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Uncle Remus Comes to Life

Uncle Remus Comes to Life
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 4 to 6
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   5.32

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    brawn, briars, dialect, humorous, newspaperman, outsmart, purely, self-conscious, uncanny, highly, maintain, slavery, newly, editor, response, behavior
     content words:    Brer Rabbit, Tar Baby, Brer Fox, Brer Bear, When Brer Rabbit, Joel Chandler Harris, Uncle Remus, Chandler Harris, When Joel, From Eatonton

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Uncle Remus Comes to Life
By Jane Runyon 		  
1     Have you ever heard the story of "Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby"? Brer Rabbit was a rabbit with an attitude. He thought very highly of himself and his abilities. He figured he could outsmart just about everyone. He took great delight in tricking Brer Fox and Brer Bear. They were bigger than he was, but he knew he was smarter.
 
2     One day Brer Rabbit was walking down a country lane when he saw someone sitting on top of a fence. He said hello and went on down the road. When he got a few steps on, he stopped. He thought it was awfully rude that the person on the fence didn't say hello back. He turned back and told the person just what he thought of the rude behavior. When he still got no response, he got very angry. He started hitting the person. After a few blows, he realized that it wasn't a person at all. It was a doll made of very black, very sticky tar. It was too late. He was stuck to the tar baby.
 
3     Brer Fox and Brer Bear had been watching from a short distance away. They had put the tar baby on the fence to catch Brer Rabbit. They rolled on the ground in laughter watching Brer Rabbit get more and more stuck in the tar. When Brer Rabbit could no longer move, Brer Fox and Brer Bear came forward to claim their prize. They told Brer Rabbit about all of the terrible things they were going to do to him.

Paragraphs 4 to 10:
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