Text Leveling System

Grandfather's Journey

RDQ:	615	Max Word/Sent	27	Total Words	568		Diff Words	233
Lex	660	Ave Word/.Sent	11	Hi Freq occurs	349	61.4%	Hi freq	79	33.9%
AR	3.0	Long Sentences	2	Low Freq occurs	19	3.3%	Low freq	18	7.7%

My grandfather was a young man when he left his home in Japan 
and went to see the world. He wore European clothes for the first time and began his journey on a steamship. 
The Pacific Ocean astonished him. For three weeks he did not see land. 
When land finally appeared it was the New World. 
He explored North America by train and riverboat and often walked for days on end. 
Deserts with rocks like enormous sculptures amazed him. 
The endless farm fields reminded him of the ocean he had crossed. 
Huge cities of factories and tall buildings bewildered and yet excited him. 
He marveled at the towering mountains and the rivers as clear as the sky. 
He met many people along the way. 
He shook hands with black men and white men with yellow men and red men. 
The more he traveled the more he longed to see new places and never thought of returning home. 
Of all the places he visited he liked California best. 
He loved the strong sunlight there the Sierra Mountains the lonely seacoast. 
After a time he returned to his village in Japan to marry his childhood sweetheart. 
Then he brought his bride to the new country. They made their home by San Francisco Bay and had a baby girl. 
As his daughter grew my grandfather began to think about his own childhood. 
He thought about his old friends. He remembered the mountains and rivers of his home. 
He surrounded himself with songbirds but he could not forget. 
Finally when his daughter was nearly grown he could wait no more. 
He took his family and returned to his homeland. 
Once again he saw the mountains and rivers of his childhood.  
They were just as he had remembered them.
 Once again he exchanged stories and laughed with his old friends. 
But the village was not a place for a daughter from San Francisco. 
So my grandfather bought a house in a large city nearby. 
There the young woman fell in love married and sometime later I was born. 
When I was a small boy my favorite weekend was a visit to my grandfather's house.  
He told me many stories about California. 
He raised warblers and silvereyes but he could not forget the mountains and rivers of California. 
So he planned a trip. 
But the war began. Bombs fell from the sky and scattered our lives like leaves in a storm. 
When the war ended there was nothing left of the city and of the home where my grandparents had lived.  
So they returned to the village where they had been children. 
But my grandfather never kept another songbird. 
The last time I saw him my grandfather said that he longed to see California one more time. 
He never did. 
And when I was nearly grown I left home and went to see California for myself. 
After a time I came to love the land my grandfather had loved and I stayed on and on until I had a daughter of my own. 
But I also miss the mountains and rivers of my childhood. I miss my old friends. 
So I return now and then when I can not still the longing in my heart. 
The funny thing is the moment I am in one country I am homesick for the other. 
I think I know my grandfather now. I miss him very much.]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Some support

One line text

Vocabulary: More decoding/definition issues

Language: Few descriptive words

Sentences: Multiple phrases

Text structure: Story/Poem

Inferences: Some implications

Complexity: Several unrelated ideas

Concepts: Concrete/Simple Social

Mature concepts: With common experiences or clear fantasy

Features

Integral Setting - Historical

Mood/tone

Topic

Travel/Traveling

Traditions

Boats

Asia/Asians

*History

Remembering

Family

Foreign Country

Ocean

Grandparents

Towns

Low Frequency Words

astonished	european	factories	homeland	longed
longing	marveled	pacific	riverboat	sculptures
seacoast	sierra	silvereyes	steamship	surrounded
sweetheart	towering	warblers