Text Leveling System

Nate the Great and the Sticky Case

RDQ:	424	Max Word/Sent	23	Total Words	1771		Diff Words	381
Lex	620	Ave Word/.Sent	7	Hi Freq occurs	1233	69.6%	Hi freq	172	45.1%
AR	2.5	Long Sentences	1.2	Low Freq occurs	29	1.6%	Low freq	15	3.9%

I , Nate the Great,
was drying off
from the rain.
I was sitting
under a blanket
and reading a detective book.
My dog, Sludge, was sniffing it.]]
I was on page 33
when I heard a knock.
I opened the door.
Claude was there.
"I lost my best dinosaur,"
Claude said.
He was always losing things.
"This is your biggest loss yet,"
I said. "A dinosaur is huge.
How could you lose it?"
My dinosaur is small,"
Claude said.
"It is a stegosaurus on a stamp.
Can you help me find it?"
"It is hard to find
something that small," I said.]]
"This will be a big case.
But I will take it.
Tell me, where was
the stegosaurus stamp
the last time you saw it?"]] 
"It was on a table
in my house," Claude said.
"I was showing
all my dinosaur stamps
to my friends.
The stegosaurus stamp
was my favorite."
"Who are your friends?" I asked.
"Annie, Pip, Rosamond, and you.
But you weren't there,"
Claude added.]]
"Good thinking," I said.
"I, Nate the Great,
will go to your house
and look at your table."
I wrote a note to my mother.
Dear mother,
I am on a sticky case. When I find something big that is small I will be back. Love, Nate the great.]]
Claude and I went to his house.
He did not lose his way.
He showed me his table.
It had stamps all over it.
"Here are all of my stamps,"
Claude said. "Except for
the stegosaurus stamp."
I, Nate the Great,
saw a tyrannosaurus stamp.
I saw a brontosaurus stamp.
I saw an ichthyosaurus stamp.
I saw claws and jaws.
The stamps were ugly.
But that did not matter.
I had a case to solve.
I had a job to do.]]
"Where was the stegosaurus stamp
when it was on the table?"
I asked.
"Near the edge," Claude said.]]
"It must have fallen off,"
I said.
I looked on the floor
near the table.]]
The stegosaurus stamp
was not there.
I picked up a stamp
and showed it to Sludge.
"We must look for
a lost stamp," I said.
Sometimes Sludge is not
a great detective.
He tried to lick
the sticky side of the stamp.]]
"Look. Don't lick," I said.
Sludge and I looked at, over,
under, and around everything
in Claude's house.
Then we looked again.
We did not find
the stegosaurus stamp.]]
I, Nate the Great,
turned to Claude.
"The stegosaurus stamp
is not in your house," I said.
"Tell me, when did you notice
the stamp was missing?"
"After everybody left," Claude said.
"Did everybody leave together?"
I asked.
"Yes," said Claude.
"Did everybody come together?"
I asked.
"No," said Claude.
"Annie and Rosamond came
to tell me that Rosamond
was going to have a yard sale.]]
Then it started to rain.
It rained for a long time.
So Annie and Rosamond stayed
and looked at my stamps.]]
When the rain stopped,
Pip came over.
He looked at my stamps too.
Then they all left together
to go to Rosamond's yard sale."
"Then I, Nate the Great,
must go to the yard sale too,"
I said.
"I must speak to everyone
who was in the room
with the stegosaurus stamp."
Sludge and I
went to Rosamond's house.
Rosamond was standing
in her yard
with her four cats under a sign.]]
"Are you selling your cats?" I asked.
"No," Rosamond said.
"I am selling and swapping
empty tuna fish cans,
slippers, spare cat hairs,
toothbrushes, pictures of milk,
spoons, and all sorts of things."]]
Sludge was sniffing.
"Do you have
a stegosaurus stamp?" I asked.
"No," Rosamond said.
"But I saw one at Claude's house,
near the edge of his table."
"Thank you," I said.
I started to leave.
"Please buy a cat hair
from my yard sale,"]]
Rosamond called. "They are only
a penny each."
I, Nate the Great, did not want
a cat hair.
But I gave Rosamond a penny.
"I will buy one cat hair,"
I said.
"I will give you
an extra one free,"]]
Rosamond said.
"Do you want hairs
from Big Hex, Little Hex,
Plain Hex, or Super Hex?"
"Surprise me," I said.
Rosamond took a hair from a box
that was marked "Big Hex"
and a hair from a box
that was marked "Super Hex."
She stuck the hairs
to a piece of tape.
"So you won't lose them,"
she said.
Sometimes Rosamond
has strange ideas.
This was one of them.]]
I saw Pip looking at
some empty tuna fish cans.
"Did you see a stegosaurus stamp
at the edge of Claude's table?"
I asked.
Pip doesn't say much.]]
He shook his head
up and down.
"Do you know where it is now?"
I asked.
Pip shook his head sideways.
"Thank you," I said.
I saw Annie and her dog, Fang.
"I am looking for Claude's
stegosaurus stamp," I said.
"What do you know about it?"
"I know that the stegosaurus
is pretty," Annie said.
"I know that it looks like Fang."
Annie turned toward Fang.
"Show us your stegosaurus smile,"
she said.]]
Fang opened his mouth.
I, Nate the Great,
knew it was time
to go home.]]
I said good--bye to Annie.
Sludge and I walked home slowly.
It was a good walk.
There were raindrops
on the tree leaves.
We saw ourselves in puddles.
We sniffed the clean air.
We saw a rainbow.
At home I made some pancakes.
I gave Sludge a bone.
We ate and thought.
Where was the stegosaurus stamp?
Nobody knew.
But the stamp was gone.
This was a sticky case.
I, Nate the Great, was stuck.]]
Then I thought,
Perhaps there is
something different 
about a stegosaurus stamp.
Perhaps I should think
about the stegosaurus
instead of the stamp.
Suddenly I, Nate, felt great.
I had pancakes in my stomach
and a good idea in my head.]]
"Wait here, Sludge," I said. "I have to go look for information." I went to the museum. I saw a stegosaurus there. I had to look up. And up. And up.  The stegosaurus was big!]]
He was bigger than Fang. His smile was uglier. But he could not move. He could not do anything. I, Nate the Great, was glad about that. I learned about the stegosaurus. He was a giant lizard.]]
He lived a long time ago.
He had two brains.
I, Nate the Great, wished
that I had two brains
and that one of them
would solve this case.
I walked home.
The signs of rain were gone
except for some puddles.
I thought hard.
What did I know
about the stegosaurus stamp?
I knew that Annie and Rosamond
went to Claude's house
and saw the stamp.
Then it rained for a long time.]]
I knew that
after the rain stopped,
Pip went to Claude's house
and saw the stamp too.
I knew the stamp had been
at the edge of Claude's table.
I knew it was not
in Claude's house now.]]
How did it get out
and where was it?
Seeing the big stegosaurus
had not helped the case.
Perhaps I had been thinking
wrong.
Perhaps I had forgotten
that there are two sides
to every stamp.
Perhaps I should think about
the sticky side
instead of the stegosaurus side.
"Think sticky," I said
when I walked inside
and saw Sludge.
Sludge was licking his dog bowl.]]
He had not been much help
on this case.
Or had he?
I remembered when
Sludge tried to lick
the sticky side of a stamp.
Sludge' s wet tongue
would have made the stamp
very sticky.]]
A very sticky stamp ... sticks!
Suddenly I knew that
Sludge was a great detective.
He knew that the sticky side
of the stamp
could be important.
I, Nate the Great, knew
that anything wet
would make a stamp
very sticky.
I thought of wet things.
I thought of drips and drops.
I thought of rain.
When Annie and Rosamond
went to Claude's house
it was not raining.]]
But when Pip went
to Claude's house
it had been raining
and stopped.
Raindrops were on the trees.
Puddles were on the sidewalk.
Hmm.
I, Nate the Great,
thought of puddles.
I thought of Pip
stepping in them.
I got a stamp from my desk
and put it on the floor.
I went outside
and stepped in a few puddles.
Then I went back inside ]]
and stepped on the sticky side
of the stamp.
The stamp stuck to my shoe!
The same thing
must have happened
to the stegosaurus stamp
and Pip's shoe
at Claude's house.
Sludge had given me
the clue I needed.
Now I knew
that I had to see Pip's shoes.]]
We went to Pip's house.
I rang the bell.
Pip opened the door.
I looked down at his feet.
He was wearing slippers.
"Where are your shoes?" I asked.
Pip looked down at his feet.
He opened his mouth.
Then he said,
My shoes were all wet
from the rain.
After I left Claude's house
I swapped them
for a pair of dry slippers
at Rosamond's yard sale.
I took the slippers ]]
off the Swap Table
and put my shoes there."
"Thank you," I said.
Sludge and I went back
to Rosamond's yard sale.
We went up to the Swap
Table.
"The sticky case
is almost over," I said.]]
But Pip's shoes were not there.
Rosamond came over.
"I hope you don't want to swap
your cat hairs," she said.
"I want Pip's shoes," I said.
"Where are they?"
"I just sold them to Annie
for ten cents," Rosamond said.
"It was my big sale of the day."]]
Sludge and I ran to Annie's house.
She was outside with Fang.
I saw two shoes.
One was on the ground.
The other was in Fang's mouth.
"Are these Pip's shoes?" I asked.
"They were," Annie said.]]
"I bought them
for Fang to chew."
I, Nate the Great,
saw the bottom of the shoe
Fang was chewing.
Something small, square, and dirty
was stuck to it.]]
At last I had found
the stegosaurus stamp.
But I, Nate the Great, knew
that finding was not everything.
Getting was important too.
I thought fast.
"Show me Fang's
stegosaurus smile," I said.
"Smile, Fang," Annie said.
Fang smiled.
The shoe fell to the ground.]]
I picked it up.
I, Nate the Great,
peeled off the stamp.
The case was solved.
We took the stegosaurus stamp
to Claude's house.
The stamp was dirty, sticky,
icky, and ugly.
But Claude was happy to get it.]]
Sludge and I walked home.
We were careful
not to step
in any puddles.]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Little support

Dialog: Two speakers

Dialog: Broken dialogue

Sentences: Simple phrases

Text structure: Blend of written/oral

Features

Simple problem/solution

Simple Plot

First Person

Topic

Mystery

Dinosaurs

Problem Solving

*Family & Friends

Low Frequency Words

brontosaurus	detective	ichthyosaurus	icky	ourselves
raindrops	sideways	sludge	stegosaurus	swap
swapped	swapping	tuna	tyrannosaurus	uglier