Spelling Plus Level D:
Dictation Sentences from Children's Literature

The sentences below contain only words that children working at the indicated levels in Spelling Plus should be able to spell. Some words are included that aren't on the lists, but are regularly spelled according to rules children should have learned by the time they get to the list. Pronouns are sometimes used in place of proper nouns to make a sentence easier to spell.

Remember that dictation of sentences from a list should occur in the week after children pass a weekly test on the list, or anytime after that. If a link in the array below doesn't take you anywhere, there are no sentences for that list in this collection.

List 26 from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

At last, when he could stand it no longer, he took a bite.

List 26 from Peter Pan

At last, when he could stand it no longer, he took a bite.

List 27 from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

He is pleased to meet you.
Now the fun is really going to start.
He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.

List 27 from Peter Pan

He is pleased to meet you.
Now the fun is really going to start.
He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.

List 28 from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

You must get ready, my boy!
You mean you’re the only one left?

List 29 from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Very slowly, the great gates began to swing open.
“Come up one at a time, please,” he called out, “and give me your name. Who’s first?”
You can hear them in there now.

List 29 from Peter Pan

"Now," said he, "shall I give you a kiss?"
"She was here just now," he said. "You don't hear her, do you?"
"But where do you live mostly now?"
"With the lost boys."
"Who are they?"
The dog, who had been barking all the evening, was quiet now.
"Now I see," he said. "Peter was bringing her to us."
"Now we have him," Hook shouted.
So when he met it now it was like the first time.
She did not understand even now.
It meant that they must now shut up.
She had now come to the part that Peter hated.
Five drops of this he now added to Peter's cup.
No time for words now, time for deeds.
As he swung round on them now his face lit up again.
"There's none can save you now, miss," he hissed.
The other boys were flying around him now.
They are really within two miles of the window now, and flying strong.
What do we see now?
It was the spring of the year, and Jane was now asleep in her bed.
"John is not here now," she gasped.
They were ours, ours! And now they are gone.
I'll teach you how to jump on the wind's back, and then away we go.
How could we ever find our way back without him?
We should have to go on, for we don't know how to stop.
He showed them how to lie out flat on a strong wind that was going their way.
How could Hook have got down here?
The fire was warm, however, and the room dimly lit.
Look closely, however, and you may note that there are here seven large trees, each with a hole in its trunk as large as a boy.
John, however, had held up his hand first.
However, we should get no thanks even for this.
However, as we are here we may as well stay and look on.
Up and down they went, and round and round.
If you like, we'll go down and kill him.
"Some day," he said, "the clock will run down, and then he'll get you.
Peter pulled her up the rock and then lay down beside her.
She told them to clear away, and sat down to her work.
It is sad to have to say that the power to fly left them.
What kind of bird, do you think?
The Never bird saw at once what he was up to.
Why, she is only a girl!
That was the last time the girl Wendy ever saw him.
Does it fly the way you flew when you were a little girl?
"I do," she said, "I so want a third child."
I would wake him first and then kill him.
So when he met it now it was like the first time, and he could just stare, helpless.
Peter's first words tell all.
He was with Wendy when Peter came for her at the end of the first year.
Wendy began to sing.
He began to talk again about its being a mistake to have a dog.

List 30 from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

It’s time to go to school. Come on, or you’ll be late.
He opened the door and stepped out into the room.
I think you’ve gone just a shade too far this time.

List 30 from Peter Pan

I think I hear her, too.
Peter, would you teach them to fly, too?
He was too far away to hear their doors shut.
And a good name, too.
We too have been there.
And who is to get food for us?
Soon I would be a man? Very soon.
I'll soon teach you again.
There was no one in the room but her.
She ran out of the room to try to think.
"Would you send me to school?" he asked.
Now the red spark was in his eye.
She was keeping a sharp eye on Wendy.
"I shall have such fun," said Peter, with eye on Wendy.
She meant that he was her size in both mind and body.
They wear the skins of the bears.
So the chill hours wear on.

List 31 from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Part of it was under the snow, but he saw at once what it was.
There’s no knowing where they’re going.
He will try to do things his own way and not mine.

List 31 from Peter Pan

In time they must come back to their own window.
What were his own feelings about himself?
No, my own one, this is the place for me.
She was one of the kind that likes to grow up. In the end she grew up of her own free will a day quicker than other girls.
Peter did not know in the least who or what he was.
I hope you want to know what became of the other boys.
I shall be sick, you know.
I shall know when you give it to me.
What was the last line will never be known.
Peter said he had never known so many.
He showed her the place where he had killed one.
With a blow of their fists they made windows, and large yellow leaves were the blinds.
Leave it alone, and it will blow over.
He moved slowly away.
Couldn't you do it very slowly once?
Peter did it both slowly and quickly.
She could not move so slowly as she, and so she had to go round and round them.
"We are on the rock, Wendy," he said, "but it is growing smaller."
Oh, no, he isn't grown up, and he is just my size.
Follow me, and all will be well.
They would all have been glad to follow if he had done this.
They followed him with their eyes.
There is the window still standing open.
"I think he comes in by the window," she said.
Were not the leaves at the foot of the window?
It was quite true, the leaves had been found very near the window.
She could not leave it hanging out at the window, it looked so like the washing.

List 32 from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

He’ll come out of it just fine. You wait and see.
It was very sad. I never saw him again.
I’m afraid you can’t stop them singing.

List 32 from Peter Pan

She had not long to wait.
An easy way would have been to wait, but he was never one to choose the easy way.
Was that boy asleep, or did he stand waiting at the foot of the tree?
It had seemed such a long year of waiting to her.
It's all very well to say you are waiting, so am I waiting.
I've waited long to shake his hand with this.
He showed them again.
Once again the stars blew the window open, and the smallest star of all called out.
Now they were very cold and again too warm.
I will call again in the evening.
Again Wendy forgot herself.
After you have been unfair to him he will love you again, but will never be quite the same boy.
As he swung round them now, his face lit up again.
Again and again they closed upon him.
Dash it all, here are those boys again.
I have got you home again, and I mean to keep you.
See how we bump against things if he is not near to give us a hand.
He would keep no girl in the Neverland against her will.
I am the only one who is not afraid of them.
Peter was not quite like the other boys, but he was afraid at last.
He could sleep in the air without falling.
"Goodbye," said Peter to Wendy, and he rose in the air.
You don't mean to tell me that there is a fairy in this room!
When it came to rest for a second you saw it was a fairy, no longer than your hand, but still growing.
She let her hands play in the hair of the boy.
He raised the cup.

List 33 from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Charlie’s heart stood still.
He didn’t believe a word they said.
Just so long as it’s a piece of gum and I can chew it, then that’s for me!

List 33 from Alice in Wonderland

The cook threw a pan after her as she went out, but it just missed her.
She hardly knew what she was saying.

List 33 from Peter Pan

He knew it was saying, "Come back, Wendy."
Peter came next spring cleaning, and the strange thing was that he never knew he had missed a year.
Wendy knew that she must grow up.
He never knew about the box, and in time he gave up trying for the kiss.
She didn't know how she knew it, she just knew it.
She started up with a cry, and saw the boy, and somehow she knew at once that he was Peter Pan.
Peter never quite knew what twins were, and his band were not allowed to know anything he did not know.
"If only we knew," said one, "the kind of house she likes best."
It will only mean having a few beds in the room.
He blew some on each of them.
He threw himself on the ground.
"If you believe," he shouted to them, "clap your hands, don't let Tink die."
But if she lies there she will die.
He showed them how to lie out flat on a strong wind that was going their way.
I believe some of it was bad words, but it sounded kind.
She saw them, but she did not believe they were there.
She saw a look on his face that made her heart sink.
He took it from her heart and faced his band.

List 34 from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

I have a feeling you needed a break like this. I’m glad you got it. Good luck to you.
It didn’t take them long to tell him what had happened.
“What’s the matter? Hasn’t there been anything to eat in your house lately?” he asked.
“Not much,” said Grandpa Joe.
I think we’d better get out of this room quickly before we lose anyone else!

List 34 from Alice in Wonderland

“You’d better not talk,” said Five.
You’d better ask her about it.
Yes, I think you’d better leave off.
I am older than you, and must know better.
You’d better not do that again!
It didn’t matter much which way she put it.
What does it matter to me whether you’re a little girl?
Alice looked into its face to see what was the matter with it.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
It’ll sit up and beg for its dinner, and all sorts of things.
Suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.
Now I can do no more, whatever happens.
It might make me smaller, I suppose.
I suppose you’ll be telling me next that you never tasted an egg!
As it’s asleep, I suppose it doesn’t mind.
But why did they live at the bottom of a well?
They sat down very sadly and quietly, and looked at Alice.
She is such a dear quiet thing.
She waited to see what would happen next.

List 34 from Peter Pan

If they kill him, we're so much the better.
He wanted Wendy to get better quickly.
"It doesn't matter," Peter said.
"What is the matter with you?" asked Peter, suddenly afraid.
Have you forgotten that this is spring cleaning time?
This was true, Peter had forgotten to show them how to stop.
They had to make believe they had had their dinner.
He suddenly sat up in his bed.
Suddenly, Hook found himself face to face with Peter.
"Hello, where is John?" he asked, suddenly missing the third bed.
Truth is best, and I want to tell you only what really happened.
All this happened long ago.
It happened to be her evening off.
I don't suppose you would let me be baby?
They have been folded up small and placed at the bottom of your mind.
I see a great white bird. It is flying this way.
She tucked them up in the great bed in the home under the trees.
The rock was not much larger than their great bed.
Then one or more of them would break down.
It struck him that Tinker Bell was keeping very quiet.
"Peter," he said quietly, "I will show her to you."

List 35 from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Charlie took the money, and slipped quickly out of the room.
You must get ready, my boy! You must get ready for the biggest day of your life.
The people became suddenly quiet.
The big fat boy stepped up.
She grabbed the stick of gum and popped it into her mouth.
Isn’t he going to get any bigger?
It doesn’t really matter, anyway, because we’ll soon fatten him up again.

List 35 from Alice in Wonderland

Into this they slipped the pig, head first, and then sat on it.
As she said these words her foot slipped.
It was only a mouse that had slipped in like herself.
And she went on planning to herself how she would do it.
Where CAN I have dropped them?
They all stopped and looked at Alice, and the Queen said, “Who is this?”
Oh my, how late it’s getting!
I really must be getting home.
There seemed to be no chance of her ever getting out of the room again.
Suddenly a footman came running out of the wood.
With tears running down his cheeks, he went on again.
For the Mouse was swimming away from her as hard as it could go.
Alice was beginning to see its meaning.
But what happens when you come to the beginning again?
She was beginning to grow larger again.
“Begin at the beginning,” the King said, “and go on until you come to the end, then stop.”

List 35 from Peter Pan

They had slipped out of bed and run to her.
He slipped it behind his back.
She had planned it on the way.
They have been planning it out on the ship.
The window blew open as of old, and Peter dropped in.
"There he goes again!" he would cry, as he suddenly dropped like a stone.
It would have been well for Wendy if she had dropped the hat.
Again came that ringing crow, and Peter dropped in front of them.
The clapping stopped suddenly.
He skipped about and made funny faces, but when he stopped it was just as if she were inside him.
As they dragged along the ground they fell asleep standing, stopped, woke up, moved another step and slept again.
Then at last he stopped.
It was the best way of getting a little quiet.
"Yes, I'm sweet, oh, I am sweet!" said Peter, forgetting his manners again.
Wendy, you see, had been forgetting, too.
Who said I wasn't getting up?
There was a big sea running.
He must be swimming out to us.
They must be swimming back or flying.
These boys are always swimming about there.
Two is the beginning of the end.
He had to begin at the beginning again.
Once you fit, great care must be taken to go on fitting.

List 36 from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

His eyes were wide open, shining with joy.
The sun was shining on the morning of the big day, but the ground was still white with snow and the air was very cold.
When I went out there, I found them living in tree houses.
There was no saving her now.
My feet are getting tired.

List 36 from Alice in Wonderland

She set off at once, and ran until she was quite tired.
They began running when they liked, and left off when they liked, so that it was not easy to know when the race was over.
They lived at the bottom of a well.
You may not have lived much under the sea.
“But I’m not used to it,” said Alice.
“You’ll get used to it in time,” he said.
He used to come once a week.
I’ll try if I know all the things I used to know.
And so she went on, taking first one side and then the other.
They began moving about again.
She was moving them about as she spoke.
Then you keep moving round, I suppose.
“You couldn’t have wanted it too much,” said Alice, “living at the bottom of the sea.”
It ran away when it saw mine coming.
Alice knew it was the Rabbit coming to look for her.

List 36 from Peter Pan

She said she would give him a kiss if he liked.
Still, he liked them on the whole, and he told her about the beginning.
She would have liked to swim away, but Peter would not.
She could open it if she liked and call to him.
I think I liked the home under the ground best of all.
She used the time to make new things for them.
Who is that moving?
"Peter," shouted another, "she is moving in her sleep."
It seemed to her that spring would be long in coming.
You may see her hair becoming white.
But with the coming of Peter, they are under way again.

Spelling Plus Level D: Dictation Sentences from Children's Literature