Text Leveling System

Boy in the Middle

RDQ:	200	Max Word/Sent	16	Total Words	489		Diff Words	179
Lex	450	Ave Word/.Sent	6	Hi Freq occurs	298	60.9%	Hi freq	86	48%
AR	1.9	Long Sentences	0	Low Freq occurs	7	1.4%	Low freq	4	2.2%

There were three Dugan boys - 
Tim Mick and Pat. Mick was
the one in the middle.
Mick and his brothers had fun.
They liked to do the same things.
They went to the same school.
They had the same friends. The
Dugan brothers got along well.
But Mick had a problem. For 
as long as he could remember
people had said "You're one of
the Dugan boys. But which one
are you?"]]
The Dugan boys looked alike.
They all had blue eyes red hair
and freckles. Pat was big for his 
age. Tim was short. Mick was just
right.
The boys talked alike too.
Sometimes Grandmother said
"Look at me when you talk. I like
to see who I'm talking to."]]
Looking alike and talking alike
were fine with Tim and Pat.
"I don't see why this is a
problem for you" Dad said to
Mick. "Mother and I treat you all
alike."
Mick thought about what Dad
had said. But he was not Tim
Dugan. And he was not Pat
Dugan. He was Mick Dugan and
that's the way he wanted people
to think of him.]]
One night at dinner Mick
said "I want to be thought of as
Me."
"What do you mean?" asked
grandmother. "What can you do?"
"I don't know" Mick answered.]]
"I can make faces" Pat said.
"You're the funny one around 
here" said Dad.
"And I can run fast and play
ball and swim too" Tim added.]]
But Mick was not funny. And 
he was not good at games. He was
just one of the Dugan boys.
"Maybe you could find something
you like to do" Grandmother
said. But Mick just shook his
head.
"May I go now?" he
asked his dad. "I told Mrs. Smith
I would walk her dog." So Mick
went to Mrs. Smith's.]]
And the following day Mick
played with the James children
while Mrs. James went to the
store. Then Mick helped Mr. Pate
find his glasses. And he took the
cans out to the street for Mrs.
Mead.
People did not pay Mick for all
the things he did for them. People
needed help so Mick helped
them.]]
That week some people named 
Cook moved into the building.
One day Mick met Mrs Cook in
the elevator. Mick guessed what 
Mrs. Cook was going to say. And
she said it.
"You're one of the Dugan boys.
But which one are you?"
Mrs. Smith Mrs. James Mrs.
Mead and Mr. Pate were in the 
elevator too. Mrs. Smith said
"This is Mick Dugan. He's the
friendly Dugan boy."]]
Mick smiled. He had his answer.
He was the friendly Dugan 
boy!]]
When Mick walked out of the
building he met one of his
mother's friends. "You're one of
the Dugan boys" she said. "But
which one are you?"
"I'm the friendly Dugan boy"
he answered. And he smiled.
Being in the middle wasn't as bad
as he had thought!]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Some support

Dialog: Multiple speakers

Dialog: Broken dialogue

Vocabulary: Few decoding/definition issues

Language: Few descriptive words

Sentences: Simple phrases

Text structure: Blend of written/oral

Concepts: Concrete/Simple Social

Features

Character traits

Topic

Similarities

Appearances

Differences

Brothers

*Family & Friends

*Feelings, Behaviors

Low Frequency Words

elevator

freckles

mead

pate