Text Leveling System

The Plot Chickens

RDQ:	567	Max Word/Sent	20	Total Words	911		Diff Words	378
Lex	650	Ave Word/.Sent	6	Hi Freq occurs	540	59.3%	Hi freq	150	39.7%
AR	2.9	Long Sentences	0	Low Freq occurs	60	6.6%	Low freq	38	10.1%

Henrietta loved to read. Soon she had read every book on the farm a dozen times, so she went to town to find more. When she spotted people carrying books out of the library, she went inside to wait in line.]]
When it was henrietta's turn, the librarian said, we have nothing for chickens here. Try the food store.
Frustrated, Henrietta clucked at the top of her lungs.
Well, why didn't you say so? The librarian handed her three books.]]
Henrietta was in reading ecstasy. Every day she read to her aunts, then returned the books to the library for more.]]
One day Henrietta said, reading books is so much fun. Writing books must be exhilarating. She searched the shelves until she found a book about writing. The librarian was impressed.]]
When she got home Henrietta read, rule one: you need a main character. That's me, Aunt Golda. I'm the main hen here.
The character should be interesting. That's me. No, me.]]
Aunt Golda won because she was the oldest. Once upon a time there was a hen named Aunt Golda.]]
Rule Two: You need to hatch a plot.
A plot of land? No, a plot is what happens in the story. It starts with Rule three: Give your main character a problem. I don't want any problems. Me, Neither. No way!]]
Then I'll make up a character. One upon a time there was a hen named Maxine.]]
Rule four: develop your plot by asking What if?
What if Maxine goes into the woods alone? Her mother should tell her that's dangerous. Maxine went walking alone in the woods, eve though her mother told her it was dangerous.]]
Something bad will happen. A wolf might be following her. Suddenly Maxine saw a wolf following her down the path. Then wolf catches Maxine. The End. good story.]]
Maxine can't be caught. She must save herself. What if she shoots the wolf with a cyberspace ray gun? The wolf is toast! The end. Good Story.]]
That's silly. Hen's don't have guns. Rule five: write what you know. What if she hides? We hide from hawks every day. Maxine hid under a bush. The wolf get's bored and leaves. The End. Good story.]]
He can't leave yet. Rule six: Build suspense.
Build a fence? Suspense to make the reader worry. The wolf sniffed. I smell a delicious young hen nearby. He started creeping toward Maxine's hiding place.
Then he eats her. The End. Good Story.]]
Not yet! Rule seven: make your story come alive ty using all five senses. Maxine heart the wolf growl. As he came closer, she saw his sharp teeth and smelled his wolfy body odor.]]
When he was nearer still, she felt the heat of his icky breath. When he stuck his head through the leaves, Maxine tasted the bile rising from her gizzard. Then Maxine dies of fright. The End. Good story. That is not the end. Endings are the hardest part.]]
Maxine's mother swoops in to save her in the nick of time. No! Rule eight: The main character must solve her or his own problem.]]
Maxine gathered her courage. Then she plunged her sharp beak into the tip of the wolf's tender nose. The wolfed howled with pain and ran off, never to be seen again. The End. Good story.]]
It's not a good story. It's a great story. Now I'll revise it until it's perfect, then send it to a publisher.
Dear Publisher, I am sending you The Perils of Maxine a book about a chicken. I am well qualified to write this story because I am a chicken. I know how a chicken thinks and feels, and what a chicken likes to read. Excitedly yours, Henrietta.]]
Many, many, many months later, the publisher sent a rejection letter. Dear Ms. Henrietta; We do not publish books written by chickens. Even if we did, we wouldn't want this one. We didn't like it. Don't quit your day job. Have a nice life. Hunter fox, Editor. The aunts were devastated, but Henrietta vowed not to brood over her rejection.]]
I'll make my own books.]]
yellow yellow plus magenta yellow, magenta, plus cyan. yellow ,magenta, cyan plus black.]]
When her books were finished, Henrietta gave one to the librarian. Your book should be reviewed. the librarian said. Send it to the corn book. So Henrietta mailed it off.]]
When the corn book review came out, it said. Henrietta, the Perils of Maxine one dozen pages cider press
Henrietta lays an egg with her first book. We hope this is her last book. The perils of Maxine shows why chicken's shouldn't ever write. It is odoriferous. Noah Lyke
Odoriferous means it stinks. End of story.]]
I'm going to keep writing. Henrietta said, but her feelings were hurt. And a little voice inside her kept saying chickens shouldn't ever write.]]
Henrietta's heart wasn't into writing anymore. She even stopped going to the library. But her aunts missed hearing Henrietta read, so they bugged her until she went to get some books.  Henrietta was embarrassed. Had the librarian seen that awful review?]]
The perils of Maxine by Henrietta voted best book of the year by our story hour children. The children love your book. Will you read it to them.]]
When Henrietta went in the story room the children cheered. She read with dramatic expression. Of course, all the children hear was bit it didn't matter. They knew the story by heart.]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Little support

Speech Bubbles

Unconventional format

Dialog: Multiple speakers

Vocabulary: Few decoding/definition issues

Language: Few descriptive words

Sentences: Multiple phrases

Text structure: Blend of written/oral

Concept: Fanciful

Features

Character traits

Simple Plot

Topic

Writing

Storytelling

Attitudes

*Language Arts

Reading

Low Frequency Words

bile	cider	courage	cyan	cyberspace
delicious	devastated	dramatic	ecstasy	editor
embarrassed	excitedly	exhilarating	frustrated	gizzard
golda	icky	impressed	librarian	lungs
lyke	magenta	maxine	maxine's	odoriferous
perils	plunged	publish	publisher	qualified
rejection	review	reviewed	revise	shelves
vowed	wolfed	wolfy