The Tuning Fork Door: read-along
The Tuning Fork Door as a read-along for the projector: 17 pages, 1978 words, level 12, grade 7.
Page 1 of 17
The hum began under the house in the week that Odalys Brandt turned thirteen, and for three days she told nobody, because nobody had ever believed her about sounds. It was a single pure note, lower than the refrigerator and steadier than the furnace, and it rose out of the cellar floor like water through a crack. Odalys counted under her breath when she was nervous, a habit her teachers called disruptive, and she counted now, and found that the note had a pulse: once every two seconds, slow and trembling. Her mother, an acoustics researcher, was on a ship off Greenland, listening to whales, and would not be home until June, and she had left behind a cellar full of tuning forks.
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
- 17 pages, 1978 words, about 15 minutes aloud
- A story, gentle
Related
About The Tuning Fork Door
Odalys Brandt hears a hum beneath her house, while her mother, an acoustics researcher, is away at sea. With her cousin Wick and a retired piano tuner she steps through a door made of one steady note, into worlds built on musical ratios, to close a gap in the music that has begun to spoil the pianos at home.
Words to preview
- octave (OK-tiv)
- double pitch
- pitch (PICH)
- how high
- unison (YOO-nih-sun)
- the same note
- resonance (REZ-uh-nuns)
- answering sound
- comma (KOM-uh)
- tiny gap
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 Tuning Fork Door take to read aloud?
It has 17 pages and 1978 words, so about 15 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 Tuning Fork Door?
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.