Title - The Dark at the Top of the Stairs Author: McBratney, Sam Publisher: Scholastic Print Synopsis Authors Purpose Genre An old wise mouse warns his three young mice of the danger that lurks at the top of the cellar stairs, yet they insist on seeing it for themselves. Step by step, they climb up to the dark shadows... Entertain Mystery RDQ (Reading Difficulty Quotient) Accelerated Reader Lexile Find at 572 2.9 650 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 41 Total # of Words 647 # of Different Words 243 Ave Word/.Sent 13 Hi Freq occurs 398 61.5% # of Hi freq words 99 40.7% % of Long Sentences 19.1 Low Freq occurs 24 3.7% # of Low freq words 16 6.6% Subjective Criteria Illustrations: Little support Dialog: Multiple speakers Dialog: Broken dialogue Vocabulary: Some difficult words Language: Many descriptive words Sentences: Many Long Complex Text structure: Story/Poem Concept: Fanciful Features Simple Plot Topics Mystery Mice Food Chain Fears Light *Feelings, Behaviors Low Frequency Words breathed bumpety cellar cousins hazel mention mentioned ourselves paused seedheads slippity smoothly warmth whisper wriggle youngest