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Crime and Terrorism

Bonnie and Clyde

Bonnie and Clyde
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 6 to 8
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   5.27

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    determined, ever-escalating, front-page, riddled, getaway, posing, romance, ambush, barrage, motel, retold, notorious, gunfire, failure, posse, criminal
     content words:    Bonnie Parker, Clyde Barrow, Great Depression, Since Clyde, Ford V-8

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Bonnie and Clyde
By Sharon Fabian 		  
1     Bonnie and Clyde were notorious criminals. They robbed stores and banks. They murdered innocent people and even police officers. At the end of their two-year crime spree, they died, shot by police officers. Their story was front-page news.
 
2     Unlike most front-page crime stories, the story of Bonnie and Clyde was not forgotten the next day. It went on to become a legend. The story of Bonnie and Clyde has never died.
 
3     Bonnie Parker was born in 1910 in Texas. She was a good student but dropped out of school to marry at the age of 16. When that didn't work out, she went to work as a waitress.
 
4     Clyde Barrow was born in Texas too. He didn't do well in school, skipped classes, and got in trouble with his friends. He liked to roam the streets, break windows, steal candy, and get into fights. He only stayed in school through about 5th grade.
 
5     Bonnie and Clyde were growing up just as our country was going into the Great Depression. Bonnie's and Clyde's families were poor, like most everyone else at that time in history.
 
6     Then Bonnie met Clyde. She knew that Clyde was already involved in petty crimes, but both of them felt that they were entitled to more than a life of poverty, and they didn't see anything wrong with robbing a store once in a while to get what they wanted.
 
7     It wasn't much of a surprise when Clyde ended up in jail. It wasn't the end of Clyde's crime spree either; it was only the beginning. Bonnie helped Clyde escape by smuggling a gun into Clyde's jail cell. Clyde escaped with Bonnie. Now they were both wanted criminals.
 
8     They took off together. Bonnie and Clyde traveling fast in stolen cars, stealing what they needed along the way. They knew that their life of crime couldn't last forever, but they were both determined to make it last as long as they could. They didn't let anything stand in their way. They didn't let anybody stand in their way either.

Paragraphs 9 to 19:
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