Title - Catherine, Called Birdy Author: Cushman, Karen Publisher: Clarion Print Synopsis Authors Purpose Genre Catherine, a spirited and inquisitive young woman of good family, narrates in diary form the story of her fourteenth year -- the year 1290. Catherine one day hopes to become a painter, a Crusader, a peddler, a minstrel, a monk, a wart charmer... anything besides being sold like a cheese to the highest bidder. Entertain Historical Fiction RDQ (Reading Difficulty Quotient) Accelerated Reader Lexile Find at 3375 7+ 1100 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 87 Total # of Words 3444 # of Different Words 1079 Ave Word/.Sent 16 Hi Freq occurs 2447 71.1% # of Hi freq words 403 37.3% % of Long Sentences 32.2 Low Freq occurs 297 8.6% # of Low freq words 240 22.2% Subjective Criteria Illustrations: No support Dialog: Multiple speakers Dialog: Broken dialogue Dialog: Unlabeled Speaker Vocabulary: Many difficult words Language: Colorful, figurative Sentences: Many Long Complex Text structure: Difficult Inferences: Several Implications Complexity: Several unrelated ideas Concepts: Concrete/Simple Social Chapters Prior Knowledge: Familiarity Sequence of Events: Chronological Mature Concepts: With some uncommon experiences Features Character traits Character development Integral Setting - Historical Simple Plot Mood/tone First Person Difficult names Unusual use of vocabulary Topics *Life Styles *Feelings, Behaviors Low Frequency Words abbey abominable abundantly accomplished account accounts acres advantage adventures afflicted afire airing aislidd alehouse align altar ancestors anise annual anxious apostle archangel aspires astir badder baided bargain barren betrothal betrothed billowing bisit bodest bonfires boredom boundless bowels breathed brewing bursts casting cater chained chevres cipher cleverest clodpole complaints conceal considerably conspires conversation cotter cowshed crusading cumin designed despite determined dirtier disposition docile doctoring doubt draughts embroidering embroidery endured ermine eyed farrier fashionably fasten fewer flan flanders fordood forego foreign forenoon foul fourteenth freedom frequently garlic gathering glee gloats glorious goodly gooseberry gossip gossips graceless guzzles hatchet heathens hell hemmed hemming herring hodored honorable hooves hoping household ignorant imprisoned impudence inflammation insists insults involved jewels knight knowing lathers latin laundry linen liver lords lovable maggots magician malus manor manors manure marriage mattresses mayhap michaelmas millpond mindless minstrel miserable monk morwenna morwenna's mustard muzzlewitted newhouse noble nursing objections ointment onion perform plagued pleasant pleasures plough ploughing pomme prison prisoner privilege privy ragged rd recognized reflected regarding regularly relations remedies ripened royal saint scorched scrawny season servants service seventy sheepish shone shove significance silken skies slavery snuffled snuffling solar soot sought sowed spindle sprouting squint stables steward stirring stitches strengthen stubborn suitor sulked swarm swear sweat sword sym tangled tempered tenants throughout thumbprints tike tonic torture tortures tufts turnips ugliness unattractive unbind understanding unhemmed unhurt vain veil velvet vespers villager villagers wagonloads warehouses warhorse whined widow withered witted woolly wrestling wrinkled writ yesterweek