The Raygor Readability Estimate: The Bumblebee Flies Anyway (2nd Edition) by Robert Cormier New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell 1993 Passage #1: Barney pushed Billy in the wheelchair toward the doorway. Allie Roon walked ahead of them. Or rather, jangled. Allie Roon always danced to some unheard melody, some unheard rhythm. But a depraved rhythm, ever changing, fast then slow then fast again, not at all like the rhythm Barney sought in his daily life. Allie's every movement was spasmodic, especially his hands: His hands were spiders forever climbing invisible webs. He seldom spoke, and when he did he stammered, the words emerging tortuously in a shower of spit. Allie was the youngest person in the Complex, just a kid, twelve . . . (p. 9) Passage #2: The breeze was warm and gentle on Barney's face and he took deep breaths, drinking in the air and scents of the season, scents he couldn't identify but filling his nostrils with the pungent aromas. He and Allie Roon made their way to a lilac bush heavy with clusters and fragrance. As they got closer, Barney say that the lilacs were already past their prime, beginning to shrivel, the season passing too quickly for them to survive, remain living. Spasmodically, Allie pointed to a small flowering tree. Tiny pink blossoms danced on its branches. Barney didn't know what kind of . . . (p. 126) Passage #3: They waited, frozen, a ridiculous tableau, Mazzo flat against the wall like a three-dimensional painting, Billy leaning forward in the wheelchair as if sitting on the lap of a metal monster, and Barney himself, almost spinning on one leg, poised between the other two, like a ballet dancer. A nurse appeared at the end of the corridor, carrying a small basin in her hands, walking delicately as if she were afraid to spill whatever was in the basin. If she turned left, she could come face to face with them. If she turned right, she was probably headed for another . . . (p. 222)

PASSAGE:	SENTENCES:	WORDS:
PAGE 9	7.9	37
PAGE 126	5.4	36
PAGE 222	3.6	32
TOTAL	16.9	105
AVERAGE	5.63	35

The readability is on the line between 11th and 12th grade.