Title - The Sign of the Beaver Author: Speare, Elizabeth George Publisher: Yearling Print Synopsis Authors Purpose Genre A young boy in Maine, when rescued by an Indian chief and his grandson, must decide whether to spend the winter alone in the woods waiting for his family to return or move on to a new life with his new friends. Entertain Adventure RDQ (Reading Difficulty Quotient) Accelerated Reader Lexile Find at 1768 4.7 870 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 58 Total # of Words 4954 # of Different Words 1274 Ave Word/.Sent 11 Hi Freq occurs 3867 78.1% # of Hi freq words 537 42.2% % of Long Sentences 10.6 Low Freq occurs 288 5.8% # of Low freq words 233 18.3% Subjective Criteria Illustrations: No support Dialog: Multiple speakers Dialog: Broken dialogue Dialog: Unlabeled Speaker Vocabulary: Some difficult words Language: Many descriptive words Sentences: Some Long/Complex Text structure: Story/Poem Inferences: Some implications Complexity: Several ideas - closely related Chapters Features Character traits Integral Setting Simple Plot Dialect/Accents Topics Teacher/Teaching Cultures Fears Survival *Feelings, Behaviors Native Americans Low Frequency Words accompanied aching admiring adventures advice annoyances anywheres assured awe baccy begrudging blunderbuss borrow bothersome boughs boundaries branched bulging burly burrs busying cedar chapel chink chinking chirruping coaxed comin compass constant content curiously curled dangling daubed deacon deacons decent deliberately demmed deprived despised determined distracted doubt doubted doubts drawled drowsiness eased egged encouraging escaped expedition fasten fiercely firelight fishline fitting flickers flint frisked gettin gradually grateful grunt handling hardened heavyset hemlock hesitated homey honest horrid hunch hunched hungrier intended invisible iroquois jesuit johnnycake kettleful knowed knowing ladled lazily lighter likely lingo loon loosen lugged malt's massachusetts matchlock mattress measure mebbe minding mite more'n mosquitoes mounds mournful movin munching murderer muscle needn't neighbor nippy notch notched notches nothin nowadays occasionally oiled ought panic passage passel peered pelts penobscot penobscots pewter plannin pleasant politeness popish possessed pouch pounced precious presently prickle priests propped proprietors protection prove provided providing puncheon purchased quavering quieted quincy ragged rammed realize reassure recent reckon reckoned recognize reddish redskins respectful rounding ruefully rummaging satisfied scampered scarce sensible settlement settlements seventh shelves shortly shovel sickness singlehandedly skinned snatch solitary sopping specially speckled sprang sprawled spruce startle steadily stillness stirred stirring stock structure sturdy supplies surveyor's talker tangle temporary tensed territory tobacco torture touchhole township traders tramped tramping treaty trout trudged truer twang uncertainly underbrush unexpectedly unwillingness vaguely venturing wad waking warn't warned whiff whine whiskers whistled whistling witted wolfed woodpile worth would've yourn