Text Leveling System

Junie B. Jones Has a Monster Under Her Bed

RDQ:	899	Max Word/Sent	24	Total Words	2665		Diff Words	640
Lex	720	Ave Word/.Sent	6	Hi Freq occurs	2024	75.9%	Hi freq	299	46.7%
AR	3.4	Long Sentences	0.5	Low Freq occurs	59	2.2%	Low freq	41	6.4%

The Cheese Man
My name is Junie B. Jones. The B stands for 
Beatrice. Except I don't like Beatrice. I just
like B and that's all.
I am in the grade of afternoon
kindergarten.
Today we got school pictures taken at
that place.
School pictures is when you wear your
bestest dress. And you go to the cafeteria.
And a cheese an is there.
He makes you say cheese. Only I don't
actually know why.]]
Then he takes pictures of you. And your 
mother has to buy them. Or else you will get 
your feelings hurt.
School pictures is a racket, I think.
I wore my new dress with the dinosaur on 
the front.
""A dinosaur, huh?"" said the cheese 
man.
I smoothed my skirt very lovely.
""Yes,"" I said. ""It is a Tyrannosaurus 
Dottie.""
""You mean Tyrannosaurus Rex,"" he 
said.
""No. I mean Tyrannosaurus Dottie. 
'Cause Rex is the boy. And Dottie 
is the girl,"" I explained.
The cheese man stood behind his camera.
""Say cheese,"" he told me.]] 
""Yeah, only guess what? I don't actually 
know why I have to say that word. 'Cause 
what's cheese got to do with it?"" I asked.
""Cheese makes you smile,"" said the 
cheese man.
I shook my head.
""Not me. Cheese doesn't make me 
smile,"" I said. ""Cause sometimes I eat a 
cheese sandwich for lunch. And I don't even 
giggle when I swallow that thing.""
The cheese man did a big breath.
""Could you please just say it?"" he asked.
""Yes,"" I said. ""I can please just say it. 
Only don't forget to tell me when you're 
ready. 'Cause one time my grampa Frank 
Miller was taking my picture. And he didn't 
tell me he was ready. And then one of my 
eyes turned out opened. And the other one 
turned out closed.""]] 
I made the face to show him.
""See? See my eyes? See how one of them 
is opened and the other one is...""
All of a sudden, the cheese man took my 
picture.
My mouth came wide open at him.
""HEY! HOW COME YOU DID THAT? 
HOW COME YOU TOOK MY 
PICTURE? 'CAUSE I WASN'T EVEN READY 
YET!""
The cheese man kept on clicking his 
camera.
Pretty soon he looked at the next person 
in line.
""Next,"" he said.
I stamped my foot.
""Yeah, only I wasn't ready, I tell you! 
And so I need another turn!"" I said.
Just then, my teacher came over. And]] 
she pulled me away from there.
She sat me next to her on a bench.
Her name is Mrs.
She has another name, too. But I just like 
Mrs. and that's all.
Mrs. said settle down to me.
Then me and her watched the rest of the 
children get their pictures taken.
My bestest friend named Lucille went 
next.
She had a blue satin ribbon in her hair.
""My nanna says this ribbon brings out 
the blue in my eyes,"" she told the cheese 
man.
She opened them real wide.
""See them? See their color? They are 
robin's egg blue. . .with just a hint of 
lavender.""
The cheese man sucked in his cheeks. He]] 
was getting fusstration in him, I think.
""Could you please just say cheese,"" he 
grouched.
Lucille smiled real big with all her teeth.
""Cheese!"" she sang very loud. ""Cheese! 
Cheese! Cheesie, cheese, cheese!""
Then she kept on singing cheese, till the 
cheese man said, ""Knock it off.""
After she was done, Lucille skipped over 
to me and Mrs.
""Did you see me?"" she asked. ""Did you 
see how good I said cheese? That's because 
I'm going to be a model when I grow up. So 
I already know how.""
She fluffed her fluffy hair.
""The camera is my friend,"" she said. 
Mrs. rolled her eyes way up at the 
ceiling. I looked up there, too. But I didn't see 
anything.]]
After that, it was time for the class 
picture.
The class picture is when all of Room 
Nine lines up in two rows.
The biggie kids stand in the back. And]] 
the shortie kids stand in the front.
I am a shortie kid. Only that is nothing 
to be ashamed of.
I stood next to Paulie Allen Puffer.
He looked very admiring at my dinosaur 
dress.
""Dinosaurs bite people's heads off,"" he 
said.
I did a frown.
""Yeah, only they don't even scare me. 
'Cause there's no such things as dinosaurs 
anymore,"" I told him.
""So? There's still such things as monsters 
that can bite your head off,"" said Paulie 
Allen Puffer. ""A monster lives right under 
your bed, I bet. My big brother says 
that everybody has a monster under their 
bed.""
He poked his finger at me.]] 
""Even you, Junie B. Jones,"" he said.
I got shivers on my arms.
""No, I do not either, Paulie Allen Puffer,"" 
I said.
""Yes, you do too,"" he said back. ""My 
brother is in seventh grade. And he says the 
monster waits till you're asleep. Then he 
crawls up next to you. And he lies down on 
your pillow. And he practices fitting your 
head in his mouth.""
I covered up my ears. But Paulie Allen 
Puffer talked louder.
""I can even prove it,"" he said. ""Didn't 
you ever wake up with a drool spot on your 
pillow?""
I thought very hard.
""Yeah.. .so?""
""So where do you think it came from?"" 
he asked. ""It came from the monster under]]
Except I didn't hop on. 'Cause my legs didn't want to.
"I don't think I want to ride this bus to kindergarten," I told Mother again.
Then she gave me a little push. "Go on, Junie B.," she said. "Mr. Woo is waiting for you. Be a big girl and get on."
I looked up at the windows. The little girl with the curly black hair was already in the bus. She looked very big sitting up there. And kind of happy.
"Look how big that little girl is acting, Junie B.," said Mother. "Why don't you sit right next to her? It'll be fun. I promise."
And so I got on the bus.
And guess what?
It wasn't fun.]] 
The Stupid Smelly Bus
The bus wasn't like my daddy's car at all. It was very big inside. And the seats didn't have any cloth on them.
The little curly girl was sitting near the front. And so I tapped on her.
"Guess what?" I said. "Mother said for me to sit here."
"No!" she said. "I'm saving this seat for my best friend, Mary Ruth Marble!"
Then she put her little white purse on the place where I was going to sit.]] 
And so I made a face at her.
"Hurry up and find a seat, young lady," said Mr. Woo.
And so I quick sat down across from the curly mean girl. And Mr. Woo shut the door.
It wasn't a regular kind of door, though. It folded in half. And when it closed, it made a whishy sound.
I don't like that kind of door. If it closes on you by accident, it will cut you in half, and you will make a squishy sound.
The bus made a big roar. Then a big puff of black smelly smoke came out the back end of it. It's called bus breath, I think.
Mr. Woo drove for a while. Then the brakes made that loud, screechy noise again. I covered my ears so it couldn't get inside my head. 'Cause if loud, screechy noises get inside]] 
your head, you have to take an aspirin. I saw that on a TV commercial.
Then the bus door opened again. And a dad and a boy with a grouchy face got on.
The dad smiled. Then he plopped the grouchy boy right next to me.
"This is Jim," he said. "I'm afraid Jim isn't too happy this afternoon."
The dad kissed the boy good-bye. But the boy wiped it off his cheek.
Jim had on a backpack. It was blue.
I love backpacks. I wish I had one of my very own. One time I found a red one in a trash can. But it had a little bit of gushy on it, and Mother said no.
Jim's backpack had lots of zippers. I touched each one of them.
"One . . . two . . . three . . . four," I counted.]] 
Then I unzipped one.
"HEY! DON'T!" yelled Jim.
He zipped it right up again. Then he moved to the seat in front of me.
I hate that Jim.
After that, the bus kept stopping and starting. And lots of kids kept getting on. Loud kids. And some of them were the kind who look like meanies.
Then the bus began getting very noisy and hot inside. And the sun kept shining down on me and my fuzzy hot sweater.
And here's another hot thing. I couldn't roll down my window because it didn't have a handle. And so I just kept on getting hotter and hotter.
And it smelled in the bus, too. The bus smelled like an egg salad sandwich.
"I want to get off of here," I said right]] 
out loud. But nobody heard me. "I hate it in this stupid smelly bus."
Then my eyes got a little bit wet. I wasn't crying, though. 'Cause I'm not a baby, that's why.
After that, my nose started running. Only the bus didn't have a glove compartment. Which is where you keep the travel tissues, of course. And so I had to wipe my nose on my fuzzy pink sweater sleeve.
Then I stayed on the bus for about an hour or three. Until finally I saw a flagpole and a playground.
That meant we were at kindergarten!
Then Mr. Woo drove the bus into the parking lot and stopped.
I jumped up very fast. 'Cause all I wanted to do was get off that stupid smelly thing!
Only guess what? That Jim pushed right]] 
in front of me. And the curly mean girl did, too. And then people started squishing me real tight. And so I pushed them away. And they pushed me right back.
That's when I fell down! And a big foot stepped on my skirt that looks like velvet.
"STOP IT!" I yelled.
Then Mr. Woo hollered, "HEY, HEY, HEY!"
And he picked me up. And helped me off the bus.
Mrs. was waiting for me just like my mother said.
"Hi! I'm glad to see you!" she called.
Then I ran over to her. And I showed her the big footprint on my skirt that looks like velvet.
"Yeah, only look what happened. I got stepped on and so now I'm soiled."]] 
Mrs. brushed it. "Don't worry, Junie," she said. "It'll come off."
After that I just folded my arms and made a frown.
'Cause guess what?
She forgot my B again.]] 
Me and Lucille and Some Other Kids
Some of the other bus kids turned out to be in my class, too.
One of them was that Jim.
That Jim I hate.
Mrs. made us line up. Then we followed her to our room. Its name is Room Nine.
There were other kids waiting by the door. When Mrs. unlocked it, everyone squeezed in all at once. 
That Jim stepped on my new shoe. He made a scratch mark on my shiny toe. The]]
kind of scratch that licking won't fix.
"HEY! WATCH IT, YOU DUMB JIM!"
I hollered at him.
Mrs. bent down next to me. "Let's try to use our quiet voice while we're in school," she said.
I nodded nicely. "I hate that Jim," I said in my quiet voice.
After that, Mrs. clapped her bands together very loud.
"I want everyone to find a chair and sit down as fast as you can," she said.
That's when I ran to the table with the red chair. Only guess what? There was already someone sitting there! A girl with little red fingernails.
And so I tapped on her and said, "I would like to sit there, I think."
"No," she said. "I am."]] 
"Yeah, only I already picked that chair out," I told her. "Ask my mother if you don't believe me."
But the girl just shook her head no.
And then Mrs. clapped her loud hands again and said, "Please find a seat!"
And so then I had to quick sit down in a stupid yellow chair.
The same stupid color as the stupid yellow bus.
After that, Mrs. walked to a big closet in the back of the room. It's called the supply closet. She got out boxes of new pointy crayons and some white circles. Then she passed them out. And we had to print our names on the circles and pin them to our fronts.
It was our first work.
"If  you need help spelling your name, raise your hand," said Mrs.]] 
I raised my hand.
"I don't need help," I told her. "Grandma Miller says I print beautifully."
I used red. But then a mistake happened. I made my JUNIE too big and there wasn't any room left for my B. And so I had to squish it very teeny at the bottom.
"I HATE THIS STUPID DUMB CIRCLE!" I hollered.]] 
Mrs. made the shhh sound and gave me a new one.
"Thank you," I said nicely. "Grandma Miller says I print beautifully."
The girl with the little red fingernails was faster than me. She showed me her circle and pointed to her letters.
"L-U-C-I-L-L-E. That spells Lucille," she said.]] 
"I like that name of Lucille," I said. "'Cause guess why? Seals are my favorite animals. That's why."
Then Mrs. passed out drawing paper. And we drew pictures of our family.
Mrs. put a happy-face sticker on mine.
It was very good. Except I made my father too teeny. And Mother's hair looked like sticks.
After that, Mrs. took our class on a walk around the school. Everyone had to find a buddy to walk with.
My buddy was Lucille. We held hands.
The boy I can beat up was right in front of us. His buddy was that Jim.
That Jim I hate.
The first place we walked to is called the Media Center. My mother calls it a library. It's where the books are. And guess what?]] 
Books are my very favorite things in the whole world!
"HEY! THERE'S A JILLION OF THEM IN HERE!" I hollered, feeling very excited. "I THINK I LOVE THIS PLACE!"
The librarian bent down next to me. She said to use my quiet voice.
"YEAH, ONLY. GUESS WHAT? RIGHT
NOW I JUST LIKE THE KIND OF BOOKS
WITH PICTURES. BUT MOTHER SAYS
WHEN I GET BIG, I'M GOING TO LIKE
THE KIND WITH JUST WORDS. AND
ALSO, STEWED TOMATOES."
The boy I can beat up said, "Shhh."
I made a fist at him.
Then he turned around.
After that, we went to the cafeteria. The cafeteria is where kids eat lunch. Except not when you're in kindergarten.]] 
"Ummm!" I said. "It smells yummy in here! Just like pasketti and meatballs!"
Then that Jim turned around and held his nose.
"P.U. . . . I smell you," he said.
Lucille laughed very hard.
And so I stopped holding her hand.
The next place we went to was the nurse's office.
It's very cute in that place. There are two little beds where you get to lie down. And two little blankets that are the color of plaid.
Our nurse doesn't look like a nurse. She doesn't wear white clothes and white shoes.
Our nurse is just a regular color.
Lucille raised her hand. "My brother said that last year he came here. And you let him take off his shoes. And he got a drink of water in just his socks!"]] 
That Jim turned around again.
"P.U. . . . I smell your feet," he said to Lucille.
This time Lucille stuck out her tongue at him.
After that, we held hands again.]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Little support

Inferences: Some implications

Dialog: Broken dialogue

Vocabulary: More decoding/definition issues

Language: Many descriptive words

Sentences: Multiple phrases

Text structure: Story/Poem

Inferences: Some implications

Complexity: Several ideas - closely related

Concepts: Concrete/Simple Social

Features

Character traits

Simple Plot

First Person

Unusual use of vocabulary

Topic

Monsters

Fears

Photography

*Family & Friends

*Feelings, Behaviors

Low Frequency Words

admiring	aspirin	biggie	cafeteria	cheesie
commercial	compartment	dottie	fitting	fronts
fusstration	grampa	gushy	hollered	jillion
kindergarten	lavender	librarian	meanies	model
nanna	pasketti	plaid	practices	prove
puffer	purse	racket	seventh	shortie
smoothed	soiled	squish	squishy	swallow
sweater	tissues	tyrannosaurus	unzipped	velvet
whishy