Jessica Smith, 2004

The Raygor Readability Estimate Bless Me, Ultima

By: Rudolfo Anaya Berkley, CA: Tonatiuh International Inc.

Passage One (Page 37) We wandered in and found some oregano, and we gathered plenty because this was not only a cure for coughs and fever but a spice my mother used for beans and meat. We were also lucky to find some osha, because this plant grows better in the mountains. It is like la yerba del manso, a cure for everything. It cures coughs or colds, cuts and bruises, rheumatism and stomach troubles, and my father once said the old sheepherders used it to keep poisonous snakes away from their bedrolls by sprinkling them with osha powder. It was with a mixture* of osha that Ultima washed my face and arms and feet the night Lupito was killed. Passage Two (Page 104) Cico’s eyes remained glued on the dark waters. His body was motionless, like a spring awaiting release. We had been whispering since we arrived at the pond, why I didn’t know, except that it was just one of those places where one can communicate only in whispers, like church. We sat for a long time, waiting for the golden carp. It was very pleasant to sit in the warn sunshine and watch the pure waters drift by. The drone of the summer insects and grasshoppers made me sleepy. The lush green of the grass was cool, and beneath the grass* was dark earth, patient, waiting…Then the golden carp came. Passage Three (Page 213) In a way I felt relieved school was over. I had more time to spend with Ultima, and in her company I found a great deal of solace and peace. This was more than I had been able to find at church or with the kids at school. The llano had come alive with spring, and it was comforting to walk in the hills and see the new birth take root and come-alive-green. But even in the new season and in the hills there were ominous signs. We found tracks near the junipers that surrounded the house. I asked Ultima* about them and she laughed and said it was someone out hunting rabbits, but I saw how she studied the footprints carefully and then took a dry juniper branch and erased the prints in the sand. And at night I heard the owl cry in warning, not the soft rhythmic song we were used to, but cries of alarm. Sentences Words Passage One 4.2 24 Passage Two 6.7 23 Passage Three 6.1 16 Total 17 63 Average 5.7 21 This gives the novel a readability level of seventh grade.