TEXT SET

Jenny Beasley

This text set was made for

the following SOL standard:
7.5 The student will read and
demonstrate comprehension of a
variety of fictional texts, narrative
nonfiction, and poetry.
e) Make, confirm, and revise predictions.
f) Use prior and background knowledge as a
context for new learning.
g) Make inferences and draw conclusions
based on the text.
h) Identify the main idea.
i) Summarize text relating supporting details.
k) Identify cause and effect relationships.

Labor Day Address

by President Barack Obama
Suitability: All ages
Readability: 3rd Grade level
Cover: N/A
This speech was given by President
Obama on how he plans to fix the
economy and change tax cuts.
Throughout the speech, he compares his
presidency to the previous one. This is a
good text for students to read and
analyze because they will be able to
make predictions immediately on what
they expect the text to be about after
learning it is a speech by the President
of our country. They can also make
inferences and draw conclusions based
on his speech about his beliefs and
perspective.

Star Girl
by Jerry Spinelli
Suitability: All ages
Readability: 6th Grade level
This is a young adult fiction novel that
talks about a girl who does not follow
the norm; but rather chooses to stand
out and follow her own happiness. This
follows my standard because students
can make inferences and predict what
the story will be about from the cover,
use their prior knowledge about what it
feels like to be a student trying to fit in
to analyze the legitimacy of the text,
and identify the main purpose of the
story. Students can also see the effect
her presence and uniqueness has on
others as well as her own life.

The Diary of a Young

Girl
by Anne
Frank
Suitability:
Ages 12+
Readability: 7th Grade level
This nonfiction text is the diary of a
Holocaust survivor, in which she
recalled what it was like to live during
this tragic time. With this particular
text, students can make predictions
about what they think the text will
entail after reading the introduction.
Students will make inferences and
conclusions on what happened during
this time based on the personal
accounts told through her diary entries.
This exposes students to a different
style of writing, i.e. diary entries, while
also incorporating cross-curriculum
instruction. Students can make
connections and deepen their

Beyond Magenta
by Susan Kuklin
Suitability: Ages 8+
Readability: 4th Grade level
This is the story of Jessys journey of
figuring out who he is and
overcoming obstacles to be true to
himself. Not only did he struggle with
his sexual orientation and identity, he
was also moved back and forth
between the U.S. and Thailand. Along
with his physical location changing,
he also went back and forth with
being open and closed off about his
identity and feelings while growing up
and changing schools. This is a great
nonfiction text for students to use
their previous background knowledge
they have about sexual orientation

*Readability score
derived from sample of
text available online.
Calculated by Fry Graph.

Titanic: Voices from the

Disaster
by Deborah Hopkinson
Suitability: All ages

Readability: 10th Grade level

*Readability score
derived from sample of
text available online.

This nonfiction text tells the accounts of

the Titanic survivors and their memories
and reactions of their experience on the
Titanic. This text would be a good text for
students to read who have seen the
movie, Titanic, before so that they may
call on their prior knowledge of what
happens while reading about the stories
of the survivors. On the other hand, this
would also be a good text for students
who have not seen the movie to read and
draw inferences and make predictions
about what happened and how it
happened on their previous knowledge of
the sinking ship. This text exposes

The Glass Castle

by Jeannette Walls
Suitability: Ages 8+
Readability: 8th Grade level
This is a memoir from the perspective of
a girl who grew up in a broken home
and overcame obstacles to beat poverty
and her parents stubborn mindsets to
become a successful, educated
individual with great compassion for
others. Despite the harmful things her
parents did to her and her three siblings,
Walls still wrote about them in a loving
and respectful manner. This memoir is a
great resource to provide students with
a different perspective on family
relations and how certain aspects of our
lives such as our relationships effect our
future selves. This text would be an

Oranges
by Gary Soto
Suitability: All ages
Readability: 7th Grade level
This poem is about a 12 year old
boy going on his first date with a
girl in the midst of a cold winter in
December. The boy takes the girl
to the store and she picks out a
chocolate that he cant afford and
ultimately ends up using an
orange and a nickel to pay his
debt. This poem is full of powerful
imagery and figurative language.
It is a great text for seventh grade
students to read and comprehend
the meaning behind the poem and
what the author is talking about.

The Other Side of the

Wall
Suitability: Ages 8+

by Simon Schwartz

Readability: N/A written in graphic

novel form
This nonfiction graphic novel tells
the story of the struggles Simon
Schwartz and his family faced since
he was born in East Germany in
1982 and was unable to get to the
other side of the Berlin Wall, where
freedom was. His family was trapped
in East Germany and faced problems
from the police, loss of income, and
refutation of the communist lifestyle.
This is a good option for students to
read a nonfiction text in a different
form, such as the graphic novel

After Twenty Years

by O. Henry
Suitability: All ages
Readability: 9th Grade level
Cover: N/A
This is a short story about two friends who meet back up for the first
time after going twenty years without seeing each other. When the
two meet again, one is a police officer who realizes his friend is in
trouble and is currently wanted by the police. This forces the friend to
quickly make a decision about what he should do in regards to saving
his friend or staying true to his morals. This is a great short-story for
students to read and analyze the relationship between the two
characters. Students may study the cause and effect between the
one friends actions and the effect that had on his friendship as well
as his future. This text is a little confusing because of the quick action
that occurs so it will be useful for students to read and understand
the main idea while drawing inferences from the context of the story

Ghettoside: A True Story of

Murder in America
by Jill Leovy
Suitability: Ages 12+
Readability: 7th Grade level

*Readability score
derived from sample of
text available online.

This is a story about a young black man who

was killed by another black man who then
fled the scene, leaving him behind on the
streets of Los Angeles. The case is taken on
by a detective who is determined to bring
justice to the case and expose a new light on
the issue of murder in America and how the
tragedy of senseless killings effect our
communities. This nonfiction text would
allow students to explore social justice issues
in our country while taking what they know
about gun laws and crime rates in America
and build upon this knowledge by reading

Corduroy
by Don Freeman
Suitability: All ages
Readability: N/A
This is a love story between a
girl who at first leaves the
teddy bear with broken
corduroys, but then later
returns for him. The bear goes
on a journey to try to fix his
overalls, but is unsuccessful.
This picture book could be
used for students to use
details from the story to
explain the plot and discover
the overall main idea of the
story.

Unable to get 100 word sample

from this book to calculate
readability score.

Readability Scores
All readability scores were calculated by
the Fry Graph model.

Works Cited
Frank, A., Frank, O., Pressler, M., & Massotty, S. (n.d.). The
diary of a
young
girl: The
definitive edition.
Freeman,
D. (n.d.).
Corduroy.
Hopkinson, D. (2012). Titanic: Voices from the disaster.
New York:
Scholastic
Kuklin,
S. (n.d.).Press.
Beyond magenta: Transgender teens
speak
Leovy,out.
J. (n.d.). Ghettoside: A true story of murder in
America.
Schwartz, S., & Watkinson, L. (n.d.). The other side of
the Wall.
Spinelli, J. (2008). Stargirl. Scholastic.
Walls, J. (2005). The glass castle: A memoir. New York:
Scribner.