ISBN-13: 978-0-547-01804-1ISBN-10: 0-547-01804-5

1031649

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN

3.3.15

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN

Online Leveled Books

Level: M

DRA: 28

Genre:Humorous Fiction

Strategy:Infer/Predict

Skill:Understanding Characters

Word Count: 829

by Alexandra Behrillustrated by Michele Noiset

Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

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ISBN-13: 978-0-547-01804-1ISBN-10: 0-547-01804-5

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Carlo’s older sister Dora called him “Come-With-Me Carlo.” That’s because he was always begging to come along when she baby-sat. That way he could swim at the Franklins’ pool. Or climb on the Wongs’ tree fort. Or play on the Lugos’ swing set.

Carlo was always ready to tag along with Dora.

That is, unless the Tiptons called. The Tiptons had three-year-old triplets. And they were more than three times the trouble of any kids that Carlo knew.

One Saturday morning, Dora was on the phone. “Sure, I can do that,” Carlo heard his sister say. Then she hung up.

“I told the Tiptons I’d baby-sit. Do you want to tag along?” she asked him.

“Uh… I’m busy,” Carlo said.

�

“If you come, you can watch TV the whole time,” Dora said with a smile.

Carlo was only allowed to watch TV at home for one hour a day. If he went to the Tiptons, he could catch up on all the shows his friends had been talking about. It was a hard decision, but he finally gave in.

4

Later that day, Dora and Carlo stepped over flattened balls and battered trucks to get to the Tiptons’ front porch. Mrs. Tipton opened the door. One of the Tipton triplets clung to her leg. The other two were dumping the ingredients for waffles all over the kitchen floor.

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“Thanks for coming,” Mrs. Tipton said. “I need to meet the people at the craft contest. I’m entering one of my quilts in it.”

Then she turned toward the kitchen. “Ricky! Randy! Don’t make a mess!”

“It’s a little late for that,” Carlo thought.

6

Mrs. Tipton grabbed her purse. “Oh, I forgot to tell you about the TV,”

she said. “The triplets broke it. Maybe you can think of some arts and crafts to do with them.”

After Mrs. Tipton left, Carlo remarked, “So much for an easy afternoon.”

“Don’t worry,” Dora said. “I’ll take care of them.”

Then her cell phone rang. It was her best friend, Samantha.

“Just watch the boys for a few minutes, okay?” Dora asked Carlo.

Carlo took a deep breath as he saw Ricky dart out the back door.

�

Carlo followed Ricky to the backyard. “Ricky! Randy! Rob!” he called. But the triplets were nowhere to be seen––

or heard. That was a bad sign. Carlo looked at the Tiptons’ garage and gulped.

8

Carlo felt tense. He anxiously tiptoed inside the garage. That’s where Mrs. Tipton made her quilts.

The garage looked festive, if you can imagine wild pigs hosting a party. Mrs. Tipton had placed cut-up pieces of fabric on a board on the garage wall. It was how she planned her quilts.

The quilt that was up there was the one Mrs. Tipton was making for the contest! Before she left, it had looked like a nice picture of mountains and beaches. Carlo could tell because there was a photo of it on the wall next to the board.

Now the quilt looked like a bulldozer had driven through it. The bulldozer’s name was Ricky. He sat on the floor with a bottle of glue and pieces of fabric stuck to his hair, shirt, and arms.

�

10

Carlo gave Ricky a cross look. But before he could say a thing, Rob dumped a basket of fabric on Ricky’s head.

Then Randy plowed into his two brothers and landed in a basket full of cotton. Now he looked like a sheep.

Suddenly, Dora appeared in the doorway.

“What’s going on?” she shrieked. Her face looked so red that you would

have thought it was 200 degrees in there.

11

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That’s when Carlo recommended that they use the fabric to make a new quilt.

“We could say that we were doing some arts and crafts,” Carlo said. “That’s what Mrs. Tipton told us to do.”

“Good idea,” Dora agreed. Then she frantically helped the triplets place the fabric pieces on the flannel.

13

When Mrs. Tipton came home, she took Dora and Carlo to the garage to see the plan for her quilt. As she walked through the garage door, she gasped, “What happened to my quilt?”

“I can explain,” Dora squeaked. “The triplets were so excited about your quilt that they wanted to make one themselves.”

To everyone’s surprise, Mrs. Tipton wasn’t too mad. “I’m not happy that you let the boys get in here,” she said. “But this actually gives me a great idea!”

14

Two weeks later, Dora got a call from Mrs. Tipton. “Look in the newspaper,” she said.

Mrs. Tipton’s “Crazy Quilt” had won the first-place ribbon in the crafts contest.

“Oh, by the way,” said Mrs. Tipton. “Can you and Carlo baby-sit this weekend?”

Dora looked at Carlo. “I’ll split the money with you,” she said. “And I know for a fact that the TV is fixed.”

Carlo felt himself give in for a second. Then he caught himself. “Sorry,” he said with a smile. “No more triplet trouble for me.”

15

RespondingTARGET SKILL   Understanding

Characters  Carlo is a good babysitter. But you need to use story details as clues to figure that out.  Copy the chart below. Then fill in story details that tell you what Carlo is like.

Text to Self  Carlo, his sister, and the triplets put together a quilt design.  What is a job or hobby you can do?  Write a set of instructions that tell someone else how to do this.

Write About It

Detail?

Detail?

Detail?

CarloCarlo is a good babysitter.

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anxiouslycrossdegreesfestive

ingredientsrecommendedremarkedtense

TARGET VOCABULARY

TARGET SKILL   Understanding Characters   Tell why characters act as they do. 

TARGET STRATEGY   Infer/Predict  Use clues to figure out more about the selection. 

GENRE  Humorous fiction is a story that is written to entertain the reader.

ISBN-13: 978-0-547-01804-1ISBN-10: 0-547-01804-5

1031649

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN

3.3.15

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN

Online Leveled Books

Level: M

DRA: 28

Genre:Humorous Fiction

Strategy:Infer/Predict

Skill:Understanding Characters

Word Count: 829