Text Leveling System

Cam Jansen The Mystery of the Dinosaur Bones

RDQ:	697	Max Word/Sent	30	Total Words	3009		Diff Words	684
Lex	680	Ave Word/.Sent	8	Hi Freq occurs	2154	71.6%	Hi freq	327	47.8%
AR	3.1	Long Sentences	3.2	Low Freq occurs	88	2.9%	Low freq	48	7%

Chapter One
 "Sturp."
Cam Jansen was drinking milk through a
straw. She tilted the container to get the
last few drops.
Cam was eating lunch in the cafeteria of
the Kurt Daub Museum. She was there
with her fifth-grade class. Her friend Eric
Shelton was sitting next to her.
Cam pointed to the teacher. The teacher
was standing on a chair with a finger over
her mouth. ]]
"Look," Cam said to Eric. "Ms. Benson is
waiting for us to be quiet."
"Our tour will begin in twenty minutes,"
Ms. Benson said. "But first I must ask
those of you who brought cameras along to
keep your cameras in their cases. The ]]
taking of photographs in the museum is
not allowed."
Ms. Benson got down from the chair.
"See," Cam said to Eric, "I told you not
to bring your camera. Last time I was here
someone was told to leave the museum because
he was taking pictures."
"Well," Eric said, "maybe I can't take pictures,
but you can. Take a picture of me
now with your mental camera."
Cam's mental camera is her memory.
She can take one look at a page in a book,
close her eyes, and remember every word
on the page. "It's easy for me," Cam often
explained. "I have a photograph of the
page stored in my brain. When I want to
remember what I saw, I just look at the
photograph."
When people found out about Cam's
amazing photographic memory, they
stopped using her real name, Jennifer.
They started calling her "The Camera." ]]
Soon "The Camera" was shortened to
"Cam."
Cam looked straight at Eric and said,
"Click." She always said, "Click," when she
wanted to remember something. Cam says
that "Click" is the sound her mental camera
makes when it takes a picture.
"Close your eyes," Eric said. "Now what
do you remember?"
Cam thought for a moment. Then she
said, "There's a drop of mustard on your
collar. You should wipe it off!"
Eric looked down. There was a drop of
mustard on his collar. He took a napkin
and wiped it off.
"On the side of the milk container you
just bought," Cam went on, "it says,
'Edna's. Our cows send you their love and
their milk.'
"You're wearing a blue shirt. The top
button of the shirt once came off and
someone sewed it back on."]]
"You're right," Eric said. "But how did
you know about the button?"
Cam opened her eyes. "It's the thread,"
she said. "I remembered that the top button
was sewn on with white thread. The ]]
other buttons have light blue thread."
Ms. Benson was standing on a chair
again. She said to the class, "Clean your tables
and then get into a double line."
Cam and Eric quickly threw away the
empty milk containers and the wrappings
from their lunches. Then they got in line.
Ms. Benson led the class up the stairs to
the museum lobby. They were met there
by a young woman in a purple dress.
"I'm Janet Tyler," the woman in the purple
dress said. "I will be your guide. Please
stay together and follow me."
The guide led the class to the Air Travel
room. She pointed out the models of the
earliest flying machines. There was a full size
model of the 1903 Wright brothers
airplane.
Ms. Tyler took the class to a weather station
room with a solar energy exhibit.
Then she led the class into a large room with a very high ceiling.]]
"This next exhibit is my favorite," the
guide told the class.
"Mine, too," Cam whispered to Eric.]]
Chapter Two
The class followed the guide into the room.
Glass cases filled with old tools, bones,
rocks, and photographs lined the walls. On
 a platform, in the center of the room, was
part of the skeleton of a very large dinosaur, 
the Brachiosaurus. Some of the bones
from the skeleton were lying on the platform.
The wires had come loose and the
skeleton was being repaired.
"This is the skeleton of a Brachiosaurus.
 Janet Tyler said again
slowly so everyone could hear how the ]]
word was pronounced. "The Brachiosaurus
was the biggest dinosaur. It weighed
over fifty tons. That's more, I'm sure, than
all the children in your whole school weigh
together."
Then the guide led the class to another
dinosaur skeleton. It was much smaller
than the Brachiosaurus. Its mouth was
open and its hands were stretched out as if
it were ready to grab something to eat.
"Look at those teeth," someone in the
class said.
"And look at that tail. It's so long and
pointy."
"This is the skeleton of a Coelophysis,"
the guide said. she said
again slowly. "Now you may know about
some dinosaurs, but I'm sure no one knows
anything about the Coelophysis."
"I do," Cam said.
Everyone turned to look at Cam. They
were surprised that she knew about the]]
Coelophysis. Ms. Benson had never mentioned
it when she taught the class about
dinosaurs.
Cam had read about the Coelophysis.
She wanted to remember exactly what the
book said. She closed her eyes and said,
"Click."
When Cam said, "Click," the guide
started to laugh. She covered her mouth
with her hand.
"The Coelophysis," Cam said with her
eyes still closed, "was one of the first dinosaurs.
It was about eight feet long, including
its tail. It weighed no more than fifty
pounds. It was a meat eater and . . ,"
"Yes, thank you," the guide said before
Cam had a chance to finish. "What you
may not know is that these bones were discovered
by Dr. Kurt Daub, the scientist
who started this museum."
"Are people still finding dinosaur
bones?" Eric asked.]]
"Yes," Ms. Tyler answered. "I'll be going
on a dinosaur hunt in a few weeks, and I
hope to find some myself."
Someone else asked, "Are all those bones
real?"
"No. Dr. Daub didn't find a complete
skeleton. Some of these bones were made
from plaster of Paris." ]]
There were many other questions, but
Cam stopped listening. She was busy studying
the dinosaur's tail.
"Something is wrong," she whispered to
Eric.
Cam closed her eyes and said, "Click."
She kept them closed for a while. Then she ]]
looked again at the dinosaur's tail.
"I was right," Cam said to Eric. "Something
is wrong. Three of the dinosaur's
bones are missing."]]
Chapter Three]
Cam raised her hand and tried to get the
museum guide's attention. But Ms. Tyler
looked past her.
The guide pointed to a boy wearing a
suit and a bow tie. "You have a question."
"I want to know why they are called
dinosaurs."
Ms. Tyler smiled. "The name 'dinosaur'
comes from two words, 'dino' which means
'terrible,' and 'saur' which means 'lizard.'
So when we call them dinosaurs, we are
really calling them terrible lizards.]]
"What did dinosaurs eat?" another boy
asked.
"Some ate meat. Some ate plants, and
some ate the eggs of other dinosaurs."
Then the guide looked at Cam. She
smiled. "It seems that the red-haired
girl, the one who says, Click, has a question."
"What happened to the tail?" Cam asked.
"The last time I was here, it had three
more bones. They were right here."
Cam pointed to the part of the tail near
the hip. Farther down, there were bones
that hung down from the tail like ribs.
Where Cam pointed there weren't any
bones.
"There's nothing missing on this dinosaur,"
the guide said quickly. "Now, are
there any other questions?"
"But there are some bones missing. I've
been here before and-"
"I'm here every day, and this skeleton]]
looks the same as it always does."
The guide answered a few other questions.
Then she told Ms. Benson that the
 tour was finished, and she walked away.
Ms. Benson was a short woman. She
 stood on her toes so the whole class could
 see her.
"It's still early," Ms. Benson said. "You ]]
have an hour to go through the museum
by yourselves. At two-thirty all of you must
be in the front lobby. If you don't have a
watch, please stay near someone who
does."
"Let's go to the gift shop," Eric said to
Cam. "I want to buy presents for my twin
sisters and my brother, Howie."
In the gift shop there were shelves of
books and racks of postcards. Kits to make
airplane models and models of dinosaurs
were piled on a table with toys and games.
"All I have is a dollar," Eric said. "I hope
I can find something."
While Eric looked around, Cam opened
a big book called Dinosaurs. There was a
whole page on the Coelophysis, but there
was no illustration of its skeleton. The book
told about how the Coelophysis hunted for
food and how it might have looked, but it
did not say how many bones the Coelophysis
had in its tail. ]]
"Look what I bought for the twins," Eric
said a few minutes later. He reached into a
bag and took out two small whistles, each
in the shape of a Brachiosaurus. Cam took
one of the whistles and blew into it. It was a
dog whistle. It made a sound dogs could
hear clearly, but Cam and Eric could
hardly hear it.
"These whistles are for calling dogs,"
Cam said. "Why did you buy them? Your
family doesn't have a dog."
"I know, but these whistles are also toy
dinosaurs, and they're just twenty-nine
cents each. Everything else costs too
much."
Eric reached into the bag again and took
out two postcards. "Look at these," he said.
"This one is for Howie." It was a picture of
a hot-air balloon. "And this one is for me."
The second postcard had a picture of the
Coelophysis skeleton.
"Let me see that," Cam said.]]
Cam looked at the postcard carefully.
Then she closed her eyes and said, "Click."
"This is it!" she said, waving the postcard.
"This is the way the skeleton looked
when I saw it the last time I was here. Let's
go to the dinosaur room. You'll see. Some
bones are missing."
Cam and Eric quickly walked through
the museum.]]
"All right," Cam said when they stood in
front of the Coelophysis skeleton. "You
count the bones hanging from the tail of
the skeleton. I'll count the ones on the
postcard."
Cam counted the bones on the postcard
a few times. Then she said, "I counted
thirty-four on the tail. How many did you
count?"
"Thirty-one."]]
Chapter Four
Cam looked at her watch. It was two thirty.
"Come on, Eric," she said. "It's time to
go. "
Eric put the postcards and whistles in his
pocket, and they went to meet the class in
the lobby. Ms. Benson asked the class to
line up. Then she led them to the school
bus.
On the bus Cam and Eric talked about
the missing dinosaur bones.]]
"Why would anyone want them?" Eric asked.
"And how could anyone steal the
bones?" Cam added. "The skeleton is wired
 together. In the time it would take to unhook
a bone, I'm sure someone would walk
by and see what they were doing."
The bus stopped in the school parking
lot. Ms. Benson stood up.
"It's after three o'clock," she said. "So
you may all go home."]]
It was a warm spring day. Cam and Eric
had ridden their bicycles to school that
morning. They went to the rack behind the
school to get their bicycles.
As Cam unlocked her bicycle, she said,
"The bones can't be taken when the museum
is open. There are too many people
around then, and too many guards. It must
be done after the museum closes. Let's go
back there. Maybe we can find out. what's
going on."
"But the museum closes early today,"
Eric said. "We won't have any time to look
around."
Cam put rubber bands over the cuffs of
her pants to keep them from getting
caught in the bicycle as she rode.
"All we have to look for is a place to
hide," Cam said. "We don't have to be
home until six today. We can stay in the dinosaur
room after the museum closes and
watch to see what happens."]]
Cam was already on her bicycle. She
started to ride away before Eric could tell
her that he didn't want to hide in the museum.
Eric got on his bicycle. He pedaled hard,
 but he couldn't catch up with Cam. By the
 time he locked his bicycle in front of the
 museum, Cam was halfway up the steps.
He caught up with her in the dinosaur room.]]
A bell sounded.
"The museum closes in five minutes," a
guard called out.
"Let's leave now," Eric said, "or we'll be
locked inside."
Cam crawled under a glass case filled
with photographs. Eric followed her.
Cam whispered to Eric, "You can leave if
you want to, but I'm staying."
The bell sounded again.
From their hiding place Cam and Eric
could see only the bottoms of the other exhibit
cases and the feet of the dinosaur
skeletons. A few people walked past the
glass case, but all Cam and Eric could see
were their legs. Then it was quiet.
"We did it," Cam said.
It was quiet for a while. But soon Cam
and Eric heard footsteps. A man was walking
from one case to the next. He stopped
at Cam and Eric's case. Then he bent down
and looked straight at Cam and Eric.]]
Chapter Five
It was one of the museum guards.
"Come with me," he said.
The guard led them out of the dinosaur
 room, through the museum lobby, to the
 office of the museum director. The guard
knocked on the door and walked in. Cam
 and Eric followed him.
The walls of the office were covered with
paintings of prehistoric animals. There
 were statues of famous scientists and large
 stuffed animals all over the room. Cam and ]]
Eric couldn't find the director among all
those paintings and statues.
"Didn't you hear the bell?" the director
asked.
Then Cam and Eric saw him. He was sitting
between a statue of a woman scientist
and two stuffed owls.
"Yes, we heard the bell," Cam said. "But
three dinosaur bones are missing. Someone
 is stealing bones from the tail of the Coelophysis 
skeleton, and we want to see who it is."
"That's impossible," the director said,
stroking his beard. "Nothing is missing.
But if you want to watch over the Coelophysis, 
you can come back tomorrow when
the museum opens." Then he said to the
guard, "Now please take these children to
 the door and make sure that this time they
 leave the museum."
Cam and Eric followed the guard to the
 front entrance. The guard opened the
 door with a key and let them out.
"Now what?" Eric asked.
"There's nothing we can do," Cam said.
'We can't get back inside, so let's go
home."
While Cam and Eric started to unlock their 
bicycles, a truck rode past them. It ]]
backed into the museum driveway. A sign
painted on the side of the truck said,
"Beth's Milk Tastes Best."
"That's strange," Cam said. "Milk is
usually delivered early in the morning, not
late in the afternoon."
A man in a white uniform got out of the
truck. He was carrying an empty milk box.
"Maybe some of the milk went bad," Eric
said, "and he's picking it up."
The milkman knocked on the garage
door. The door opened and he went inside.
He came out a few minutes later, carrying
a large brown bag in the box. He put
it in the truck.
"There's probably a whole bunch of containers
of sour milk in that bag," Eric said.
Cam and Eric heard the door on the
other side of the truck open and someone
get inside, but they couldn't see who it was.
Then the truck backed up. As the truck
passed them, Cam read the sign again.]]
"There's something else that's strange
about that truck," Cam said. She closed her
eyes and said, "Click."
' "The museum doesn't use Beth's milk. It
:uses Edna's. That's what it said on the milk
,container you bought in the cafeteria."]]
Cam got on her bicycle. She turned to
Eric and said, "That man wasn't picking up
sour milk. He was picking up something
else. Come on, let's follow the truck."]]
Chapter Six
The streets were crowded with cars. It was
 after four o'clock, and many people were
 driving home from work. Cam stayed on
the right-hand side of the street. Eric rode
behind her. The milk truck was already a
block ahead. Cam and Eric pedaled hard to
catch up.
As Cam pedaled, her bicycle made a
'loud "clicking" sound. The kickstand was
loose, and one of the pedals hit it as it went
around.
The milk truck made a right turn onto a ]]
side street, but before Cam and Eric could
reach the corner, Cam had to stop. The
loose kickstand was in the way. It was impossible
for Cam to pedal.
Eric got off his bicycle, too. He pushed
the kickstand on Cam's bicycle back into
place.
Cam said, "Thank you."
"You really need a new one," Eric told
her.
Cam and Eric got on their bicycles again.
When they reached the corner, they signaled
and turned.
Cam looked ahead. A big brown dog was
running along the sidewalk. A few cars
were parked along the side of the street.
But Cam couldn't see the milk truck. She
stopped and waited for Eric.
"We've lost it," Cam said.
"Maybe not. I think I see a truck parked
in the driveway of one of the houses on the
next block. Maybe it's the milk truck."]]
Eric led Cam to a small brick house with
a white wooden fence around it. The milk
 truck was parked in the driveway. No one
was sitting inside the truck.
"They must have gone into the house,"
Cam said. She leaned her bicycle against

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: No 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

Chapters

Features

Topic

Mystery

Dinosaurs

Problem Solving

Museums

Low Frequency Words

brachiosaurus	cafeteria	coelophysis	daub	earliest
exhibit	guide	guide's	haired	illustration
kickstand	lobby	lunches	mentioned	milkman
model	models	mustard	paris	pedaled
photograph	photographic	photographs	plaster	prehistoric
racks	ridden	saur	scientist	sewed
sewn	shelton	shelves	shortened	signaled
solar	statue	statues	sturp	thread
tilted	tour	unhook	weighed	whistles
wired	wrappings	yourselves