Level Z 5

Tessa’s Family Day A Reading A–Z Level Z Benchmark Book Word Count: 1,649 BENCH MAR K • Z Tessa’s Family Day Written by Racheal Rice • Illustrated by Joel Snyder Visit www.readinga-z.com for thousands of books and materials. www.readinga-z.com Tessa’s Family Day Written by Racheal Rice Illustrated by Joel Snyder Tessa’s Family Day Level Z Benchmark Book © Learning A–Z, Inc. Written by Racheal Rice Illustrated by Joel Snyder All rights reserved. www.readinga-z.com www.readinga-z.com Correlation LEVEL Z Fountas & Pinnell V Reading Recovery 29 DRA N/A Concert Makes Waves Bree squealed excitedly as Tessa bounced around the living room grinning like a fool and waving the newspaper up and down. Blake Baker, their favorite hip-hop rock icon, would be performing at the local megamall in two weeks. “Amazing! Terrific! Fantastic! I can’t believe it, our first rock concert!” Bree exclaimed. Table of Contents Concert Makes Waves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Family Day Runs Aground . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Stewing on the Sandbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Struggling Loose with the Tide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Smooth Sailing Ahead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 3 “I know. My mom will totally freak. She doesn’t like Blake Baker because of that unfortunate incident with the paparazzi, but since she can’t find anything to disapprove of in his lyrics, she can’t object to me listening to him,” Tessa explained defiantly. “She can’t object to you listening to him,” said Bree, “but she can object to you attending the concert, even if it is free.” 4 “Oh, I hope she doesn’t want to invite herself to make sure we ‘behave’,” Tessa snorted, imitating her mom’s voice. “How embarrassing would that be?” Tessa looked at her friend, whose habit of being almost too honest really irritated her right now. “Your mom is really wonderful,” Bree insisted quietly but sternly after Tessa brought up her mother. The two hadn’t been communicating well lately and Bree was concerned about her friend. “She has to let me go,” Tessa practically pleaded. “It’s on a Saturday, which is family day, but she allowed Trevor to attend that recognition dinner at the statehouse on a Saturday when his wrestling team won the state championships. It’s the same idea,” Tessa declared. “Trevor earned that dinner. You didn’t earn a trip to a concert in the mall,” Bree reminded her. “Oh, well then, I guess I should go ask my wonderful mother about the concert,” Tessa retorted. “It’s two weeks away, she can’t say no with so much advance notice.” Bree shook her head back and forth and watched Tessa bound out the front door and across the street to her own house. Family Day Runs Aground Tessa crept through the front door so she could gauge her mother’s mood before approaching her about the concert. Lately Mom had been on Misery Island. Tessa surprisingly discovered her mother smiling and humming as she prepared dinner. Before she could think about what to say, the words just poured out of Tessa’s mouth like water gushing over a waterfall. “Mom, guess who’s going to give a concert at the megamall in two weeks? It’s Blake Baker! Can you believe it? My idol is going to be here, in our little town, giving a free, live performance. It’s on a Saturday, but not for two weeks. You just have to let me go with Bree, you just have to.” 5 6 Tessa’s mother peered carefully at her daughter. “Tessa, I’ve already volunteered all of us to help on Saturday with the local food bank’s food drive. You and Trevor are slated for sorting duty to keep the canned foods and the boxes of