We use the ‘Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level Formula’ to present scores as per US grade level. See all the grade levels here. Following articles, stories and features are appropriate for people at reading level of Grade 4 (Age 9-10 years). More information about Flesch–Kincaid readability tests can be found here.
153 items in this section. Displaying page 12 of 16
A Frog's Friendship
From ‘When the World was Young’, by Verrier Elwin. The book is a fascinating collection of folktales from the tribal peoples of India. Elwin was a pioneering anthropologist; he spent his entire life getting to know the ways of life of the tribal peoples. There was a time when the Frog had thick legs and he lived on land. He was so very different from the frogs that we see today, with their thin spindly legs and their watery homes....
The Crane's Walk
A family of crabs lived on the shores of a giant blue sea. They frolicked in the sands and ate mussels, clams and other small sea creatures. One day the mother crab saw a beautiful crane walking about in the sand, a straight graceful walk in its long reed-like legs. “How graceful that crane looks,” she thought to herself. Then she caught sight of her son waddling towards her and felt very irritated. “And how clumsy my son is....
The Tale of a Circus Bear
Bholu and Golu Written by Pankaj Bisht Illustrations by Tapas Guha Published by National Book Trust, New Delhi This is the story of a small circus bear called Bholu. Golu, the mahout’s son, becomes his friend and resolves to free him from the cruel life of a performing animal. With Bholu’s help he helps the little frightened bear run away from the circus to the forests where Bholu was born. Excerpts from the book: The Ringmaster’s Whip...
Monkey Business
A temple was being built in a town. There were many different workmen busy with their work. The masons were building the walls. The sculptor was finishing the idols. And the carpenters were making wooden frames from logs of wood. In the afternoon, all the workmen used to sit together for lunch. One day while the workmen were eating, a group of monkeys came to the temple site. They started playing with the things the workmen had left behind....
Shebu and Moonmoon, the Long Haired Goat
Shebu and Moonmoon, the Long Haired Goat [Illustrations by Kusum Chamoli] “Bajai,” as we called grandmother, was the best storyteller in the whole world, says Madhu Gurung. She lived in the foothills of Mussoorie in a tiny village called Johri Gaun. And she always started her stories with a saying, “To the listener a garland of gold, to the storyteller a garland of all forest flowers and this tale that I tell you today will be heard in heaven....
Looking at the World Upside Down
Have you seen trapeze artists hanging upside down from bars in a circus? They do it with great concentration. Bats also hang upside down from cave walls or tree branches. And they do not need to put in any effort to do so. For they hang upside down only when they are resting. They use their legs to hold on to some cracks or crevices on walls or branches of trees. This way, their stretched muscles take the entire weight of the body....
The Tinkle of the Goat Bells
Tanvi ran swiftly through the pine forest, the peppery smell of the herbs she crushed beneath her feet tickling her nostrils. She had to meet her friend Ramli, the goat girl at their favourite meeting place by the spring. Today they were planning to go down to the river bed and picnic there. She was late. Ramli had said that they should leave before the sun rose too high or it would be too hot by the river....
The Friends of Custard House
Robert Custard was a gentleman to be sure. Though he was only three-and-a-half feet off the ground and sometimes he even sported a milk moustache, he was still, quite definitely, a gentleman at the age of nine. Now, you must consider that we are talking about the India of the 1930s. The British were ruling the country. Little boys and girls were expected to behave in a certain way. They were never to be seen covered in dirt....
The Gracious Gift
Once there was a King who was generous and kind. He was interested in the welfare of all his subjects and it was his greatest wish that all should live in peace and happiness and none should have any cause to grumble. So he wandered about the country incognito to learn the true condition of his people. One day, when he was in disguise, he saw a strange sight. A farmer was vigorously ploughing his field but instead of a pair of oxen, he had yoked a woman to the plough....
A Free Bird
A Free Bird [Illustrations by Kusum Chamoli] Everybody in his family called him ‘shy baby’ — not ‘cry baby’ to be sure, but shy baby. Young Somu was shy, but not just a little shy. Somu was very, very shy. When guests came to his house for tea or dinner and asked him his name, Somu would dig his chin into his neck and close his eyes and after a few minutes he would run out of the room....