Title - The Dark is Rising Author: Cooper, Susan Publisher: Aladdin Print Synopsis Authors Purpose Genre On the Midwinter Day that is his eleventh birthday, Will Stanton discovers a special gift -- that he is the last of the Old Ones, immortals dedicated to keeping the world from domination by the forces of evil, the Dark. Entertain Science Fiction RDQ (Reading Difficulty Quotient) Accelerated Reader Lexile Find at 2477 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 46 Total # of Words 2271 # of Different Words 787 Ave Word/.Sent 10 Hi Freq occurs 1595 70.2% # of Hi freq words 312 39.6% % of Long Sentences 20.5 Low Freq occurs 194 8.5% # of Low freq words 157 19.9% Subjective Criteria Illustrations: No support Dialog: Multiple speakers Dialog: Broken dialogue Dialog: Unlabeled Speaker Vocabulary: Many difficult words Language: Many descriptive words Sentences: Some Long/Complex Text structure: Story/Poem Inferences: Several Implications Complexity: Several ideas - closely related Concepts: Abstract/Difficult Sequence of Events: Mostly chronological Mature concepts: With common experiences or clear fantasy Features Integral Setting - Cultural/Regional Complex plot Foreshadowing Mood/tone Topics Fears Good/Evil *Fictional Ideas/Charac *Feelings, Behaviors Birds Low Frequency Words abroad abruptly affectionately agitated amusement aniseed anxiety apologetic as'll bales blanketing booted cattleman chasing cheeked chestnut chorus clamorous clumped contraption cowshed cringed crockery curiously curve dairymaid dawson dawson's dawsons deafening decades distractedly disturbed dunno earthen edges eldest enclosed eyed familiar farm's fingering flurries footmarks forged fuming furious further generations grey handcart harsh heaved henhouses hideous hunched hutches imagining improving instincts intent interweaving jeweler joining leapt lowering massing midwinter's mincemeat missus mounds movement mucked muffled nervously northern nosed ominous orchard orchestra ornament ought overgrown paused peering pellets piling pockets previous promptly properly quartered racer rattling raucous refused relied reluctantly reminder restless rimmed rookery rooks roosting roughly roused rubbish rustling scuffled scuttled shafts shakily sleepily slicing snarled spinney sprawling stable stanton stantons static stirred straggling stumped sturdy swelling symphony terrified thames throng thronging thrust tiled tinge toothless toppled towards tramped twitch twitchetty twitter uneasily uneasiness unnerving unwillingly upward vicar villains violence vulnerable weathered weird wheeling withdrew yak yakking yew