The Debt of Ambrose Tilley: read-along
The Debt of Ambrose Tilley as a read-along for the projector: 14 pages, 1713 words, level 12, grade 7.
Page 1 of 14
Ambrose Tilley, who was eleven and known to everyone as Pocket, stood on the wet planks of Cutler's Landing with a carpet bag in one hand and a ledger under his arm. He had worked out that he could repay every person on his list by Christmas, provided nobody asked how. The list had fourteen names. It began with Mr. Dunphy, the ticket agent in St. Louis, who had lent him four cents for a sandwich, and it ended with a woman on a train who had given him a handkerchief, value one cent, laundered. The woman on the train had hummed, a hair flat,. Pocket owed everybody. It was a point of honor with him, and also, he admitted, a way of counting how many people had been kind.
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 12, Grade 7
- 14 pages, 1713 words, about 13 minutes aloud
- A story, gentle
Related
About The Debt of Ambrose Tilley
In 1899 eleven-year-old Ambrose Tilley is left on a Mississippi landing with a ledger, a carpet bag and a list of everyone he owes. He works his way down the river by steamboat, ferry and hay barge, paying every debt, and finds the one person he is really looking for.
Words to preview
- ledger (LEJ-er)
- book of accounts
- landing (LAN-ding)
- river dock
- purser (PUR-ser)
- ship's bookkeeper
- barge (BARJ)
- flat cargo boat
- sandbar (SAND-bar)
- hidden shallows
- tally (TAL-ee)
- running count
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 Debt of Ambrose Tilley take to read aloud?
It has 14 pages and 1713 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 Debt of Ambrose Tilley?
Level 12, Grade 7. The library numbers its levels from 0 to 18 and puts the level of a book on its cover; level 12 sits at grade 7. 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.