Text Leveling System

Cecily G. and the 9 Monkeys

RDQ:	566	Max Word/Sent	34	Total Words	1442		Diff Words	422
Lex	650	Ave Word/.Sent	11	Hi Freq occurs	1023	70.9%	Hi freq	206	48.8%
AR	2.9	Long Sentences	12.3	Low Freq occurs	38	2.6%	Low freq	24	5.7%

This is Cecily G. Her whole name is Cecily Giraffe 
but she is called Cecily G. or just plain Cecily for short.
One day she was very sad because all her family and
all her friends had been taken away to a zoo. Cecily G.
was alone. She began to cry because she wanted
someone to play with.]]
Now in another place
lived a mother monkey called
Mother Pamplemoose and eight little monkeys. They
were sad too because some woodcutters had cut down
all the trees in their forest and monkeys have to have 
trees to live in. One of the little monkeys was called
Curious George. He was a clever monkey. He said 
"We must pack up at once and go on a journey to find
a new home."
So they did. They walked and they walked and they
walked until they came to the bank of a deep river. They
couldn't get across and there wasn't any way around.
They didn't know what to do.]]
Suddenly Jinny the baby monkey pointed across to
the other bank.
There stood Cecily Giraffe! When she saw the monkeys 
she stopped crying. "Do you want to get across?"
she said.
"Yes yes!" they cried.
"Step back then" called Cecily G.
Yoop! With one big jump Cecily's front feet landed 
on the monkeys' side of the bank. And then she stood
still.]]
Curious George was the first to see that Cecily had
made herself into a bridge. He ran across. Then came
Johnny who was a brave monkey. Then all the others
one by one.
"Thank you dear Giraffe" shouted George "and 
please put your head down a little so that we can talk
to you without shouting. That's better! What is your
name and why are you sad?"
"My name is Cecily Giraffe and I am unhappy because
I haven't anyone to play with. Why are you sad?"
"We are sad" said George "because we haven't any-
where to live."]]
"Then why don't you stay with me for a while?" said
Cecily. "My house is empty now."
"We'd love to" cried all the monkeys at once.
"Good!" said Cecily and she smiled for the first time
that day. "Now it is bedtime. I'll show you your room
and tomorrow we'll have some lovely games." So she
tucked all the nine monkeys into one giraffe bed and
in a few minutes they were fast asleep.]]
Next morning after a good night's sleep and a big
breakfast Cecily G. said "Now let's play see-saw! James
you sit on my back. (James was a very good monkey
and usually had first turn.) George you climb on my
head and you Johnny sit on my hind feet. That's the
way!"]]
"Now" they cried "off we go!" Cecily stood up on
her front legs. Up-down up-down up-down went the 
see-saw.]]
After a while Cecily stopped and took on another load.
Everyone had a turn: but baby Jinny got so excited that
Mother Pamplemoose was afraid she would fall off. She
had to climb down and give her place to James who got
an extra ride. Jinny cried a little but Arthur who was
very kind dried her tears and told her that he had an 
idea for another game that
she could play better.
So Arthur whispered
something to all the other monkeys.
They rushed into the house where they had left 
their belongings and in a minute they were back with
their skis.
"But there isn't any snow for skis" said Cecily G.]]
"Please" said George "be so kind as to stretch your neck so I can tie your head to the top of that palm tree over there."
"I'll be glad to" said Cecily and she did.
Then all the monkeys put on their skis climbed the tree and slid down Cecily's back over and over again. Brave Johnny even did stunts. When he jumped he seemed to be flying.
After a while Cecily's neck got tired but she was having such a good time that she hardly noticed. "You are a wonderful skier Johnny" she said.
Johnny was so pleased he tried a specially high jump and- bump- down he fell
flat on his nose.
Mother Pamplemoose ran to pick him up. "I think it is time to play something else" she said. "Let's find a game that Cecily can play too."]]
"Yes yes" cried the monkeys.
Johnny thought very hard because he saw such a good
monkey that he wanted Cecily to be sure and have fun
too. All at once he had a wonderful idea. "We'll make
some stilts for Cecily G." he cried.
Johnny and David who was a very strong
monkey cut down two palm trees.
The twins Punch and Judy 
did the sawing.
James hammered the nails.]]
George watched and gave advice. When the stilts were done 
he proudly carried them to Cecily G. and 
showed her how to use them.
Cecily Giraffe was terribly excited.
All the monkeys helped and up - up - up - she went - right into the sky - ]]
so high the page isn't big enough to show all of her.]]
It was very hot the next day and they all thought it
would be just the thing to go to the seashore.
After a short walk they came to the beach and Mother
Pamplemoose thought it would be nice to have a swim 
before lunch. But Johnny had been thinking. He asked
Cecily to put down her head so that he could whisper
in her hear.
Can you guess what he said? He wanted Cecily to
be a - ]] 
Sailboat! And so Cecily made herself into a sail - 
boat. Johnny was Captain. He shouted orders and ]]
pulled the ropes. "Not so hard not so hard!" cried
Cecily. But she was too late - ]]
Over they went into the water.
"Quick quick climb on my back" called Cecily Giraffe
when Johnny cried for help.
In a minute they were safe on the beach but Cecily
was so wet and cold they decided to take off her skin
and hang it in the sun to dry.
"It is quite complicated to be a giraffe" said Punch
to Judy as they brought Cecily the clothespins.]]
Cecily Giraffe had hardly gotten her skin back on
again when a big black cloud came and hid the sun.
"Oh - oh - it's going to rain - " cried the monkeys.
Off they rushed and back they came one-two one-
two carrying their umbrellas on their shoulders.
But the rain didn't start at once and James thought
it would be fun to use the umbrellas for the new game.
He called it "Parachute-jumping."
Each monkey one at a time climbed up on Cecily's
head opened his umbrella and jumped off.
Down they floated. It was such fun they did it hundreds
of times.]]
All week long Cecily and her new friends had great
fun. When Sunday came Cecily was so happy she decided
to give a concert to celebrate. The monkeys thought
it a splendid idea. Arthur made up a nice song for them
all to sing together and George promised to play on the
harp.]]
At last they were ready and George was just starting
them of when someone cried -]]
"Fire! Fire! Cecily's house is burning!"
The concert stopped almost before it started but no
one knew what to do to put out the fire.
"If only we had a ladder we could throw water on the 
flames" cried Mother Pamplemoose.
"I know what to do" said James. "There's a pump
near the house and a hose and Cecily can be the ladder."
Punch and Judy worked the pump and - ]]
George climbed up to turn the hose on the fire. James
stood on Cecily's back to guide the hose up to George.]]
In a minute the fire was out and Cecily's house was
saved.
Cecily looked at the wet little monkeys and said
"Dear new friends I don't know how to thank you...
Would you like to stay with me always? It would make
me very happy."
"Oh Cecily G." cried Mother Pamplemoose baby
Jinny curious George brave Johnny good little James
kind Arthur strong David and the twins Punch and
Judy all together. "We'll stay with you for ever and
ever...And now let's finish our concert."
So they took hold of hands danced round in a ring]]
and sang Arthur's song as loud as they could sing.]]
Nine little monks were we homeless and
is dismay till Cecily Giraffe had us along to stay
so here in a ring we'll all dance and sing
Cecily Cecily we will never go away.]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Some support

Dialog: Two speakers

Dialog: Broken dialogue

Vocabulary: Few decoding/definition issues

Language: Few descriptive words

Sentences: Some Long/Complex

Text structure: Story/Poem

Concept: Fanciful

Features

Topic

Monkeys

*Animals

Games

*Entertainment & Fun

*Family & Friends

Low Frequency Words

advice	complicated	concert	curious	dismay
guide	hammered	hind	jinny	monks
pamplemoose	parachute	sailboat	sawing	skier
skis	specially	splendid	stilts	stunts
terribly	whisper	woodcutters	yoop