Title - Touching Spirit Bear Author: Mikaelsen, Ben Publisher: HarperTrophy Print Synopsis Authors Purpose Genre After his anger erupts into violence and to avoid prison, Cole agrees to participate in a sentencing alternative based on Native American Circle Justice at a remote Alaskan Island, and encounters a huge Spirit Bear that changes his life. Entertain Realistic Fiction RDQ (Reading Difficulty Quotient) Accelerated Reader Lexile Find at 2528 5.8 980 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 36 Total # of Words 5001 # of Different Words 1343 Ave Word/.Sent 10 Hi Freq occurs 3648 72.9% # of Hi freq words 557 41.5% % of Long Sentences 8.6 Low Freq occurs 368 7.4% # of Low freq words 256 19.1% Subjective Criteria Illustrations: No support Vocabulary: Some difficult words Language: Few descriptive words Sentences: Multiple phrases Text structure: Blend of written/oral Inferences: Several Implications Concepts: Abstract/Complex Social Mature concepts: With common experiences or clear fantasy Features Character traits Character development Integral Setting - Cultural/Regional Complex Problem/Solution Clear cause/effect Symbolism Present Tense Topics Challenges Cause/Effect Fighting *Community *Animals Survival Anger Choices Jail/Prison Punishment *Citizenship & Laws *Feelings, Behaviors Native Americans Bears Low Frequency Words abandoned aboard absolutely accepted accompanied aluminum ancestors angle application appreciate artificially atoow audience banishment blurted boarded bracing brandished brewing bullheaded buyouts calmly caretaker casually chafed cole cole's committed committee community concern concrete convicted counseling counselors countless cowbell cowering cultures defiantly delinquent denied departing depositions deserve detainees detention devil's dignity disinfectant divorce drinker driscal edgy edwin's effect einstein elder emptied escorting expenses eyed eyeing familiar fantasized fault feigned floatplane freed frustrated further fuse garvey garvey's generations gentleness gravelly gripped grudgingly grunt guarded guiding guilty gutless guy's haired handcuffs hardware healing hearings hesitated honesty honor honoring horizon humility ignited ignored ignoring immediately impatient inherit innocent intention interior invest irritation isolated jeans judge judging juvenile juveniles ketchikan kingdom klingkit knelt knowing knuckles lawyer mattered meekly mere microphone minneapolis mockingly moron moseyed motion motioned motor mowed mushrooms mustered nathaniel nation neighbors ninth nowhere obediently offender omen operate ourselves outboard outline overturned parole patience patiently pause percent permanent plea pleading positive potbellied practiced preparations presence priced prison privileges probation process pronouncing prosecutor prosecutors protection prove psychologist pure purposely questioned ratted realize referred refused regularly reluctantly repayment reputation required requires resented residential responsibility rough roughly saliva sausages schoolwork seattle sensitive sentencing separately sessions shoreline shove shoved shrouded shrubs shrugged shuffled sincere skiff smirk smirked smoldered soul southeast sparse sponsor squarely squirm stations steely stocky structure suggest sullenly supplies swallow swollen therapy thistles thoughtfully tightened tlingit tlingits totem transfer treatment trial truly tutor twitched underwear unfolding veterinarian vicious villagers violence violent vision voiced walled wallow warned whine winced wisecracking woven wrists yanked youth