The Clerk of Hollowmere: read-along
The Clerk of Hollowmere as a read-along for the projector: 13 pages, 1780 words, level 15, beyond grade 8.
Page 1 of 13
Perpetua Dace had worked at the Tidewater Records Office for three years, and in that time she had left her desk only to fetch another ledger, to eat her sandwich at precisely one o'clock, and, once, to be sick in the stairwell after a particularly hopeless misfiling by a colleague. She was fourteen, and punctilious, and she corrected the spelling on the Office's own sign every spring, in pencil, where nobody would notice, and she had never once been farther from the town of Saltgate than the end of its longest pier. So when seven elderly strangers in very good coats came through the door on a wet Tuesday and set a small purse of silver on her blotter, she supposed that they had come to the wrong counter.
Keys: ← → or Page Up and Page Down turn the page, Space starts and pauses the voice, Home and End jump, F fills the screen. Tapping the right side of a page goes on; the left side goes back.
How to use it
- Press Full screen (F) to put the book on the projector.
- Press Read to me (Space), or read it yourself and turn pages with the arrow keys or a tap. Pick the Pace that suits the class.
- After the last page, three questions come up to talk about.
About this book
- Level 15, beyond grade 8
- 13 pages, 1780 words, about 13 minutes aloud
- A story, gentle
Related
About The Clerk of Hollowmere
Perpetua Dace has never left her desk at the Tidewater Records Office, until seven retired thieves hire her to read the catalogue of a vault beneath the drowned city of Hollowmere. The riddles on its doors are really old filing systems, and the treasure is not what anyone expected.
Words to preview
- catalogue (KAT-uh-log)
- list of items
- registrar (REJ-ih-strar)
- record keeper
- sumptuous (SUMP-choo-us)
- rich and grand
- vault (VAWLT)
- strong room
- retired (rih-TY-erd)
- no longer working
Questions that fit any book
- What happened at the beginning, in the middle and at the end?
- Which page was your favorite? Why?
- How did the main character feel at the end? What tells you?
Questions
How long does The Clerk of Hollowmere take to read aloud?
It has 13 pages and 1780 words, so about 13 minutes at the Steady pace and a little less at Quick. If you stop to talk on the way, plan for more.
What reading level is The Clerk of Hollowmere?
Level 15, beyond grade 8. The library numbers its levels from 0 to 18 and puts the level of a book on its cover; levels above 13 are beyond grade 8 and have no grade. A level is a guide for choosing, so look at the pages yourself.
Whose voice is it?
Your browser's own. Read to me uses a speaking voice already on the computer, so it sounds like that computer and works without a sign-in. Voices differ: some light each word as it is spoken, and some do not, in which case the highlight follows a steady pace instead. Some browsers use an online voice; if yours does, the browser, not us, sends the words of the page to its speech service. If no voice is installed, turn the pages and read it aloud yourself.
Do students need an account?
No. Nothing is asked of anyone and nothing is sent to us. Project the page, or share the link and let students open it on their own screens.
Where does this book come from?
It was written for Peabody's library. It is not copied from a published book.
Nothing you do here is sent to us. The voice is your browser's own. No sign-in, no ads.