Title - Dancing with Manatees Author: McNulty, Faith Publisher: Scholastic Print Synopsis Authors Purpose Genre Examines the physical characteristics, behavior, and evolution of the gentle manatee, through a story told by three divers. Entertain Realistic Fiction RDQ (Reading Difficulty Quotient) Accelerated Reader Lexile Find at 854 3.4 710 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 35 Total # of Words 1523 # of Different Words 574 Ave Word/.Sent 10 Hi Freq occurs 981 64.4% # of Hi freq words 222 38.7% % of Long Sentences 8.1 Low Freq occurs 81 5.3% # of Low freq words 52 9.1% Subjective Criteria Illustrations: Some support Dialog: Two speakers Dialog: Broken dialogue Vocabulary: Some difficult words Language: Many descriptive words Sentences: Some Long/Complex Text structure: Blend of written/oral Inferences: Some implications Complexity: Several ideas - closely related Concepts: Concrete/Simple Social Features First Person Topics Water Undersea Life Learning Nature *Animals Animals: Ocean Helping Low Frequency Words ancestors anchor biologist bristly burped constantly curiosity curious curiously evolved flippered forelegs glands grunts hind hoping laurette laurette's manatee manatees mating munched narrows neighborhood nifty nipples nostrils object peace personality pong propellers rubbery scent scientist separate silt snorkle stirred suckles survive swirling tangled tapered thermometer timid underwater warmth weapons woody wrinkled youngsters