Title - The Wreck of the Zephyr Author: Van Allsburg, Chris Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Print Synopsis Authors Purpose Genre Peer over the edge of a cliff to consider the wreck of a small sailboat. Had a churning sea carried the Zephyr up in a storm? Could waves ever have been so impossibly high? And what of the boy who had believed—dared to chase the wind—no matter where it lead? Entertain Fantasy RDQ (Reading Difficulty Quotient) Accelerated Reader Lexile Find at 941 3.5 730 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 30 Total # of Words 1319 # of Different Words 461 Ave Word/.Sent 10 Hi Freq occurs 901 68.3% # of Hi freq words 192 41.6% % of Long Sentences 5.8 Low Freq occurs 66 5% # of Low freq words 48 10.4% Subjective Criteria Illustrations: No support Dialog: Two speakers Vocabulary: Few decoding/definition issues Language: Many descriptive words Sentences: Multiple phrases Text structure: Story/Poem Concept: Fanciful Mature concepts: With common experiences or clear fantasy Features Integral Setting Clear cause/effect First Person Topics *Transportation Boats Flight/Flying Accidents Sailing *Fictional Ideas/Charac Low Frequency Words anchor astonished blustery bordered churning cliff's concertina familiar gliding guide gull harbor hoisted hull land's magically moonlit ne'er o'er ominous oyster pleaded prove recognize reef relight remarkable rigging rowed rustle sailboat sailor shoreline spire surely surrounded tiller timbers towing treacherous truly unbelievable uphill villagers warned whistled zephyr zephyr's