Title - Drinking Gourd, The: A Story of the Underground Railroad Author: Monjo, F. N. Publisher: HarperCollins Print Synopsis Authors Purpose Genre A quick-witted young boy helps an escaping slave family follow the "drinking gourd" -- the stars of the Big Dipper -- to Deacon Fuller's house, a stop on the Underground Railroad on their way to freedom. Entertain Historical Fiction RDQ (Reading Difficulty Quotient) Accelerated Reader Lexile Find at 1178 3.9 780 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 47 Total # of Words 2051 # of Different Words 581 Ave Word/.Sent 7 Hi Freq occurs 1351 65.9% # of Hi freq words 249 42.9% % of Long Sentences 4.7 Low Freq occurs 89 4.3% # of Low freq words 51 8.8% Subjective Criteria Illustrations: Some support Dialog: Multiple speakers Dialog: Broken dialogue Vocabulary: More decoding/definition issues Language: Many descriptive words Sentences: Some Long/Complex Text structure: Difficult Concepts: Concrete/Simple Social Chapters Headings Features Integral Setting - Historical Figurative Language Topics Sky Travel/Traveling Stars *History Values Overcoming Danger Freedom African Americans Slavery Helping Moving *Citizenship & Laws Low Frequency Words accompanying breeches chasing dan'l deacon dorchester dudley edisto engines fellow freedom fuller fuller's gourd hereabouts hereby hollered hymn lanterns larkspur lavinia mebbe obey obeying passengers pearl penalty plantation property pshaw racket reeves reverend reward riverbank rowed rowing runaway runaways servants shone slavery spankings stations valuable vessels waddled webster whippoorwill wintry worth