Text Leveling System

David's Little Indian

RDQ:	566	Max Word/Sent	34	Total Words	724		Diff Words	248
Lex	650	Ave Word/.Sent	9	Hi Freq occurs	508	70.2%	Hi freq	105	42.3%
AR	2.9	Long Sentences	6.8	Low Freq occurs	20	2.8%	Low freq	19	7.7%

Once upon a time and in a time we
are now living a little boy deep in 
the deepest woods found a very
solemn and very small Indian. He
was no bigger than an ear of corn. 
But no matter how small he was a 
real Indian - even with feathers in his
hear.]]
The little Indian was drowsily
leaning back against a rock looking
at the sky when the little boy found
him. And to make certain he was
real the little boy pushed him. Then
the little boy asked him a question to
see if he would talk.
"What day is it?" asked the boy.]]
Now this was the right question
for that was what the little Indian was
most interested in and that is what 
he had been thinking about as he
leaned against the rock.
"What day is it?" asked the little
boy again more softly.
The little Indian answered ...]]
"Day of the dark bright
light."
And the boy looked up and saw
the dark bright light of that late
summer day.
The distances were clear and
nothing looked far away.]]
"My name is David" said the boy.
"Carpe Diem" said the little Indian.
"What does it mean?" asked the
boy for he knew that all Indian
names mean something.
"Carpe Diem means in your
language 'Seize-the-Day' " said the
little Indian. "It is a Latin name
meaning 'Wo No So ' in Indian. What
does David mean?"
"I don't know" said the boy.
"David must mean something"
grunted the little Indian and he gave
a little shrug.
"What day was yesterday?" asked 
the boy.
And the little Indian said...]]
Day of the First Nut That Fell]]
The little Indian loved the days as
they came and went and he watched
them. He never said much - mostly
what day it was and a few grunts.
Of course the little boy kept him
with him always. Who wouldn't if
they found a little tiny friend in the
woods for their very own!
Back in the world of tables and
chairs and going places and grown-
up people no one noticed the little
Indian with the boy because no one
expected to see a little Indian. But he
was there all right.]]
And together they watched the
days come and go the boy and his 
Indian.]]
Day of the bright green tree.]]
Day of the moon in the day.]]
Day of the little blue dish.]]
Day of the yellow leaves falling.]]
Day of the birds flying away.]]
Day of the unexpected snow.]]
Day of the cold nose.]]
The day it didn't snow]]
And the day it did.]]
"What day was it the day before I
first found you?" asked the boy.]]
The day before I met you.]]
Nights and days went down the
sky and it was spring.]]
Day of the first robin.]]
The boy and his Indian decided to 
become blood brothers so they
pricked their fingers and let their
blood mingle together.
"Now what day it is for you is the
day it is for me."]]
From then on they didn't have to
talk together. Each almost knew
what the other was thinking. All
about them grown-ups talked and
talked and talked and talked and
talked and talked.
"What day is it Carpe?" asked the
boy when at last they were alone that
night.]]
Day of the dreary grown-ups.]]
And the next morning they went
away into the woods where there
were no grown-ups.]]
Day of the tall cool trees.]]
Day of the first trillium.]]
Day the sun felt warm.]]
It was summer. And all summer
they lived in the woods. They built a 
house of green branches and a bed of
pine needles and they lived there
together.]]
Day of the small green bower.]]
Day of the white daisies.]]
Day of the big moon coming up.]]
Then late one night winter came
whistling in.]]
Day of the crystal tree.]]
And they found a little cave and
lined it with warm leaves and fur
rugs.
And the winter passed.]]
Day the fire burned like
feathers speaking.]]
Day of the dark branches.]]
Day the crocus bloomed.]]
And it was spring again so they
made up a song.
It was a wonderful life that life of
the boy and his Indian. And they
grew up and never missed a day.]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Some support

Dialog: Two speakers

Dialog: Unlabeled Speaker

Vocabulary: More decoding/definition issues

Language: Colorful, figurative

Sentences: Multiple phrases

Text structure: Story/Poem

Inferences: Several Implications

Complexity: Several ideas - closely related

Concept: Fanciful

Features

Storybook Language

Unusual use of vocabulary

Topic

Size

Time

Seasons

Nature

Forests

Native Americans

Low Frequency Words

bower	crocus	daisies	diem	distances
dreary	drowsily	grunted	grunts	language
latin	mingle	pricked	seize	shrug
solemn	trillium	unexpected	whistling