Text Leveling System

Diary of a Wimpy Kid - The Meltdown

RDQ:	1483	Max Word/Sent	36	Total Words	3005		Diff Words	855
Lex	820	Ave Word/.Sent	17	Hi Freq occurs	2310	76.9%	Hi freq	368	43%
AR	4.3	Long Sentences	31.2	Low Freq occurs	188	6.3%	Low freq	128	15%

January Monday
Everybody in my neighborhood is outside today enjoying the warm weather and sunshine. Well, everyone except ME. It's kind of hard to enjoy a heat wave when it's the middle of the winter.
People are calling this wacky weather, but it just doesn't feel right. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I think it should be cold in the winter and hot in the summer.
I heard the whole planet is warming up, and that human beings are the reason. But  don't blame me, because I just got here.]]
If the world is getting hotter, I just hope it doesn't happen too fast. Because if things keep up at this rate, I'll be riding a camel to high school.
They say that ice caps are melting and the sea is rising, so I've been trying to convince Mom and Dad to buy a house higher up on our hill. But they just don't seem all that concerned.]]
It kind of makes me nervous that I'm the only one in my family worried about this stuff. Because if we don't do something about the situation soon, we're gonna wish we did.
It's not just the rising sea levels I'm nervous about. Those ice caps have been around for millions of years, and there could be things buried inside of them that should stay that way.]]
I saw a movie about a caveman who got frozen in ice, and when it melted thousands of years later, he was still alive. I don't know if that kind of thing could actually happen in real life, but if there are unfrozen cavemen walking around these days, the night janitor at my school might be one of them.
If we do figure a way out of this climate mess, it's probably gonna be someone from my generations who solves it. That's why I'm always nice to the smart kids, because they're the ones who are gonna save our butts.]]
Whatever the answer is, I guarantee you technology is gonna be the key.
Grown ups are always saying that too much technology is bad for kids, but I say the more the better.
In fact, as soon as I can afford one of those high tech toilets that learns all your habits, I'm gonna get the most expensive model.
Some people worry that one day we'll lose control of our technology and robots will take over.
Well, if that happens, I'm gonna make sure I'm on their side.]]
I've actually been preparing for when the robots take over by sucking up to the appliances at my house.
So when there's a giant robot human war in the future, I'll be patting myself on the back for thinking ahead.]]
My brother Rodrick says that in the future people will have robot body parts and we'll all be cyborgs.
Well I hope I don't have to wait too long for that, because if I could buy myself a pair of robot legs, I could get a half hour of extra sleep each morning.
I guess we don't really know what's gonna happen in the future. And you could drive yourself crazy worrying about it.
Even if we solve all the problems we have right now some new thing will come along and then we'll have to deal with that.]]
I've read that's what happened with the dinosaurs. They were riding high for a couple hundred million years, and then an asteroid came and wiped them out.
What's really crazy is that cockroaches were around back then, and somehow they survived. And they'll probably be here long after we're gone, too. Personally, I think that cockroaches are disgusting. But they must be doing something right.]]
Speaking of Survival, right now, I'm just trying to get through middle school. And the last few days haven't been all that great.]]
Even though it's warm outside, the thermostat at school still thinks it's winter. So the furnace is on full blast all day, which makes it hard to concentrate in class. 
And its worse in the cafeteria, because there aren't any windows you can open to get fresh air.]]
The heat has been frying my brain, and I've been forgetting when my school assignments are due. I forgot a really big one today, which was my country project for the International Showcase.
Back in November, everyone had to choose a country to do a report on. I picked Italy because I'm a huge pizza fan.
But it turns out Italy was a really popular choice, so my Social studies teacher had to do a random drawing to decide who got it. And she chose Dennis Tracton, which isn't fair because he's lactose intolerant and can't even eat cheese.
So the teacher assigned me Malta, which I didn't even know was a country.]]
Anyway, that was two months back, and I didn't give my country project a second thought until today. And the only reason I remembered was because when I got to school everybody was wearing weird clothes.
I probably should've realized it was International Showcase day when my friend Rowley came by to get me for school wearing a crazy getup. But he's always doing strange stuff so I barely even noticed.]]
In homeroom, I took a look at Rowley's project to see how much work was involved, and that's when I started to panic.
His report looked like it took a ton of time and it was pretty obvious his parents helped him with it. Of course Rowley had actually been to the country he got assigned, so I'm sure that made it a lot easier for him.
I asked Rowley to be a pal and switch countries with me, but he's kind selfish, so he wouldn't go for it. That meant I was on my own and I only had a few hours to do my whole project from scratch. And I didn't know where I was gonna find a tri fold this late in the game.]]
That's when I remembered that I had a tri fold in my locker. I had started my country project the day after it was assigned so I could get ahead of things for once. But when I pulled it out to see how far I'd gotten I was pretty disappointed. 
This project was 50 of my social studies grade, so I was desperate. I tried getting help from my classmates but all that did was remind me I need to get some smarter friends.]]
I stayed indoors for recess to work on my project. I didn't have time to go down to the library for research so I had to do a lot of guessing. The only thing I felt pretty sure about was that malta we near Russia, but I was shaky on everything else.
Once I finished filling out my tri fold I started working on other stuff.
Se were supposed to wear our country's traditional dress for International showcase, so on the way to lunch I picked some clothes from the lost and found in front of the principal's office.]]
Luckily, there were a few descent items in the box, and I put together an outfit that looked pretty convincing. 
Everyone was supposed to bring in a traditional meal, too. At lunch, I bought as many items as I could afford and threw something together that sounded like it might have come from another country.]]
The International Showcase was during the last period, and when I set up my project in the gym, I was actually feeling pretty good about things. But I wish I'd gotten assigned a country where they wore lighter clothes, because the furnace was still on full blast.
The heat was getting some other kids too, and tempers were starting to flare. At one point, Brazil and Bulgaria got in a fight over table space, and a teacher had to come break it up.]]
Kids came in from the elementary school to heck out our projects and ask questions. But all I had to do to get them to move along was to pretend I only spoke Maltese.
After that, the parents started to arrive. Luckily mine couldn't come because Dad was at work and Mom was at her college. But some kids in my grade had a mom and dad who were actually from Malta which was really bad luck for me.]]
I thought they were gonna report me to my teacher, and I was ready to make a run for it. But then something happened that got me off the hook.
The fight that started between Brazil and Bulgaria flared back up and spilled over to the C and D countries. And before long, the whole gym was at war. 
Luckily the bell rang, and school got dismissed before anyone got seriously hurt. But the whole situation doesn't exactly give me a lot of hope for world peace.]]
Tuesday
Well, I thought I was in the clear, but I was wrong. My Social Studies teacher sent a note home to my parents that said I have to do my international showcase project again.
So Mom and I can't watch TV or play video games until I finish. I figure I can probably get this thing done my Saturday, but it won't matter anyway. That's because Mom is making me and my brothers have screen free weekends.
Mom thinks us kids are addicted to electronics and they're the reason we misbehave. So she started this new policy where we're not allowed to use any electronics on Saturdays and Sundays, and we have to find other ways to entertain ourselves.]]
What really stinks is that when Mom catchers us behaving on the weekends, she thinks its proof that screen free weekends are working.
So lately, me and Rodrick have been remembering to misbehave on Saturdays and Sundays so Mom doesn't think her no electronics policy is working. And Manny joins in, too, because I guess he likes to do whatever his big brothers are doing.]]
Mom says kids these days don't know how to interact with one another because we're always staring at our screens. So she's been working with me and Roderick on our social skills.
One thing Mom's always trying to get me to do is to look in her eye when I'm talking to her. I can do that for a little while, but after a few seconds it just gets too weird.
The latest thing Mom's been making me do is practice shaking hands with Dad. But that's awkward for both of us.]]
Mom wants me to branch out and make more friends in the neighborhood. But I'm already friends with Rowley, and he's all I can really handle right now.
Even though there are a ton of kids on my street, I really can't see being friends with any of them. I already feel like I'm making an exception for Rowley, and the options go downhill from there.
Our house if halfway up Surrey Street and Rowley's house is near the top. Sometimes it's a pain to even go see him, because I have to pass by Fregley's house to do it. And nine times out of ten, Fregley is hanging out in his front yard.]]
Across the street from Fregley is Jacob Hoff, but he almost never comes outside because his parents are always making him practice the clarinet. And on either side of Jacob are Ernest Gutierrez and Gabriel Johns who are in my grade.
Ernesto and Gabriel are nice kids and all, but they both have bad breath so those two are perfect for each other.]]
Two doors down from me is David Marsh, who's really into karate. He's best friends with Joseph O"Rourke who's always doing something to get himself injured.
Next door to Joseph is Mitchell Pickett, who makes a killing selling premade snowballs in the winter. And mark my words, one day that kid's gonna be a millionaire.]]
Mitchell lives next to a boy one year younger than me who everybody calls Speed Bump. But people steer clear of him because his two older brothers are already in jail.
There's a kid named Pervis Gentry who has a tree house in his backyard, and he spends his summers solving neighborhood crimes. But most of the time the person responsible is Speed Bump.]]
There's a duplex three quarters of the way down the hill, and the two families who live in it hate each other.
I can never keep the kids in that house straight, but I know one of them is named Gino because he has a tattoo on his arm, even though he's only something like seven years old.
There's a boy who lives with his grandmother a few doors down, and his name is Gibson.]]
Everyone calls him Baby Gibson because no matter how much time goes by he never seems to get any older. For all I know Baby Gibson is thirty two years old and he's got kids of his own.
There's a playgroup of preschoolers that gets together twice a week at Mrs Jimenez's house. I don't know which kids are hers and which ones are her friends. What I do know is that those kids are totally out of control and the moms don't really seem to care.]]
There are some older kids on our street, too. Anthony Denard is a sophomore in high school, and he just started shaving. But he got carried away with the razor blade and accidently shaved off one of his eyebrows.
Anthony drew it back on with a brown marker, but he didn't do a good job, and now one half of his face always looks surprised. 
Anthony's best friend is Sheldon Reyes, who tried to make money plowing the neighbors driveways the first time it snowed this winter.
But Sheldon doesn't have his license yet and he did a lot of damage in our neighborhood before his dad found out his son was using his truck.]]
A few doors down from me are the Garza twins, Jeremy and Jameson, who made up their own language when they were toddlers. And when those two are together, no one can understand a word they say.
There are a bunch of girls on my street, too, but they're just as bad as the guys.]]
The Marlee sisters live across from Rowley's house and all five of them were born within a few years of each other. I don't know what their deal is, but those girls will just randomly attack people who come into their yard.
Emilia Greenwall lives a few doors down from the Marlee sisters. Emelia always dresses like a princess and I think she's seen too many Disney movies.]]
Latricia Hooks lives in the one story house across from the duplex and she's a six foot two high school junior. Rodrick won't go anywhere near Latricia because she used to bully him when he was my age.
Latricia's sister Victoria is in love with Ernesto Gutierrez for some reason and Victoria's best friend, Evelyn Trimble, dresses like a vampire.
In fact, I'm pretty sure Evelyn thinks she is a vampire, which is one reason I'm glad I don't ride the bus anymore.]]
I haven't even mentioned half the kids who live on my hill. But if I went down the whole list, it'd take forever.
Mom always asks me why I'm not friends with any kids at the bottom of the hill, even though I've told her a million times why that'll never happen.
Surrey street is divided into two halves. There's upper Surrey Street, which is the hill, and Lower Surrey Street, which is the flat part at the bottom. And even though we all live on the same street, the hill kids and the non hill kids can't stand one another.]]
Living on the hill is no fun. First of all, it's really far from school, and that last stretch at the end of the day is no joke. Especially when it's hot like it has been lately.
The worst thing about living on a hill is that there's not a lot you can do on it. And if you want to play with a ball, you can forget about it.]]
But the kids who live at the bottom of the hill have it made. Their part of the street is flat so they can do anything they want down there. That's why all athletes come from lower Surrey street.
The thing is the kids who live at the bottom of our street think they own it. And if any of us hill people come down there to play, the lower surrey street kids won't let us. ]]
In fact the reason it took me four years to learn to ride a bike was because I had to do it in five second spurts.
But when it snows, the tables are turned. All of a sudden the lower surrey street kids want to use our hill for sledding, but that's when se give those guys a taste of their own medicine.]]
Most of the time we can keep the lower surrey street kids off the hill. But they're sneaky and sometimes they slip past us.
Last winter, a bunch of the lower surrey street kids bought the same winter gear as the hill kids, and it was weeks before any of us caught on.]]
If you live on Surrey Street, you're either a hill kid or a non hill kid and there's no switching sides.
There's a kid name trevor Nix who lived on the hill until last summer, which is when his family moved to a bigger house at the bottom of the street.
But the kids down there still consider Trevor a hill person, so they won't let him play on the street. Us hill kids think of him as a traitor for moving, and we won't let him sled in the winter. So now Trevor is basically stuck indoors year round.]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: No support

Vocabulary: More decoding/definition issues

Language: Many descriptive words

Sentences: Many Long Complex

Text structure: Story/Poem

Features

Character traits

First Person

Topic

*Community

Friendship

Neighborhood

*Feelings, Behaviors

Low Frequency Words

addicted	appliances	assigned	assignments	asteroid
basically	bulgaria	cafeteria	clarinet	climate
college	concentrate	concerned	convincing	cyborgs
denard	dennis	disappointed	dismissed	disney
duplex	electronics	elementary	emelia	emilia
ernest	ernesto	exception	fashioned	fregley
fregley's	furnace	future	gabriel	garza
generations	gentry	getup	gibson	gino
gonna	greenwall	guarantee	gutierrez	halves
homeroom	injured	interact	international	intolerant
involved	jameson	janitor	january	jeremy
jimenez's	junior	karate	lactose	language
latricia	latricia's	levels	license	lighter
luckily	malta	maltese	manny	marker
marlee	marsh	medicine	mentioned	millionaire
misbehave	model	neighborhood	neighbors	nix
obvious	ourselves	panic	peace	personally
pervis	pickett	playgroup	policy	premade
preschoolers	project	projects	random	randomly
razor	research	responsible	reyes	roderick
rodrick	rourke	rowley's	seriously	shaving
sheldon	should've	situation	sledding	social
solves	sophomore	spurts	studies	surrey
survival	survived	technology	that'll	thermostat
toddlers	tracton	traditional	traitor	tri
wacky	weird	younger