wired wizened worth wraparound yafa zawra