Here are some excerpts from children's literature which I found suitable for this stage:
''He turned his terrified eyes all round the room to try and discover where the little voice could possibly have come from, but he saw nobody! He looked under the bench—nobody; he looked into a cupboard that was always shut—nobody; he looked into a basket of shavings and sawdust—nobody; he even opened the door of the shop and gave a glance into the street—and still nobody. Who, then, could it be?
"I see how it is," he said, laughing and scratching his wig; "evidently that little voice was all my imagination. Let us set to work again."
And taking up the axe he struck a tremendous blow on the piece of wood.''
Carlo Collodi, The Adventures of Pinnochio, Chapter 1
Possible difficult words: shavings, sawdust, tremendous
''First came ten soldiers carrying clubs; these were all shaped like the three gardeners, with their hands and feet at the corners: next the ten courtiers; these were ornamented all over with diamonds, and walked two and two, as the soldiers did. After these came the royal children; there were ten of them, and the little dears came jumping merrily along hand in hand, in couples: they were all ornamented with hearts. Next came the guests, mostly Kings and Queens, and among them Alice recognised the White Rabbit: it was talking in a hurried nervous manner, smiling at everything that was said, and went by without noticing her.''
Lewis Caroll, Alice in Wonderland, Chapter 8
Possible difficult words: courtier, merrily
And a more difficult one:
''In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again. The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep well.
Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her and to wonder what was going to happen next. First, she tried to look down and make out what she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything; then she looked at the sides of the well, and noticed that they were filled with cupboards and book-shelves''
Lewis Caroll, Alice in Wonderland, Chapter 1
Possible difficulties: sentence structure
''He turned his terrified eyes all round the room to try and discover where the little voice could possibly have come from, but he saw nobody! He looked under the bench—nobody; he looked into a cupboard that was always shut—nobody; he looked into a basket of shavings and sawdust—nobody; he even opened the door of the shop and gave a glance into the street—and still nobody. Who, then, could it be?
"I see how it is," he said, laughing and scratching his wig; "evidently that little voice was all my imagination. Let us set to work again."
And taking up the axe he struck a tremendous blow on the piece of wood.''
Carlo Collodi, The Adventures of Pinnochio, Chapter 1
Possible difficult words: shavings, sawdust, tremendous
''First came ten soldiers carrying clubs; these were all shaped like the three gardeners, with their hands and feet at the corners: next the ten courtiers; these were ornamented all over with diamonds, and walked two and two, as the soldiers did. After these came the royal children; there were ten of them, and the little dears came jumping merrily along hand in hand, in couples: they were all ornamented with hearts. Next came the guests, mostly Kings and Queens, and among them Alice recognised the White Rabbit: it was talking in a hurried nervous manner, smiling at everything that was said, and went by without noticing her.''
Lewis Caroll, Alice in Wonderland, Chapter 8
Possible difficult words: courtier, merrily
And a more difficult one:
''In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again. The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep well.
Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her and to wonder what was going to happen next. First, she tried to look down and make out what she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything; then she looked at the sides of the well, and noticed that they were filled with cupboards and book-shelves''
Lewis Caroll, Alice in Wonderland, Chapter 1
Possible difficulties: sentence structure