Level: L

DRA: 24

The
Genre:
Realistic Fiction
Strategy:

Storyteller
Infer/Predict
Skill:
Conclusions
Word Count: 1,071

3.2.8
by Rubí Borgia
illutrated by Roberta Collier-Morales

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN
Online Leveled Books

1388036
H O UG H T O N M IF F L IN H ARCO URT
 The
Storyteller

by Rubí Borgia
Illustrated by Roberta Collier-Morales

Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior
written permission of the copyright owner unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright law. Requests
for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be addressed to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt School Publishers,
Attn: Permissions, 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777.
Printed in China
ISBN-10: 0-547-25365-6
ISBN-13: 978-0-547-25365-7
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 0940 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11

If you have received these materials as examination copies free of charge, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt School Publishers
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electronic format.

3_253657RTXE_LR2_3EL_Storyteller1 1 2/4/09 6:27:14 PM

 nurse

Anita

mother

Chapter 1 Anita and Chispita

One day, a young girl was lying in a bed in a
hospital. Her mother sat next to the bed and held
her hand.
A nurse smiled at the girl and said, “Anita,
this afternoon a special woman is going to come
here and tell you a story. Her name is Doña
María.”
Anita looked at the nurse. But Anita did not
speak. She did not want to meet anyone. She did
not want to listen to stories. Her leg was better.
Soon she will be going home. She will be with
her parents. But she will not be with her little dog
Chispita. Anita was ashamed because she was
crying so much. But she was so sad. She could
not stop crying about her dog.
2

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 The car accident was a serious one. But Anita
and her mother were lucky. Her mother was not
hurt at all. Anita’s leg was not hurt badly. But
her little dog Chispita was killed. Anita was so
sad. She loved Chispita very much. She loved
to spend all her time each day playing with her
sweet dog.
The nurse had told Anita’s mother about
Doña María. The old woman was a schoolteacher.
She had spent her life helping children. Anita’s
mother hoped she could help her child, too.

Chispita

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 Doña María

wheelchair

Doña María read books to children. She told

stories, too. The old woman was sick. So now
she stayed in the hospital all the time. She liked
to visit children there. She liked to cheer them up
with her stories.
That afternoon, Doña María appeared in
Anita’s room. She came in her wheelchair.
Doña María said, “Hello, Anita. I am Doña
María. They call me the Storyteller.” She placed
her hand on top of the child’s small hand. Then
she smiled and said, “Although I would like to be
called ‘The Great Storyteller’.”
Anita looked at the old woman’s face. Then
she squeezed her hand. Anita spoke in a soft
voice. She said, “Hello, Great Storyteller.”
4

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 The old woman and the young girl spent the
rest of the day together. They talked and told
stories. Then Anita told her new friend about the
death of Chispita.
“I will never see her again,” said the young
girl. She was sad thinking about Chispita.
Doña María said, “Here is some advice from
an old woman. The love you had for each other
will always be with you. That love is a part of
you now.”

3_253657RTXE_LR2_3EL_Storyteller5 5 2/4/09 6:27:29 PM

 Then a nurse came into the room. She said, “I
need to borrow your friend now.”
The nurse pushed Doña María away in her
wheelchair. The old woman waved good-bye.
Anita waved and said, “I will visit you soon.
They can’t separate us for long!”

nurse

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 Chapter 2 A New Day
The next day, Anita was in a good mood.
Outside, the leaves were falling off the trees.
Fewer birds were flying around. Soon it would be
winter.
In the afternoon, Anita headed to Doña
María’s room. Inside, she saw the old woman in
her bed. She looked very pale.
Anita said, “Doña María, it’s me, Anita.”
The old woman lifted her head up off the
pillow. She said, “Come here and sit by my side.
I want to show you something.”
Then she pointed to a large tree. It was
outside her window. The tree was on a small
patch of land. Bushes were growing around
its borders.

3_253657RTXE_LR2_3EL_Storyteller7 7 2/4/09 6:27:36 PM

 tree

birds
leaves

“Do you see that tree?” the old woman said.

“It was full of leaves and birds. But now, fall is
almost gone. On farms, the fall harvest is over.
All the fruits and vegetables have been picked.
And here, there are fewer leaves and fewer birds
on the tree. When the last bird flies away, I too
will be gone.”
Then the old woman said, “What should we
do today? Shall we tell more stories?”
“Yes. Tell me lots of stories,” Anita said.
So the old woman and the young girl spent
the day together. They were good friends now!

3_253657RTXE_LR2_3EL_Storyteller8 8 2/4/09 6:27:39 PM

 Soon, Anita went home. She went back to
school. But each Saturday, her mother took her to
visit Doña María. But the old woman was getting
weaker each week.
At each visit, Anita looked at the birds on the
tree outside the window. There were fewer and
fewer birds on the tree.

visit
home

school

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 One afternoon, Anita arrived for her visit. But
the old woman was too tired to see her. The nurse
asked Anita to come back the next day.
Then Anita saw the tree outside the window
in the old woman’s room. There was only one
bird left. It was getting ready to fly away. Anita
needed to do something right away!

10

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 glue
scissors

paints

Chapter 3 The Love Birds

Anita ran down to the hospital’s play room.
She looked for crayons, paints, scissors, and glue.
Anita’s mother found her there hours later. Anita
was hard at work.
Later that night, the tree branch outside Doña
María’s window was full of many beautiful birds.

11

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 The next morning, Anita went to the hospital.
She was next to the bed when Doña María opened
her eyes.
“Look outside, Doña María!” Anita said. She
pointed to the tree and the beautiful little birds
on it.
“You are great!” the old woman said to the
young girl. “I love you so much! It is too bad I
will not see you grow up. You will be a special
woman.”
“But look at all the birds!” Anita said. “You
can live for many more years now!”

birds

12 window

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 Doña María looked at Anita. She smiled at her
young friend. Then she said, “My child, I will live
in your heart. I will be like those little birds. They
go away in the winter. But they come back again
in the spring. Do you know what I mean, Anita?”
At first, Anita did not speak. Then she leaned
over and gave the old woman a big kiss.
Anita said, “Yes, Storyteller, you will always
be with me. Just like Chispita. She is always with
me.”

13

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 Then the old woman said, “Now I will tell you
a story. This story is about a woman. She liked to
tell stories to children. The children called her…”
“The Great Storyteller!” Anita yelled. She and
Doña María said those three words at the same
time.
The young girl and old woman smiled at
each other. Then they looked at the tree outside
the window. They looked at the beautiful paper
birds. Those birds were never going to fly away!
14

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 Responding
Conclusions What does
TARGET SKILL
Anita learn from her friendship with Doña
María? Copy the chart below. In each box,
list details that help you figure out what
Anita learned. Then write your conclusion
at the bottom.

Detail Detail Detail

friendship ? ?
makes you
feel better

Conclusion
?

Write About It
Text to Text Have you read another book
about a friendship between two people of
different ages? Write a paragraph. Use
details and exact words to describe the
friendship in that story.

15

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 TARGET VOCABULARY

advice harvest
ashamed patch
borders separate
borrow serious

Conclusions Use details to

TARGET SKILL
figure out ideas that the author doesn’t state.

Infer/Predict Use clues to

TARGET STRATEGY
figure out more about the selection.

GENRE Realistic fiction is a story with events

that could happen in real life.

16

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Level: L
DRA: 24

The
Genre:
Realistic Fiction
Strategy:

Storyteller
Infer/Predict
Skill:
Conclusions
Word Count: 1,071

3.2.8
by Rubí Borgia
illutrated by Roberta Collier-Morales

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN
Online Leveled Books

1388036
H O UG H T O N M IF F L IN H ARCO URT