Title - The Postcard Author: Abbott, Tony Publisher: Little, Brown and Company Print Synopsis Authors Purpose Genre When Jason's grandmother dies, he's sent down to her home in Florida to help his father clean out her things. At first he gripes about spending his summer miles away from his best friend, doing chores, and sweating in the Florida heat, but he soon discovers a mystery surrounding his grandmother's murky past. Entertain Realistic Fiction RDQ (Reading Difficulty Quotient) Accelerated Reader Lexile Find at 2494 5.8 970 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 48 Total # of Words 5552 # of Different Words 1182 Ave Word/.Sent 7 Hi Freq occurs 4580 82.5% # of Hi freq words 543 45.9% % of Long Sentences 8 Low Freq occurs 216 3.9% # of Low freq words 176 14.9% Subjective Criteria Illustrations: No support Dialog: Multiple speakers Dialog: Broken dialogue Dialog: Unlabeled Speaker Vocabulary: Few decoding/definition issues Language: Few descriptive words Sentences: Multiple phrases Text structure: Story/Poem Inferences: Several Implications Complexity: Several unrelated ideas Concepts: Abstract/Complex Social Chapters Sequence of Events: Several shifts in time Mature Concepts: With some uncommon experiences Features Character traits Integral Setting Complex Problem/Solution Complex plot Parallel plots Alternating voice Topics Mystery Challenges Secrets Detectives *Family & Friends *Feelings, Behaviors Parents Low Frequency Words acknowledged adventurous advice agent alongside alzheimer's announcement annoyed arching articles assumed blurring blurry bombshell buffet burial cemetery claiming concrete conditioning convinced cousin's cranked curled curling dementia diesel divider documents drawers dude duffel edges embarrassed emerged estate exhaust fashioned fiction fifties figuring flaking flowering flown fragile freaked funeral gandy gawking glancing gotta grid grunting guardian guide haired hammock harnmocking headlights hector's hedge hell homeroom hovering hyundai idling illegitimate illness inchworm insane intently ironing jeez jumble keefe keese knowing lawyer lunches ma'am marriage morgue mourned mower mowing murders mute mysteries neared neighbor's neighbors nervously noisily numbered obituaries obituary obvious original ornament paperwork paris paused peering peninsula perspiration phantom photograph photographs pinellas prison probation procession promoted promotion prove quiche quincy quotes raymond reality redoing refrigerator relocations rental reordering rerun resident resort restacking retiring rumpled runway scenes scheduled scrubby season security shielded shrugged sidewalks silences silverware sixties sketchy sliding smartmouth snarled snatches snickered splitting standby statue stucco studied submerged supposedly survivors swallowed sweat teenagers tensed ticketing tour twenties uck unbelievable unbelievably understanding unfocus unlisted vehement wallet who'll widow wilted worth wrapping