Title - Milkweed Author: Spinelli, Jerry Publisher: Reading A-Z Print Synopsis Authors Purpose Genre He's a boy called Jew. Gypsy. Stop thief. Filthy son of Abraham. He's a boy who lives in the streets of Warsaw. He's a boy who steals food for himself, and the other orphans. He's a boy who believes in bread, and mothers, and angels. He's a boy who wants to be a Nazi, with tall, shiny jackboots of his own -- until the day that suddenly makes him change his mind. Entertain Historical Fiction RDQ (Reading Difficulty Quotient) Accelerated Reader Lexile Find at 2478 5.7 970 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 39 Total # of Words 3462 # of Different Words 932 Ave Word/.Sent 7 Hi Freq occurs 2587 74.7% # of Hi freq words 377 40.5% % of Long Sentences 3.4 Low Freq occurs 210 6.1% # of Low freq words 135 14.5% Subjective Criteria Illustrations: No support Dialog: Multiple speakers Dialog: Broken dialogue Vocabulary: Some difficult words Language: Few descriptive words Sentences: Multiple phrases Text structure: Blend of written/oral Inferences: Several Implications Complexity: Several ideas - closely related Concepts: Abstract/Complex Social Prior Knowledge: Familiarity Sequence of Events: Chronological Mature concepts: Mature thinking required with many distinctly unusual experiences Features Integral Setting - Historical Mood/tone First Person Present Tense Topics *History Death Soldiers Danger War Boys/Girls World History Low Frequency Words aisle alleyways artillery awaken babka blower bombardment boombooming bulging burped butchers candies canister cannibals cellar chasing cigar cigarette cigars clanger clubbed comb combed converged crowed crumples cuckoo curled curses drawers dumper echoed explosions faceful familiar fingered flanks footholds glared grimly grocers grunted gypsies gypsy halt heartbeat hurled jackboot jackboots jumble knob ladies lampshade laughter lengths lever lightbulb lipsticks liquid lopped manikin's manikins mattress matzoh moments movement muncher munching naked necktie nickered paraded passengers peering pelted pictured plunged pure reality restaurant rooftops rubble runt sauerkraut sausages scissors scrabbled shafts shelling shoved shovels shrugged shuffled silvery sirens skimmed snarled snatch snatched snipping soles splattered splintered sprawling squirmed stable stableman stairway stall startled stopthief streetcar streetlights syrup tablecloths terrific thumping tobacco tobaccos toppled trenches turd unfooted unlaugher unlaughing upward uri wail waspy watered weaving wheelbarrow whistles windshield wrestled