Text Leveling System

Cam Jansen : The Mystery of the U.F.O. #2

RDQ:	638	Max Word/Sent	32	Total Words	3057		Diff Words	709
Lex	670	Ave Word/.Sent	7	Hi Freq occurs	2187	71.5%	Hi freq	352	49.6%
AR	3.0	Long Sentences	0.9	Low Freq occurs	91	3%	Low freq	54	7.6%

One cold November afternoon Cam 
Jansen and her friend Eric Shelton were 
walking through town. Eric wanted to enter a 
photography contest. Cam was helping him 
look for something to photograph.
Cam picked up a crumpled potato chip 
bag from the street and held it over a litter 
basket.
"Take my picture" she said. "You can 
call it 'Local Girl Cleans Up."
"I can't take a posed picture" Eric told 
her. "You know the rules."]] 
Eric reached into his pocket and took out 
a page torn from a newspaper.
"Here it is" Eric said pointing to the 
page "rule three."
"I know the rules" Cam said.
Cam closed her eyes and said "Click." 
She always said "Click" when she wanted 
to remember something. "My mind is a 
mental camera" Cam often explained 
"and cameras go click.
"Announcing our first Junior News 
Photography Contest" Cam said. Her eyes 
were still closed. "Grand prize one 
hundred dollars. Entry rules. One. Only 
twelve-year-olds and under may enter."
As Cam talked Eric looked at the contest 
announcement in the newspaper.
"Two. Photographs must be black-and
white. Three. Photographs must be of local 
interest. They must not be posed. Four. All 
entries must be received no later than 
November thirtieth."]] 
"You did it!" Eric said. "You got every 
word right!"
People said Cam had a photographic 
memory. They meant Cam could 
remember an entire scene. When Cam 
wanted to remember something even a 
detail such as how many buttons were on 
someone's coat she just looked at the 
photograph stored in her brain.
Cam's real name is Jennifer. But people 
started calling her "The Camera" because 
of her photographic memory and because 
she said "Click" so often. Soon "The Camera" 
was shortened to "Cam."
"Now check me" Cam said. Her eyes 
were still closed. "I'm going to say the rules 
backwards.
"Thirtieth-November-than-later- 
no-received-be-must-entries-all- 
four-posed-be. .
"Enough! Enough!" Eric said. "You're 
going too fast. I can't keep up."]] 
Cam opened her eyes.
"How did you do that?" Eric asked.
"I have a picture of the rules in my 
mind. I just read from it."
Cam put her books and lunch box down. 
"It's cold" she said.
Cam closed the top button of her coat. 
She pulled down the knitted cap she was 
wearing until it covered the tops of her ears.
"And it's getting dark" Eric said. "I'm 
not going to find anything to photograph 
now. Let's go home."
Eric put the camera back in its case. "I'm 
never around when anything happens" he 
complained. "And I'll bet if I am around 
either I won't have my camera or I'll be out 
of film."
"Or" Cam said "you'll forget to take the 
lens cap off."
Cam and Eric often spent time together. 
They were in the same fifth-grade class]] 
and lived next door to each other.
"If it wasn't for your hair" Cam's 
mother often teased "I'd think you and 
Eric were twins."
Cam had what people called bright red 
hair even though it was more orange than 
red. Eric's hair was dark brown.
Cam and Eric started walking home. 
They walked past a row of small stores at 
the edge of a shopping mall. Then they 
stopped at the corner and waited for the 
traffic light to change.
Meow.
Cam and Eric looked up. A gray-and-
white kitten was high in a tree. The branch 
she was standing on was shaking. The 
kitten took a step toward the end of the 
branch. The branch shook even more.
Meow.
"I think she wants to come down" Eric 
said "but she doesn't know how."
Cam opened her lunch box. "I have part]] 
of a tuna sandwich in here. Maybe I can 
get the kitten to come down."
Cam reached up and put a piece of tuna 
fish on the part of the branch closest to the 
trunk. The kitten saw the food and turned 
around carefully. The branch shook but 
the kitten didn't fall. She walked down the 
branch and ate the tuna fish. Cam reached 
out for the kitten.]] 
Eric was holding his camera. "Smile" he 
said and he took a picture just as the kitten 
jumped into Cam's arms.
"I'll call the picture 'Local Girl Saves 
Untamed Feline.'"
Cam turned to put the kitten down. 
Then she stopped. She heard noises. 
Across the street people were shouting and 
pointing. Cam looked to see what they 
were pointing at.
In the distance Cam and Eric saw floating 
green yellow blue and red lights. The 
lights seemed to brush against one of the 
trees at the edge of the park. Cam looked 
straight at the lights and said "Click."]] 
Eric aimed his camera at the lights. He 
pressed the shutter button and the camera 
went click.
The lights were rising but they weren't 
going straight up. They were moving from 
side to side and up and down. It almost 
seemed that the wind was moving the 
lights.
Eric aimed his camera again. He pressed 
the shutter button. Click. He pressed it 
once more. Click.
"I'm not sure I'm doing this right" Eric]]
said. "It's getting dark, and the lights are so
far away. I hope at least one picture comes
out."
Cam wasn't really listening. She was
watching the lights.
"I've seen lights in the sky before," she
said, "but they were from helicopters or
airplanes or fireworks. I don't know what
these are."
"Let's go over there," Eric said, pointing
to the parking lot. "Maybe those people
know."
Cam put the kitten down. Cam was picking
up her books when she heard the kitten
cry. The kitten was up in the tree
again.
"That cat doesn't seem to learn," Cam
said.
"The last time she was up there, you fed
her some tuna fish," Eric said. "The kitten
learned that if she climbs a tree, she gets something to eat."]]
Cam opened her lunch box. "Well, all I
have this time is bread."
Cam reached up and put the bread on
the branch. The kitten turned around
carefully. She came down the branch and
ate the bread.
"I'm going to hold on to you," Cam said
as she put the kitten in her coat pocket. "If
I don't, you'll just climb that tree again."
Cam and Eric crossed the street. The
people in the brightly lit parking lot were
all looking up. Some children were taking
photographs. A man and a woman were
looking through pairs of binoculars.
"Six lights, no, seven," the man said.
"Three green lights, two yellow, one blue,
and two red. That's eight. I have to get this
right if I'm going to write it down."
The man was wearing a big open
shoulder bag. A notebook and 
a book called Bird Watcher's Guide were sticking out.]]
"I've got it!" the man said as he put the
binoculars in his bag. "Seven flying lights.
"You said we wouldn't see anything," he
told the woman next to him, "but you were
wrong. We've seen a red-backed sandpiper,
a bufflehead, an old-squaw, and now this."
The woman put her binoculars into a case. "It wasn't a sandpiper," she said. "It]]
was a golden plover. The old-squaw you
thought we saw was a pintail. And there
are eight lights up there, not seven."
Cam and Eric could hardly see the lights
now. They were just tiny dots of color.
"Can I look through those?" Cam asked
the woman.
The woman took the binoculars out of
the case and handed them to Cam.
Cam could see why the couple had trouble
counting the lights. Sometimes one
would move one way, while another moved
in a different direction. Sometimes one
light moved behind the others and could
not be seen at all. Cam also saw lines, like
thin wires, pointing down from each light.
Cam looked straight at the lights and
said, "Click."
"Let me see," Eric said.
"Just a minute."
The lights were floating up. Cam looked carefully at just one light, a blue one. At ]]
first Cam thought it was round, but it
wasn't. It was shaped like an egg with a
point at the bottom. Cam looked straight at
the light and said, "Click." Then the lights
floated into a cloud and Cam couldn't see
them any more.
"They're gone," Cam told Eric. Then she
returned the binoculars to the woman.
"Are there seven lights up there or
eight?" the woman asked.
"Ah, I'm not sure. The lights keep moving
and disappearing. They're hard to
count."
"Well, there are eight," the woman said.
"I'm sure."
Eric pulled on Cam's sleeve. "I have one
picture left. What should it be?"
Cam was going to tell Eric to photograph
the crowd, but Eric yelled, "I've got it!
Don't move."
Eric bent down and took a picture of the kitten. She was leaning out of Cam's ]]
pocket and eating from someone's bag of
groceries.
Cam pulled away. The kitten fell back
into her pocket. Some food was still in the
kitten's mouth.
"Well, that's it," Eric said. "I hope nothing
else happens. I'm out of film."
"Look! Look!" someone in the crowd yelled. "More lights!"]]
Chapter Three
Cam and Eric turned to look. These lights
were not a mystery. A fire department light
truck drove up and parked nearby. Several
of its large, moving beams of light searched
the sky. The mysterious lights were just
tiny dots of color. They floated in and out
of the clouds.
Then a television news truck drove into
the parking lot. A young woman holding a
microphone got out of the truck. A man
holding a television camera followed her. The woman walked through the crowd ]]
and asked questions. Then she stood facing
the cameraman. She took a deep breath,
smiled, and spoke into the microphone.
"This is Stephanie Jackson," she said.
"I'm here in the parking lot at the corner
of Fillmore and Harrison avenues. Just
moments ago these people saw several mysterious
lights rise into the night. People
here are already calling these lights
U.F.O.s-unidentified flying objects."
Cam and Eric moved closer to the reporter
to hear what she was saying.
"Many U.F.O.s are later found to be
weather balloons, kites, clouds, or even
high-flying airplanes. Sometimes they are
only pranks meant to fool us.
"Others are never identified. Many people
believe that some of the truly unidentified
flying objects are aircraft from other
planets. Some people even claim to have
seen strange creatures get off those flying objects.]]
"We still don't know what was seen here
tonight. We may never know."
Stephanie Jackson turned to a man
standing nearby. "Sir, can you tell our
viewers what you saw?"
The man took off his hat. With his hand
he brushed his hair down. He smiled and
spoke into the microphone. "I saw lights,"
he said in a loud voice.
"Yes, well, maybe this girl can tell us
more." The reporter held the microphone
in front of Cam. With her free hand the
reporter turned Cam to face the camera.
"What did you see?" she asked.
Cam closed her eyes. She said, "Click."
The people near Cam smiled. A few
laughed. Click was a strange answer to the
reporter's question.
"Well, at first," Cam said, "I thought
there was just one U.F.O. But the lights
moved apart sometimes, so I think there were a lot of small U.F.O.s flying together.]]
And at one time they were close to the
ground. I know that because as they were
going up, they touched one of the trees
outside the park."
As Cam was speaking, she noticed that
Stephanie Jackson was moving away from
her. Then Cam saw why. The kitten was
leaning out of Cam's coat and licking the
reporter's free hand.
"Thank you very much," the reporter
said. She walked away quickly.
"But there's more!" Cam said.
"The lights can no longer be seen," the
reporter said into the microphone. "They
remain a mystery. We don't know what
they are or where they came from. But I'm
sure the people here tonight will remember
what they saw for a long time to
come."
The report was over. Stephanie Jackson
put the microphone down. 
She wiped her hand with some tissues. Then she and the ]]
cameraman went back to the truck.
The crowd started to move apart. Some
people went to their cars. Others walked
across the parking lot to the shopping area.
Cam pulled Eric to a corner of the parking
lot. She closed her eyes and said,
Click.
"I can't see it!" Cam said. "Come on,
Eric. Let's cross the street."
Cam and Eric waited at the corner for
the light to change.
"What can't you see?" Eric asked.
"The tree. When the U.F.O.s went up,
they hit a tree. I can't see which one it
was."
The light changed. Cam and Eric
crossed the street.
"The reporter said that some people
have seen U.F.O.s land," Cam told Eric.
"Creatures from outer space got out. Well, 
these U.F.O.s hit a tree. They might have landed near the tree."]]
Cam stood at the corner. She faced the
park. "This is where I first saw the
U.F.O.s," Cam said. "Sometimes, if I stand
where I first saw something, it helps me
remember."
Cam closed her eyes. She said, "Click."
Then she said, "I see it! It's a small tree
between two evergreens. Come on, Eric.
Let's go there and take a look. Maybe the
U.F.O.s left something behind." "Something," Eric said, "or someone."]]
Chapter Four
Cam and Eric were a long way from the
park. It was past five o'clock and already
quite dark.
"Let's go," Eric said. "It's late. My
parents are going out. I have to baby-sit for
Howie and the twins tonight. And besides,"
Eric went on, "we have homework to do.
We can come back tomorrow when it's light
out."
"Don't worry." Cam told him. "As soon
as we've seen what's on the other side of that tree, we'll go home."]]
Cam felt something moving in her coat
pocket. The flap opened and the kitten
looked out. Cam petted the back of the kitten's
neck. The kitten purred. The flap
closed as she settled back into the warmth
of Cam's pocket.
"I think you've got yourself a pet," Eric
said. "Let's give her a name."
"She likes to climb trees," Cam said as
they walked along. "We could call her
Twigs or Leaves." Cam thought for a minute.
"Or we could give her an outer-space
name. After all, we found her and saw a
U.F.0. at the same time."
"Well," Eric said, "we can call her Rocket
or Stars or Saturn."
"Saturn, that's good," said Cam. "We'll
name her after one of the planets. Let's
see. There's Mars and Pluto and Neptune.
That's a good name for a cat. We'll call her
Neptune." Cam and Eric were getting close to the ]]
park. Cam stopped and looked at the
trees.
There were many different evergreens.
Evergreens are green all year and are easy
to tell apart. But the other trees, the ones
without leaves, all looked the same.
Cam closed her eyes. She said, "Click.
The tree the U.F.O.s hit has white bark.
It's a birch between two tall pines."
Cam opened her eyes. "That's the one,"
she said, pointing.
Cam and Eric walked past the birch tree.
The park was empty and dark. The only
light came from street lamps outside.
Cam and Eric looked for some hint of a
U.F.O. landing. There was nothing near
the tree. Toward the center of the park
Eric found two ripped balloons.
"Here's something," Cam said. She held
up the wrappings from several small
pocket flashlights, and a used roll of tape. "But these aren't from outer space."]]
Cam and Eric kept looking. The ground
was covered with leaves. They found cigarette
butts, crushed soda cans, and candy bar
wrappers.
Then Cam and Eric heard noises. It
sounded like people talking, but they
couldn't make out the words. A motor
started and bright lights went on. The
lights were behind the wall of the handball
court.
"Let's see what's over there," Cam whispered.
"No. Let's go back. We have homework."
"We can do it later. Come on."
Cam walked carefully through the
leaves. She tried not to make any noise.
Eric followed her.
"Look!,, Eric said.
A strange-looking creature with wrinkled
silver skin ran out. It had a head, arms,
and legs and was about the same height as
Cam and Eric. Its hands were green and its ]]
feet were blue. It was holding something
long and thin.
Then a second creature ran out. It was
carrying a pile of colored objects. Both
creatures dropped what they were holding
and ran back behind the wall.]]
Chapter Five
Cam and Eric stood still. They were afraid
to move.
"What do we do now?" Eric whispered.
"I don't know. Let's just wait."
Cam and Eric waited quietly. They saw
one of the creatures run out again. It was
holding something.
"Get back here, Cindy," a voice called
out. The silver creature dropped what it
was holding and ran back behind the wall.
"Did you hear that!" Cam said. "They
speak English. Now how would a creature ]]
from outer space learn English?"
"Well, maybe they studied it in school,"
Eric said. "Or maybe they've been here before."
Eric thought for a minute. "Or
maybe they're wondering how come we
speak their language."
"Or maybe they're not from outer
space," Cam said. "Come on. Let's get
closer."
Eric didn't want to get closer. He wanted
to go home. But before he could tell Cam,
she ran ahead.
She ran from one tree to the next. Eric
followed her. They tried to run quietly, but
the dried leaves made noise when Cam and
Eric stepped on them. Neptune made
noise, too. She meowed inside Cam's
pocket.
Cam and Eric stopped running when
they reached a large tree close to the wall
of the handball court. There was a pile of
leaves next to the tree. Cam put her lunch ]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Little 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

Features

Character traits

Simple Plot

Topic

*Space

Tricking

Cameras

Low Frequency Words

announcement	announcing	avenues	binoculars	birch
cameraman	cigarette	disappearing	entries	feline
fillmore	groceries	guide	handball	height
identified	junior	kitten's	knitted	language
lens	meowed	microphone	moments	motor
mysterious	neptune	objects	olds	photograph
photographic	photographs	photography	pintail	plover
posed	reporter's	sandpiper	shelton	shortened
shutter	squaw	studied	thirtieth	tissues
truly	tuna	unidentified	viewers	warmth
watcher's	wrappers	wrappings	wrinkled