Text Leveling System

The Case of the Hungry Stranger

RDQ:	354	Max Word/Sent	20	Total Words	1358		Diff Words	322
Lex	580	Ave Word/.Sent	5	Hi Freq occurs	871	64.1%	Hi freq	158	49.1%
AR	2.3	Long Sentences	0	Low Freq occurs	9	0.7%	Low freq	4	1.2%

They all sat 
in the clubhouse. 
Wizard and Tubby 
Skinny and Snitch. ]]
Wizard was the leader. 
Tubby was his pal. 
Skinny was his pal. 
Snitch was his little brother. ]]
Wizard knew a lot 
so he was called Wizard. 
Tubby ate a lot 
so he was called Tubby. ]]
Skinny did not eat a lot 
so he was called Skinny. 
Snitch was called Snitch 
because he told on his brother. 
Sometimes. ]]
The clubhouse was under a tree 
by a brook 
near a fence 
in Wizard's backyard. ]]
There was an old sign on the door. 
It said: No Girls 
There was a new sign on the door. 
It said: The wizard 
Private Eye ]]
"What is a private Eye?" 
asked Snitch. 
"I am a private eye" said Wizard. 
"I find things." 
"I lost a penny once" said Snitch. 
Wizard said"I don't find lost things. 
I find things that have been taken. 
If someone took your penny 
I would find out who took it 
and get it back for you." 
"Free?" asked Snitch. 
"For a nickel" said Wizard. 
"Let it stay lost" said Snitch. ]]
"You have to be sharp 
to be a private eye" Wizard said. 
"You have to keep your eyes open." 
He looked as Snitch. 
"You have to keep your mouth closed." ]]
Mrs. Meech the lady next door 
ran across the yard. 
"Which one of you ate 
my blueberry pie?" she asked. ]]
They all looked at Tubby. 
Mrs. Meech said 
"I baked two pies. 
I put them out to cool. 
And someone ate one. 
All that is left is an empty pie plate." ]]
"I didn't eat it" said Wizard. 
"I didn't eat it" said Tubby. 
"I didn't eat it" said Skinny. 
"I didn't eat it" said Snitch. 
"Cross my heart." ]]
Mrs. Meech said
"I need a private eye." 
"You came to the right place" 
said Wizard. 
"We'll find out 
who ate the pie." 
"I am sure you will" said Mrs. Meech. ]]
Wizard looked at the boys. 
"We will start right here" he said. 
"Tubby where were you 
before you came here?" ]]
"I went to the store 
for a loaf of bread for Mom" 
Tubby said. 
"I got some cookies for me too." 
"Where were you Skinny?" 
asked Wizard. ]]
"I was watching my little sister 
while my mother hung up the clothes" 
Skinny said. 
"Where were you Snitch?" 
asked Wizard. ]]
Snitch looked funny.
 "I was with you" he said. 
Now Wizard looked funny. 
"Where were you Wizard?" 
asked Tubby and Skinny. ]]
"I'll tell" said Snitch. 
"It's funny. 
Mom was trying on her new hat." 
"That's not so funny" 
said Tubby and Skinny. ]]
"She was trying it on Wizard" 
cried Snitch. ]]
"That's funny!" 
cried Tubby and Skinny. 
"Come on men" Wizard said. 
"We have to look 
for fingerprints and footprints 
and anything else that will help us."]]
They climbed the fence. 
They walked across the grass. 
They stopped at Mrs. Meech's 
back door. 
The pie plate was on a bench. 
It was empty all right. ]]
"Here's a footprint" yelled Skinny. 
"It looks new" Wizard said. 
Then he looked at Skinny's feet. 
"It's your footprint" he yelled. 
"You just made it!" ]]
Tubby was looking at 
the open cellar door. 
"Maybe he went down here" 
he said. 
"I'll go look." ]]
The cellar was very dark. 
It was damp and still. 
Tubby fell over something. 
It was soft. It moved. 
It seemed to grab him. 
"Help!" cried Tubby. 
"I've got him!" ]]
Mrs. Meech put on the light. 
And there was Tubby 
all tied up in the garden hose. 
"You're a dope" 
said Wizard. ]]
Outside Wizard had a few things 
to say to all of them. 
"We are not getting very far 
with this case" he said. 
"Hey here's a pie crumb" yelled Snitch. ]]
"That means he went that way" 
cried Wizard. 
"Let's go." 
They followed the crumbs 
across the grass 
up to the fence. 
They saw the crumbs again 
across the brook. ]]
"Don't make a sound" 
said Wizard. "I think we've got him." 
Tubby ate a cookie. 
But he did not make a sound. ]]
The trail led to the tree 
and then to the door 
of the clubhouse. 
"Sh" said Wizard 
"I'll open the door fast. 
We'll catch him red-handed!" ]]
There was no one there. 
"Shucks he got away" 
said Skinny. 
"We almost had him" said Tubby. 
He ate another cookie. 
Some cookie crumbs fell 
on the grass. ]]
They all looked at the crumbs. 
"Those were cookie crumbs 
we followed" Wizard said. 
"Tubby's old cookie crumbs" 
said Skinny. ]]
"We must find out who did it" 
Wizard said. 
"We can't be private eyes 
if we don't find out 
who ate the blueberry pie" 
said Skinny. ]]
"Blueberry pie" said Wizard. 
"Blueberry pie" said Wizard again. 
"Hey let me see your teeth." 
"Why?" asked Tubby. 
"Just let me see your teeth" said Wizard. 
"And you can see mine."   ]]
"What do teeth 
have to do with it?" 
Skinny asked. 
"I lost one" said Snitch. 
"Does that count?" ]]
"No" said Wizard. 
"But if we had eaten 
that blueberry pie 
our teeth would be blue!" 
"And our teeth aren't blue" 
cried Tubby and Skinny. 
"I think the one I lost was blue" 
said Snitch. ]]
"Let's each go out alone" 
said Wizard" and look for 
someone with blue teeth." ]]
They went up and down the block. 
They went to each house. 
They smiled and they smiled. 
Snitch smiled at the mailman. 
The mailman smiled back. 
But his teeth were not blue. ]]
Tubby smiled at 
the ice-cream man. 
The ice-cream man smiled back. 
But his teeth were not blue. 
And Tubby got an ice-cream cone. ]]
Skinny smiled at 
the paper boy. 
The paper boy smiled back. 
But his teeth were not blue.  ]]
Wizard smiled at 
the policeman. 
The policeman smiled back. 
Of course his teeth were not blue! ]]
Wizard and Tubby and Skinny 
met back at the clubhouse. 
"I didn't see one blue tooth" 
Skinny said. 
"Where's Snitch?" asked Wizard. 
No one knew. ]]
"I told Mom I'd watch him" 
Wizard said. 
"Let's go look for him." 
But they didn't have to look. ]]
Snitch came running 
across the yard. 
"Hurry" he said. "Hurry! 
I have found the blue teeth!" 
They all ran after Snitch. ]]
They jumped across the brook. 
They climbed the fence. 
They ran across the grass. 
Mrs. Meech was weeding. 
She looked up and smiled. ]]
Every one of her teeth was blue! 
"Aw Snitch" said Wizard. 
"Her teeth are blue" said Snitch. 
"They are indeed Snitch" 
said Mrs. Meech. 
"I had a dish of blueberries 
for my lunch." ]]
Back at the clubhouse 
Wizard had a few things to say to Snitch. 
"But you said to look for 
blue teeth" Snitch said. 
"Not Mrs. Meech's blue teeth" 
yelled Wizard. ]]
Just then a dog ran 
through a hole under the fence. 
He jumped over the brook 
and sat down beside them. ]]
"Hey he's been with us all day" 
Snitch said. 
"He's a nice dog" said Skinny. 
"Does he want a cookie?" asked Tubby. ]]
The dog ran to Wizard. 
He wagged his tail 
and sat down. 
Wizard smiled at the dog. 
The dog smiled back at Wizard. 
Then Wizard yelled. ]]
Then they were all yelling.
The dog was barking.
He was jumping around.
And he was smiling.]]
The dog was smiling
a deep blue smile.
A blueberry pie smile.]]
"The case is closed" Wizard said. 
"Here's our pie-eater. 
Let's take him to Mrs. Meech." ]]
The dog smiled his deep blue smile 
at Mrs. Meech. 
"You did a good job boys" 
Mrs. Meech said. 
"Now we're really private eyes" 
Wizard told her. ]]
Someone cried "Mop! Mop!"
A girl walked across the grass.
"There you are Mop"
she said to the dog.
"Where have you been all day?"
The dog just smiled.]]
But Wizard told her.
Tubby told her.
Skinny told her.
And Snitch told her.
He always told.]]
Mrs. Meech said 
"Would you like it? The blueberry pie 
Mop didn't eat?" 
Tubby was the first to say "Yes." ]]
They took the pie 
to the clubhouse. 
Mop and the girl came too. 
The girl's name was Marigold. 
She sat on the grass with them 
and ate blueberry pie. ]]
And they all smiled. 
And each one of them smiled 
a deep blue smile.]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Some support

Dialog: Multiple speakers

Dialog: Broken dialogue

Vocabulary: Few decoding/definition issues

Language: Few descriptive words

Sentences: Multiple phrases

Text structure: Blend of written/oral

Concepts: Concrete/Simple Social

Sequence of Events: Chronological

Features

Topic

Mystery

Children

Dogs

Searching/Hunting

Food

Detectives

*Family & Friends

Low Frequency Words

cellar

marigold

private

shucks