Adventures with LEVELED BOOK • T
Abuela Adventures
A Reading A–Z Level T Leveled Book
with Abuela
Word Count: 1,771
Written by Carolina B. Page
Illustrated by Cende Hill
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Adventures
with Abuela
Written by Carolina B. Page
Illustrated by Cende Hill Adventures with Abuela
Level T Leveled Book
© Learning A–Z Correlation
Written by Carolina B. Page LEVEL T
Illustrated by Cende Hill
Fountas & Pinnell P
All rights reserved. Reading Recovery 38
www.readinga-z.com www.readinga-z.com
DRA 38
Special Delivery
It was late afternoon in Kanab, Utah,
when Adriana Cruz ran inside. Holding a
large envelope, she exclaimed, “It’s the letter
from Abuela!”
Her brother, Rob, looked up from the book
he was reading. “Get Mom and Dad!” he
said. “They’ll want to open it right away.”
Their little sister, Emily, put her hands
on her hips, looking puzzled. “Abuela sends
us stuff all the time. What’s the big deal?”
Adriana explained, “This is a special letter.
It contains clues to an adventure!”
Table of Contents “Clues?” Emily asked.
Special Delivery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
“Remember, in her last email Abuela told
Clue 1: Books and Scrambled Letters . . . . . . . 6 us she was going to send us clues about our
vacation,” Rob said.
Clue 2: Names and Paintings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
“That’s no mystery,” Emily said. “Mom
Clue 3: Towns and Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 and Dad already told us we’re going to
Abuela’s house.”
Clue 4: More Letters and Quarters . . . . . . . . 15
“But we have to solve a mystery on the
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
way there,” Adriana explained. “And this
has the clues.”
Adventures with Abuela • Level T 3 4
Their parents walked into the living room.
“What’s all the buzz about?” Mr. Cruz asked.
“The letter from Abuela is here!” the
children exclaimed.
“We’re leaving Kanab tomorrow so it
came just in time,” Mrs. Cruz said.
The family gathered to read the letter.
Dear family,
I am taking you on a wonderful trip. Let’s see if
you can figure out where we are going. I have sent
you clues.
As you drive, use the clues to try and figure out
where we will meet.
I will give you a hint: All the answers to my clues
can be found on an Arizona map.
The clues are found in smaller envelopes. You may CLUE 1: Books and Scrambled Letters
open each clue as you solve the one before it. You
“Look! She included a map.” Rob said,
may now open the first clue.
unfolding it on the coffee table.
Good luck, and I hope I am not sitting at the
meeting place alone! “I think these are the clues,” Emily said,
Love, Abuela pointing to a bunch of envelopes held
together with a rubber band.
Adventures with Abuela • Level T 5 6
Mr. Cruz held up a sealed envelope. “We Nevada Utah Colorado
Kanab Page
are supposed to open this one first,” he said,
as he opened the envelope. He pulled out the Flagstaff New Mexico
N
Ca
paper and read:
lif
Arizona
rno
ia
Phoenix
UNITED STATES
Clue 1 Tucson OF AMERICA
e
vacation gam
Arizona
b e g in o u r MEXICO
To
o to th e c it y with a name
g
a t te lls a c o mmon part “Great idea!” exclaimed Rob, and he started
th
f e a c h a n d e very book. making a list. “Let’s see, there are covers, a
o
u g e t to th e city, ”SHOUT!” table of contents, and page numbers . . .”
When y o
b le th e le tt e rs in shout
m
Then unscra .
“Pages! All books have pages but they
o u w h ic h d irection to take might not have a table of contents!” said
to tell y
Adriana.
“Great! Let’s see if there is a Pages,
Emily said, “Let’s look at the map. Abuela
Arizona, on the map,” said Rob.
said all the answers were on the map. If we
look at the map maybe we can find a city that “There’s not Pages, but there is a Page,
is part of a book.” Arizona! It is in the northern part of the
state, almost in the center,” stated Adriana.
“Hmm,” said Adriana, “I think it might be
easier to list the parts of a book. I think there “Well, then that is where we will drive
are fewer parts of a book than there are cities tomorrow after we have had a good breakfast,”
in Arizona.” said Mrs. Cruz.
Adventures with Abuela • Level T 7 8
CLUE 2: Names and Paintings Mom opened the next clue because Dad
was driving. Mom read, “Clue 2. You should
The next morning, an hour after an early
be in Page, Arizona and traveling south.”
breakfast, they rolled into Page and gave a
loud SHOUT. “Yeah!” cheered the Cruz children. “We
were right.”
“Now we have to figure out what direction
to go using the letters in the word shout,” Mom continued reading.
said Rob.
“Well it shouldn’t be west because we just Clue 2
came from there, and Abuela wouldn’t send a lo n g th e R id g e and across
After you Spring
us back in the same direction,” said Adriana.
w ill g e t to th e exit to a town
the Gap, yo u
a c it y a n d is o ften a member
“You sillies. It’s south! You just move the that thinks it’s re , start looking
n y o u g e t th e
h to the end,” cried Emily. of a band. Whe
in g th is p ic tu re represents.
“Hey, don’t we get to open the next clue for someth u g h it , open Clue 3.
ave lin g th ro
now that we are in Page?” remembered Dad. When you are tr
“It’s a drawing of a paintbrush
and a cactus,” Adriana said, “but what
does it mean?”
Adventures with Abuela • Level T 9 10
“Let’s look at the map. I don’t see any Map of Northern Arizona Area of Detail
cactus, and certainly there are no paintbrushes. Kanab Lake
Grand Canyon Page Powell
Read the clue again, Mom,” asked Rob. National Park Bitter Springs
Cedar
Ridge
Mom read the clue again and said, “Oh, I The
Gap Tuba City
just noticed that Spring, Ridge, and Gap are
Kaibab Highway
all capitalized. That means they might be National Forest 89 Painted
Flagstaff Desert
the name of something. All place names are I-40
capitalized.” Kingman
Winslow Navajo
Sedona Holbrook
Prescott
Adriana opened the map. “Here it is! N
Highway 89. We are supposed to drive south
on Highway 89!” CLUE 3: Towns and Flags
“Let me see,” said Rob as he grabbed the Several hours passed as the children
map. “Look Highway 89 goes through Bitter searched every billboard, sign, and building
Springs, Cedar Ridge, and The Gap—places along Highway 89 for something that
just like Mom thought.” matched the drawing. They had passed the
exit to Tuba City and were starting to get
“Good, then 89 must be the right road,” nervous.
said a relieved Dad. “What about that town
that thinks it’s a city and is often a member “Maybe we missed it,” said Adriana.
of a band. What the heck does that mean?” “I don’t think so,” said Mom, “but just
“Hmm,” said Rob. “I’ve got it! It’s Tuba look out the window. Aren’t these rocks
City. I see from the map legend that Tuba beautiful? It’s almost as if someone painted
City is really a town, and I know that tubas them with a rainbow.”
are musical instruments in bands.” “Painted with a paintbrush?” asked Emily.
Adventures with Abuela • Level T 11 12
Just then Adriana saw a sign “Painted “Oh, man. It’s all about a flag. Where are we
Desert.” “That’s it!” she cried. “Emily, you going to find a flag in the middle of the desert?”
are a genius! Paintbrush and cactus—we are moaned Rob.
in the Painted Desert. Mom, open the next
“I’ve seen flags at gas stations,” stated Emily.
clue and let’s see if we are right!”
“Yeah, but a gas station isn’t a city. Abuela
Mom read:
said when we get to the city the poem reminds
Clue 3 us of, to call her,” said Rob.
B it te r S p ri n g s, Cedar Ridge,
passed
You should have t. Now you should
be “I know,” said Adriana. “Remember, Abuela
e Tu b a C ity e xi also said that all the clues can be found on the
The Gap, and th .
ve lin g a lo n g th e Painted Desert map. Let’s look at the map and find the cities.
tra
Maybe if we read the city names we can find
one that reminds us of a flag. Cities have bigger
The children all screamed, “Yes!” dots on this map than towns.”
Mom continued. The children looked for all the cities on the
in map, Phoenix, Tucson . . . “FLAGSTAFF!” they
ra n d m o th e r re cited this poem
Your great-g
a s a c h ild . W h e n you reach the shouted. “Dad, quick, drive to Flagstaff!”
w
school when she a ll me on the phon
e.
min d s yo u o f, c
Arizona city it re nion Map of Southern Arizona Tucson
O Flag of Our U I-10
true,
u r u n io n , to you we’ll be Map Legend
o Fla g o f o
s, a n d yo u r stars on the blue;
white stri Pe Cities & Towns Population
to your red and ght,
I-19
N
m o f fr e e d o m , the symbol of ri PHOENIX 1,000,000+
the emble t!
g fair and brigh
TUCSON 500,000–750,000
Nogales
sa lu te yo u , o fla
we children
FLAGSTAFF 50,000–100,000 Douglas
MEXICO
NOGALES 2,500–25,000
Adventures with Abuela • Level T 13 14
CLUE 4: More Letters and Quarters The children saw that some of the letters
were different from the other letters in Clue 3.
They drove to a rest stop near Flagstaff,
They figured that those were the letters that
and Dad called Abuela on his cell phone.
didn’t join. But when they listed the letters, F,
“Wow, you have done a great job! I hope i, e, t, d, i, P, r, o, e, e, r, s, f, t, they didn’t make
you’re in Flagstaff,” said Abuela over the sense.
phone. “Put me on the speakerphone so
Then Adriana remembered that Abuela
everyone can hear.”
had said to unscramble the letters. So they
each played with the letters. They scrambled
and unscrambled them as Dad drove.
Hi everyone. Here is Clue 4.
Unscramble the letters in Clue 3 They had made Peter Fest, and Free Poets
that chose not to join. but nothing was making sense. Then Dad
Go two hours east on Interstate 40. reminded them of the map.
And meet me at the head
“We are driving two hours east on
of Washington’s coin.
I-40. Maybe you
can use the scale F, i, e, t, d, i, P,
of miles on the
r, o, e, e, r, s, f, t
map to figure
“See you in two hours!” Abuela said. out how far two fried
“Bye, Abuela!” the children shouted. hours driving
Peter
would be and see if
“I guess we need to pull out the map something near that
poets
again,” said Rob. spot has the letters red
“And don’t forget Clue 3,” said Emily. you listed.”
Adventures with Abuela • Level T 15 16
Map of East Central Arizona Petrified “Quarters are even smaller than heads!”
Forest
I-40
cried Rob.
Flagstaff Sun Valley Petrified Forest National Park
Meteor Navajo
Crater Winslow “Well,”
0 60 miles Holbrook Mom said,
0 100 kilometers N “I believe
Kachina
Point
Pintado
Abuela’s Point
“Well, it’s about 60 miles from Flagstaff to words were Park
Headquarters
Winslow,” said Rob. ‘at the head of I-40
Washington’s
“That means it is about an hour because coin.’ Perhaps Newspaper N
cars travel about 60 miles an hour. Another you need
Rock
hour, or 60 miles from there, puts us at a place to look at
called the Petrified Forest,” said Adriana. the map
“That’s it!” cried Rob. “Abuela is meeting again.” Current Park
Boundaries
us at the Petrified Forest. That has all the Adriana
Proposed New
Park Boundaries
right letters.” read aloud
“But according to this map the forest is the spots labeled inside the Petrified Forest,
huge! How are we going to find Abuela in a “Pintado Point, Kachina Point, The Park
forest?” cried Emily. Headquarters, and Newspaper Rock.”
“She said to meet her at Washington’s “Wait!” cried Rob. “That’s it! The Park
head,” Adriana remembered. “Maybe there‘s Headquarters— we will meet Abuela at the
a statue there. Wait, didn’t she say something Park Headquarters inside the Petrified Forest!”
about a coin? Washington’s head is on a
quarter, isn’t it?”
Adventures with Abuela • Level T 17 18
Soon the Cruz family pulled into Glossary
the parking lot at Petrified Forest Park adventure an unusual experience (p. 4)
Headquarters. The children scrambled out of
clues pieces of information or objects
the car. They found Abuela cheerfully talking that help solve a puzzle (p. 4)
to a park ranger.
direction the path or line along which something
“There’s my family now,” said Abuela. moves, lies, or faces, such as north,
“I thought you’d never get here!” south, down, or up (p. 7)
head the side of a coin considered the front,
“Never? That was the shortest drive ever!” often shows a person’s face (p. 15)
said Emily.
headquarters the main office of an organization (p. 18)
“Well, let’s go find out about Petrified legend a list telling the meaning of symbols
Forests,” said Abuela. on a map (p. 11)
The Cruz family knew they were off on yet mystery something not explained or solved (p. 4)
another adventure with Abuela. Painted a desert on a plateau in north-central
Desert Arizona, famous for the bands of color
created by eroded layers of sediment,
mud, and volcanic ash (p. 13)
Petrified a national park in northeastern Arizona
Forest with fossilized logs (p. 17)
puzzled to be confused (p. 4)
recited to have said aloud from memory (p. 13)
scale of miles a series of marks on a line used to
measure distance on a map (p. 16)
Adventures with Abuela • Level T 19 20
