Text Leveling System

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic

RDQ:	1612	Max Word/Sent	100	Total Words	2433		Diff Words	720
Lex	840	Ave Word/.Sent	12	Hi Freq occurs	1652	67.9%	Hi freq	295	41%
AR	4.5	Long Sentences	21.4	Low Freq occurs	126	5.2%	Low freq	90	12.5%

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic
Of course the reason that all the children in our
town like Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is because Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle
likes them. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle likes children, she 
enjoys talking to them and best of all they do not irritate her.
When Molly O'Toole was looking at the colored 
pictures in Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's big dictionary and just
happened to be eating a candy cane at the same time and
drooled candy cane juice on the colored pictures of gems
and then forgot and shut the book so the pages all stuck
together, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle didn't say, ""Such a careless 
little girl can never ever look at the colored pictures in my
big dictionary again."" Nor did she say, ""You must never
look at books while you are eating."" She said, ""Let's see,
I think we can steam those pages apart, and then we can]]
wipe the stickiness off with a little soap and water, like 
this-now see, it's just as good as new. There's nothing 
as cozy as a piece of candy and a book. Don't look so 
embarrassed, Molly, I almost drool every time I look at those 
gems-which one is your favorite?-I think mine is the 
Lapis Lazuli.""
When Dicky Williams, who was showing off for Patsy 
by riding in his wagon with his eyes shut, crashed through 
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's basement window and landed in the 
coal bin, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle laughed so much she had to 
sit down on the front steps and wipe her eyes with her 
apron. Dicky was awfully scared and was going to sneak 
out the basement door and go home, but Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, 
still laughing, leaned through the broken window and 
said, ""Hand me the putty knife and that can of putty off 
the shelf and then go get me that pane of glass leaning 
against the wall over there by the furnace. Thank you very 
much. Now watch carefully, Dicky, because putting in 
window glass is something that every boy should know how to 
do. Especially boys who ride wagons with their eyes closed.""
When Marilyn Matson who was helping Mrs. Piggle-
Wiggle serve tea dropped and broke her brown teapot she 
said, ""Well, that's the luckiest thing I've ever known-you 
didn't get a drop of hot tea on you and you broke that 
nasty teapot with the leaky spout that I've hated for fifteen 
years. Tomorrow I'll go to town and buy a new one-I 
think I'll get pink and I'm going to test the spout before I 
buy it."" ""But what about the tea?"" said Marilyn, wiping 
her tears on her sleeve. ""Make it in the coffee pot,"" said 
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, ""and we'll call it toffee.""]] 
Another nice thing about Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, when a child makes her a present no matter how splotchy or crooked it might be, she uses it and keeps it where everyone can see it.
Johnny Wilfred made her a vase out of a meat sauce bottle with such a little neck that only flowers with stems like hairs would fit in it. Not only that but he painted it a sort of bilious green and the paint was too thick and ran down the sides in warty lumps. But Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle loves Johnny and she loves the warty vase because Johnny made it for her, and she keeps it on the window sill above the sink with at least one flower, gasping for breath, jammed through its little neck. Every time Johnny comes into her kitchen he points proudly to the vase and says, ""Do you see that pretty vase over there on the window sill. Well, I made it for Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, didn't I, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle?""
When Susan Gray came staggering over with a plate of the first cookies she had ever made for Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle didn't take one look at the tannish gray lumps and say, ""No Thank You!"" She said, 'Why, Susan Gray, you smart girl. Eight years old and already making cookies. You're going to make somebody a very fine wife."" ""Yeah, somebody with good teeth,"" said Hubert Prentiss who had taken one of the gray lumps and had found that trying to eat it was like biting on a stone. Mrs Piggle-Wiggle took the cookie away from him and said, ""Oh, Hubert, these are special cookies, you dip them in hot tea and then take a bite."" 
She hurried to the kitchen and made some tea and then]] 
she and Molly and Hubert and Susan sat at the kitchen table and drank tea and gnawed at the stony cookies, which in addition to being hard as rocks, tasted like glue because Susan had put in gravy coloring instead of vanilla. When Molly and Hubert made gagging motions at each other Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle slipped them some ginger cookies under the table and Susan was so proud that she didn't even notice.
Julie Ward knitted Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle a scarf that was about ten yards long and two inches wide and when Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle opened the box she didn't say, ""My, Julie, you must have had a giraffe in mind when you made this scarf."" Instead she said, ""You know Julie, this is much too pretty to wear as a scarf and keep tucked inside my coat. I'm going to wear it as a sash."" She took the long, dirty blue, wormy looking scarf and wrapped it around and around her waist and looped the ends over and it did look nice, from a distance. Julie was so proud. She said, ""You know, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, when I was making that scarf I just thought to myself, 'Now I'll make this longer and then Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle can wear it as a belt too.'"" Of course she hadn't really. What actually happened was that she knitted on the scarf every afternoon when she listened to the radio and she just forgot to stop.
Another wonderful trait of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's is the interested way she listens to dreams. Now every child in the world loves to tell what he dreams and if the dream doesn't seem to be quite long enough or interesting enough, sometimes some children work in old movies they have seen or stories their Daddies have read to them the night before.]] 
Dream telling is an innocent pastime and very good for the imagination but unfortunately dream telling usually occurs at breakfast, a time when daddies and mothers are slightly irritable and always in a hurry and in no mood for long-drawn-out stories of ""and then I was riding on this elephant and two Indians came up and tried to shoot me but then er, uh, uh, uh, I turned into a walnut and dropped on the ground and uh, uh, uh, this-"" About this time Mothers say, ""Just let the dream go and finish your cereal!"" or Brother or Sister will say, ""Oh, you're just making that up and anyway it's my turn. Now I dreamed . .""
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle not only listens to dreams, she asks about them. Right after school when the children come over to dig for treasure in her back yard (Mr. Piggle-Wiggle was a pirate and when he died he buried his treasure in his back yard) or to have tea or to play dolls, she'll say, ""Anybody have any good dreams last night?"" and they'll be off.
Once Molly O'Toole dreamed she was a raisin and was eaten by a rat. Johnny Green dreamed that he was a pirate and lived in a whale. Hubert Prentiss dreamed that he was an icicle and could freeze anyone he touched. Susan Gray dreamed that her dolls all came alive. Larry Gray dreamed he was a cowboy and had a white horse. Mary Lou Robertson dreamed that her covers were frosting and woke up with her mouth full of blanket. Kitty Wheeling dreamed that she was a movie star and had a real fur coat. Patsy said that she dreamed that she was an electric toaster and everybody said she was making it up and Patsy cried]] 
and Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle said she would help Patsy with her dreams. Some of the children's dreams are so long and dull and full of er-ra and uh-ruh's that Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle finishes them off for them and says, ""That was the way it was, wasn't it, Bobby,"" much to their evident relief.
So you can see that loving children the way she does, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle just naturally understands them even when they are being very difficult, which is of course why all the mothers in our town call Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle whenever they are having trouble with their children. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle always knows what to do and then of course she has a big cupboard full of magic powders and pills and appliances to help cure children's bad habits.]] 
THE THOUGHT-YOU-SAIDERS CURE
Mr. Burbank absently reached from behind his newspaper for the sugar bowl. His groping fingers hit the toast, the honey comb, the salt cellar and finally found the sugar bowl. His children Darsie, Alison and Bard nudged each other and laughed. Every morning Daddy felt around on the table for the sugar while he read bad news in the newspaper.
One morning the news was so bad and he was so absentminded he put currant jelly in his coffee. The children were anxious for a repeat performance and hopefully pushed everything but the sugar in the path of his searching hand. This morning as soon as Mr. Burbank had found the sugar he let the paper down with a bang. ""The sugar bowl's empty,"" he said in an aggrieved, hurt way.]] 
Mrs. Burbank, who was buttering toast said, ""Darsie, run out to the kitchen and fill the sugar bowl, dear. The sugar's in the big red can.""
Darsie obediently got up, took the sugar bowl and went out to the kitchen. After a long long time he came back to the breakfast table with a plate of cinnamon rolls.
""What are these for?"" his father said. ""And where is the sugar?""
""Sugar?"" said Darsie. 'What about sugar?""
""I told you to fill the sugar bowl,"" said Mrs. Burbank. 
""Oh,"" said Darsie, ""I thought you said, 'Get the cinnamon roll.'""
All three children looked at each other and laughed loudly. Finally Mr. and Mrs. Burbank laughed too. Darsie went out and filled the sugar bowl and Mr. Burbank, after three cups of coffee, missed his bus and decided to walk as far as the school with the children.
Just as they were going out the front door, Alison remembered her arithmetic book and dashed upstairs for it. In a minute she leaned over the bannister and called, ""Mother, did you see my arithmetic book?""
Mrs. Burbank said, 'What does it look like?""
Alison said, ""It's blue and not very thick.""
Mrs. Burbank said, ""I think it's on the table in the hall.""
Alison said, ""How did it get out there?""
Mrs. Burbank said, ""Out where? I said it's on the table in the hall.""
Alison said, ""Oh, I thought you said it's out in the stable in a stall."" All three children roared with laughter.
Alison found her arithmetic book and they all left the]] 
house laughing and repeating, ""Out in the stable in a stall."" Mr. Burbank said, ""Come on, come on, we haven't all day."" He walked briskly along the street, his footsteps ringing loudly and purposefully in the thin autumn air. The children giggled and jostled along behind him, their progress so uneven and broken by ""thought you said"" and shrieks of laughter that Mr. Burbank reached the corner first, in fact almost before they had left the yard. He stopped to wait for them and to survey the city spread out below him in the morning sunshine. He was glad he lived on a hill, he was glad he was alive and he was glad he had a little boy nine, a little girl seven and a little boy six.
When the children had caught up with him he said, ""Look, children. See how beautiful the city looks from up here. Watch the fog rise over there.""
'Where's the dog?"" said Bard.
""What dog?"" asked Darsie.
""What color are the dog's eyes?"" asked Alison.
'What on earth are you talking about?"" said Mr. Burbank. ""I said, 'Watch the fog rise over there.'
""Oh,"" Bard said, ""I thought you said, Watch the dog's eyes glare.'"" All the children laughed and laughed. Mr. Burbank said, ""What nonsense,"" but it was a beautiful morning so he laughed with his lighthearted children.
When they were half way down the next block, the children suddenly stopped stock still in front of a pretty white house and yelled in unison, ""Marilyn! Mar-ee-lun! Come on, we'll be late!""
Mr. Burbank said, ""That's no way to do. If you want Marilyn, go to the door and ask for her.""]] 
The children looked surprised but went obediently up to the door and rang the bell. Marilyn's mother opened the door and said something to the children which seemed to send them into convulsions of mirth. Doubled over with laughter and holding their sides they came down the walk to their father.
""Now what's so funny?"" Mr. Burbank asked.
Darsie said, ""Marilyn's mother said Marilyn fell in the toaster and is burnt up dead.""
Mr. Burbank said, ""What did Marilyn's mother really say and why isn't Marilyn going to school.""
Alison said, ""She said Marilyn fell in her coaster and hurt her head and Darsie thought she said Marilyn fell in the toaster and is burnt up dead."" She went into another paroxysm of laughter.
Mr. Burbank didn't laugh. Instead he bent down and examined Darsie's ears which were large and pink and soft and quite clean.
""They should work,"" said Mr. Burbank, looking at the other children's ears. They all seemed quite normal. The children wanted to know what he was doing.
Bard said, ""What are you doing that for, Daddy?""
Mr. Burbank said, ""I'm trying to decide whether I should get you an ear trumpet.""
""Beer crumpet? What's that?"" Bard said.
The other children repeated after him, ""Beer crumpet? Beer crumpet?"" They all laughed but Mr. Burbank, who had had enough. He said, ""Come on. I'll supervise a race to school. On your marks, get set, go!""
When Mr. Burbank reached his office the very first thing]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Little support

Inferences: Several Implications

Dialog: Broken dialogue

Dialog: Unlabeled Speaker

Vocabulary: More decoding/definition issues

Language: Few descriptive words

Sentences: Some Long/Complex

Text structure: Story/Poem

Inferences: Several Implications

Complexity: Several ideas - closely related

Concept: Fanciful

Concepts: Abstract/Complex Social

Table of Contents

Chapters

Features

Character traits

Simple problem/solution

Topic

Feelings/Emotions

Words

Behaviors

Family

*Family & Friends

*Feelings, Behaviors

Low Frequency Words

absently	absentminded	addition	aggrieved	anxious
appliances	bannister	bard	bilious	burnt
cellar	cinnamon	comb	convulsions	crumpet
cure	currant	daddies	dicky	doubled
drawn	drooled	embarrassed	evident	furnace
gagging	gasping	glare	gnawed	groping
icicle	imagination	innocent	irritable	jostled
knitted	lapis	laughter	lazuli	lighthearted
listens	looped	luckiest	lun	matson
mirth	motions	naturally	nudged	o'toole
obediently	occurs	pane	paroxysm	pastime
performance	piggle	powders	prentiss	progress
purposefully	putty	raisin	ruh's	saiders
sauce	scarf	splotchy	spout	stable
staggering	stall	stickiness	stock	stony
sugar's	supervise	survey	tannish	toffee
trait	unfortunately	unison	vanilla	ward
warty	wheeling	wiggle's	wilfred	wormy