The Jones Family Express by Javaka Steptoe

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    This story is found in "California Treasures" book published by Macmillan/McGraw-Hill for many school districts.  The story is written by Javaka Steptoe.  He has written other books like "Hot Day on Abbott Avenue" and "In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall." 
     This story is found in Unit 3, Express Yourself, 3rd Grade Edition.  The story is about an African American family living in the U.S.  Grandmother visits her grandson every summer.  This particular summer he wants to surprise her with a nice gift.

1.       What did Aunt Carolyn do every summer? (p. 399) _____________________________________

2.       What was going to happen this summer with Steven’s family? (p. 400) ______________________________________________________________________________

3.       Who spent the night at Steven’s before the party? (p. 400) _____________________________

4.       Who is Sean? (p. 400) ___________________________________________________________

5.       Who woke up first to the smell of pancakes? (p. 400) ___________________________________

6.       What does Uncle Charles do during breakfast? (p. 400) ______________________________________________________________________________

7.       Who was making his barbecue sauce outside? (p. 403) __________________________________

8.       Where did Steven go instead of helping make the barbecue sauce? (p. 403) ______________________________________________________________________________

9.       Where did Steven go first? (p. 405) __________________________________________________

10.   Who tried to help Steven find a gift for his grandmother? (p. 405) _________________________

11.   Who is Mr. Perkins? (p. 405) _______________________________________________________

12.   Where did Steven go next? (p. 406) _________________________________________________

13.   Ms. Ruby is from the country of _______________________. (p. 406)

14.   How much has Steven saved for his grandmother’s gift? (p. 407) __________________________

15.   What did Steven want to buy in Ms. Ruby’s shop? (p. 407) _______________________________

16.   What did Steven find at Uncle Charles’s house? (p. 408) _________________________________

17.   Did his grandmother like the gift? (p. 412) ____________________________________________

18.   Where did Grandma put her gift? (p. 414) ____________________________________________

19.   What did Uncle Charles buy with the $10? (p. 414) _____________________________________

20.   What did Grandma give Steven? (p. 417) _____________________________________________

What Do Illustrators Do? by Eileen Christelow

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    This story is found in "California Treasures" book published by Macmillan/McGraw-Hill for many school districts.  The story is written by Eileen Christelow.  She has written other books like "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" and "What Do Authors Do?" 
     This story is found in Unit 3, Express Yourself, 3rd Grade Edition.  The following are reading comprehension questions on this story.

1.       What do illustrators do? (p. 364) __________________________________________________

2.       How big are most picture books? (p. 365)_____________________________________________

3.       What do illustrators do first before creating a book? (p. 365)_____________________________

4.       After illustrators make a plan for their book, then they make ____________________. (p. 365)

5.       What is a dummy? (p. 365) __________________________________________________

6.       What are sketches? (p. 365) __________________________________________________

7.       What is a drawing scale? (p. 369) _________________________________________________

8.       Who do illustrators show their dummies to once they are done? (p. 377) ___________________________________________________________________________

9.       The designer of the publishing company makes __________________________ about the design of the book. (p. 377)

What type of the clue does the cover give the reader? (p. 383) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Author, A True Story by Helen Lester

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    This story is found in "California Treasures" book published by Macmillan/McGraw-Hill for many school districts.  The story is written by Helen Lester.  She has written other books like "Hooway for Wodney Wat" and "Tacky the Penguin." 
     This story is found in Unit 3, Express Yourself, 3rd Grade Edition. The following are reading comprehension questions on this story.

1.       Who is the main character? (P. 291) _________________________________________________

2.       The author was the best ____________________________ writer in the world. (p. 291)

3.       The writer made ___________________ of useful lists for her mother. (p. 292)

4.       What did school teach her? (p. 293) _________________________________________________

5.       The author’s writing was the prettiest in the class.  (p. 293) True or False

6.       What type of writer was the author? (p. 293) _______________________________________

7.       What did the teachers have to do to understand her writing? (p. 293) _______________________________________________________________________

8.       After plenty of _______________ she was able to write in the proper direction. (p. 294)

9.       What was difficult for her to write? (p. 294) ___________________________________

10.   Why did the author get frustrated? (p. 294) _________________________________________________________________________

11.   Did the author want to perform in a circus when she got older? (p. 295) ___________________________________________________________________________

12.   What did the author become when she got older? (p. 295) _____________________________________________________________________

13.   What did she learn about teachers? (p. 295) a) ____________________________ b) _________________________________ c) _____________________________  d) _______________________________  e) ____________________________________

14.   What is her favorite subject to teach? (p. 295) __________________________________

15.   What did a friend tell her? (p. 295) _______________________________________________

16.   What did she do that same day? (p. 296) __________________________________________

17.   What did the lucky people send back? (p. 296) _____________________________________

18.   What did the author decide? (p. 296) _____________________________________________

19.   On what try did she get an acceptance for her book? (p. 297) _________________________

20.   What does the author keep in her fizzled box? (p. 299) __________________________________________________________________________

21.   What does she call this box? (p. 299) _____________________________________________

22.   According to the writer, writing doesn’t have to be done on a special time. (p. 300) True or False

23.   Writing anytime, anywhere, means writing on anything. (p. 300) True or False

24.   Why are authors lucky? (p. 301) a) ______________________________________  b) _______________________________________  c) ______________________________  d) _________________________________________

25.   Why didn’t the author like autographing books at first? (p. 301) _____________________________________________________________________________

26.   Did the author dream of becoming a writer? (p. 301) ___________________________________

What do you think her last sentence means? “So this is better than a dream come true.” (p. 301) ______________________________________________________________________________

Dear Juno by Soyung Pak

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    This story is found in "California Treasures" book published by Macmillan/McGraw-Hill for many school districts.  The story is written by Soyung Pak.  She has written other books like "A Place to Grow" and "Sumi's First Day of School Ever." 
     This story is found in Unit 3, Express Yourself, 3rd Grade Edition.  The setting of the story takes place in the United States. The story is about a Korean family living in the U.S., while grandmother lives in Korea. The following are reading comprehension questions on this story.

1.       What was Juno watching that night? (p. 316) (A) _______________________________________

2.       As Juno looked at A, he wondered where they came from and where they were going. (p. 316) True or False

3.       The blinking lights were __________________________. (p. 316)

4.       What are persimmons? (p. 316) ____________________________________________________

5.       What told Juno that the letter came from a far-away place? (p. 316) _____________________________________________________________________________

6.       What was printed in front of the letter? (p. 316) _____________________________________

7.       What did the letter have on the corner? (p. 316) _____________________________________

8.       What clue do you see on page 318 that tells you that Juno couldn’t read the letter? _____________________________________________________________________________

9.       What was the name of his dog?  (p. 319) ____________________________________________

10.   What was inside the letter? (p.320) ________________________________________________

11.   What couldn’t Juno understand? (p. 320) ___________________________________________

12.   Do you think the letters were different than the ones we use? (p. 320) Yes  or  No

13.   How does Juno know that his grandmother has a new cat? (p. 323) _____________________________________________________________________________

14.   How does Juno know that his grandmother is growing red and yellow flowers? (p. 323) _____________________________________________________________________________

15.   What was the name of grandma’s cat? (p. 325) ___________________________________

16.   What did Juno show his class? (p. 327) _____________________________________________________________________________

17.   What did his teacher do with his letter? (p. 327) ______________________________________

18.   What did Juno decide to do? (p. 327) _______________________________________________

19.   What did Juno pick from his tree? (p. 328) ___________________________________________

20.   What was the second thing Juno did when he got home? (p. 328) _____________________________________________________________________________

21.   What was the third thing Juno did after he arrived home from school? (p. 328) ___________________________________________________________________

22.   What was the first thing he drew? (p. 330) ___________________________________________

23.   What was the second thing he drew? (p. 330) ________________________________________

24.   What was the third thing he did? (p. 330) ____________________________________________

25.   What was the final thing he did? (p. 330) _____________________________________________

26.   What did Juno’s parents do when Juno gave them the letter? (p. 332) _____________________________________________________________________________

27.   What did Juno’s grandmother send him? (p. 334-335) 3 Items:  1) _________________________, 2) _____________________________,  3) _________________

28.   Why does Juno’s grandmother have to find a new name for her cat? (p. 335) __________________________________________________________________

29.   What does Juno dream about that night? (p. 336) _______________________________________

The Cricket in Times Squares by George Selden

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    This story is found in "California Treasures" book published by Macmillan/McGraw-Hill for many school districts.  The story is written by George Selden.  He has written other books like "Harry Kitten and Tucker Mouse," "Tucker's Countryside," "Stuart Little," and "Charlotte's Web." 
     This story is found in Unit 4 Working Together, 4th Grade Edition.  The setting of the story took place in Connecticut and New York.  The following are reading comprehension questions for this story.

1.       Who is Tucker? _____________________________________

2.       Where did Tucker live? ________________________________________________

3.       Who are the Bellinis? ________________________________________________

4.       Who is Chester? ____________________________

5.       Chester said he “knew quite a few back in Connecticut.”  What was he referring to? ________________________________________________________________________

6.       What did Chester smell one summer afternoon? __________________________________

7.       Chester thought Tucker was very excited-even for a mouse.  True  or  False

8.       Tucker thought Chester was very excited-even for a cricket.  True or False

9.       What was one of the things Tucker did not aim for in life? ___________________________

10.   What did Tucker bring Chester to enjoy his story? __________________________________

11.   Chester jumped into a (A) _________________________ to get a taste of the food the humans were eating.

12.   What ended up happening to Chester once he jumped into A? _______________________________________________________________________

13.   Where was Chester carried off to? _________________________________________________

14.   Is Chester a country or city cricket? __________________________________________

15.   In what state did the humans have their picnic? ______________________________________

16.   Who is Harry? ___________________________________________

17.   Who surprised Chester and Tucker while Chester told the story? __________________________

18.   Were Tucker and Harry friends? ____________________________________

19.   In what neighborhood was Harry scrounging for food? __________________________________

20.   Tucker offered to take Chester to _______________________________________ in order to get back to Connecticut.

21.   Who is Mario? ______________________________________________

22.   What does Mario’s mother think Chester carries? ____________________________________

23.   Harry and Chester took Tucker to see the lights of New York City after they ate.  True or False

24.   Tucker and Harry took Chester to see the lights of New York City after they ate.  True or False

25.   Why did Chester think about when he returned to his matchbox?  _______________________

26.   Do you think Chester is willing to stay in New York? ____________________________________

27.   Do you think Chester will want to return home? _______________________________________

28.   Who is the protagonist in this story and why? ______________________________________________________________________________

29.   Who is the antagonist in this story and why? _____________________________________________________________________________

30.   What type of conflict is there in this story? ________________________________________

31.   What is the theme of this story? _________________________________________________

32.  The setting: when and where does this story take place?

Upcoming Reading Comprehension Questions

I'm currently reading some of the following stories.  My goal is to read all these stories by the end of the year.  As soon as I read them I will post questions.

Book                                Author                                      Date of posting
The Adventure of Ali Baba Bernstein by Johanna Hurwitz    January 15, 2013
The Astronaut and the Onion by Ann Cameron                  January 30, 2013
My Brother Martin by Christine King Farris                       February 1, 2013
Mighty Jackie, The Strikeout Queen by Marissa Moss       February 20, 2013
Wild Horses by Cris Peterson                                             March 1, 2013
The Tale of Pecos Bill by Gillian Reed                              March 15, 2013
Mystic Horse by Paul Goble                                              March 30, 2013
The Life and Times of the Ant by Charles Micucci             April 1, 2013
The Earth Dragon Awakes by Laurence Yep                     April 15, 2013
My Brothers' Flying Machine by jane Yolen                      May 1, 2013
A Walk in the Desert by Rebecca Johnson                         May 15, 2013
Roadrunner's Dance by Rudolfo Anaya                             June 1, 2013
At Home In The Coral Reef by katy Muzik                       June 1, 2013
Adelina's Whales by Richard Sobol                                   June 1, 2013
Leah's Pony by Elizabeth Friedrich                                    June 1, 2013
The Gold Rush Game by William Wu                               June 1, 2013
Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin               June 1, 2013
How Ben Franklin Stole The Lightning by Rosalyn Schanzer     June 1, 2013
Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo                       August 1, 2013
The Son of Neptune             Rick Riordan                        September 1, 2013
Six Days                               Philip Webb                         September 1, 2013
13 Curses by Michelle Harrison                                        September 1, 2013
The Divide by Elizabeth Kay                                            September 1, 2013
Back to The Divide by Elizabeth Kay                               September 1, 2013
The Hobbit by Tolkien                                                       September 1, 2013

My Young Adults Blog

No One Writes to the Colonel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez    January 15, 2013
Strange Pilgrims by Gabriel Garcia Marquez                   April 1, 2013
Beyond Band of Brothers by Major Dick Winters           May 1, 2013
I Magine by Jonah Lehrer                                                June 1, 2013
The Accidental Creative by Todd Henry                         July 1, 2013
Tubes by Andrew Blum                                                   August 1, 2013
No One's World by Charles Kupchan                              September 1, 2013

Updated 9/15/24

Looking for a reading comprehension program?

Saving Zasha by Randi Barrow

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     Excellent book for young boys.  The setting is post World War II Russia.  The country is short on dogs.  The story is about two young boys, Mikhail and Nikolai, trying to keep a german shephard a secret in Vasily, Russia.  The writer does a good job describing the Russian people's hardships right after the war.

Prologue

1.       Who shouted? (A) ____________________________

2.       A was warning who? ___________________________

3.       Who showed up? (B) ___________________________

4.       What was B looking for? _______________________________________________

5.       How old was Mikhail? _________________________________________

6.       How old was Nikolai? ______________________________________________

Chapter 1

7.       Mikhail was riding _____________________ one day in June.

8.       What trick did Mikhail’s father teach the boys about farming? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9.       What happened this one day? ____________________________________________________

10.   What was Mikhail’s sister’s name? ________________________________

11.   What was the name of the stranger? ________________________________

12.   What did Mikhail’s mother try to do for the stranger? ________________________________

13.   What happened to the stranger at the end of the chapter? ______________________________

Chapter 2

14.   How long was the war? _______________________________________________

15.   Who begged their mother to keep Zasha? _______________________________________

16.   Why did Russians think it was their duty to destroy anything German? ______________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 3

17.   How far was the village from the house? ________________________________

18.   How far was their school? ________________________________

19.   What was the name of their village? _________________________________________

20.   Describe their village? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

21.   Where did Mikhail’s family take the dead man? _______________________________________

22.   Who did the grey-haired police captain call for in his station? __________________________

23.   What did the police captain ask Nikolai and Mikhail to do? _____________________________

24.   What was the name of their classmate? (A)________________________________________

25.   A’s father owned what? ___________________________________________________

Chapter 4

26.   Mother said, “People sometimes do heroic things in a war, but everyone does terrible things.  No one is only good, or only bad.”  What do you think her mom means by this? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

27.   What did their mother tell them that Russians did with their dogs during the war? ______________________________________________________________________________

28.   What did their mother tell them that Americans used during the war? _____________________

Chapter 5

29.   What did Mikhail see people stealing from his farm? ___________________________________

30.   What test did they give Zasha? ___________________________________________________

Chapter 6

31.   Who visited the Tarkov’s? ____________________________________

32.   How old was Rina? __________________________________

33.   What did Katia bring to the Tarkov’s? ________________________________________________

34.   What did Katia tell Mrs. Tarkov? ____________________________________________________

35.   What did Katia name the geese? ______________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 7

36.   This story is being told in whose perspective? _________________________________________

37.   Where did they think of hiding Zasha? _______________________________________________

Chapter 8

38.   Who showed up one day when they were playing with Zasha? ____________________________

39.   What was Katia looking for? _______________________________________________________

40.   Katia told them that they found dog hairs on the dead man’s clothes.  She took the dog hairs to a dog breeder named _______________________________________________.

41.   What did Katia say this man was trying to do? _______________________________________

42.   Did Katia suspect the dead man to be a spy?  Yes or No

Chapter 9

43.   What happened in this chapter? ___________________________________________________

Chapter 10

44.   Who found them in this chapter? (A) _______________________________________________

45.   What happened? _______________________________________________________________

46.   How did they escape A? __________________________________________________________

Chapter 11

47.   What was Mrs. Tarkov reading? ______________________________________

48.   What did Mrs.Tarkov & Mikhail discover about Zasha? _________________________________

Chapter 12

49.   Where did Mikhail and Nikolai go? ________________________________________________

50.   Why did they go? ______________________________________________________________________________

51.   What happened to them? _________________________________________________________

Chapter 13

52.   What was the name of the Kennel owner? (A) ______________________________________

53.   What did A show them? ________________________________________

54.   Did A ask them if they own a dog? Yes  No

55.   What did A tell them at the end of the chapter? ______________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 14

56.   What did the Tarkov’s talked about in this chapter? ______________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 15

57.   What was the Tarlov family looking for at the beginning of the chapter? ______________________________________________________________________________

58.   Who found a good hiding place? ____________________________________________

59.   Where was the hiding place? ________________________________________

Chapter 16

60. Write a short summary. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 17

61.   What was Katia’s secret? __________________________________________________________

62.   What did Rina suggest they give Katia? ______________________________________________

Chapter 18

63.   Who did Mikhail speak to in this chapter? (A)________________________________________

64.   What did A tell Mikhail the villagers of Tikhvin find? __________________________________

65.   Who did Mikhail tell A that he spoke to? ________________________________

66.   What was Petr’s last name? __________________________________________

67.   Who is coming to Vasily to speak to Irina? ____________________________________

Chapter 19

68.   What did Nikolai & Mikhail plan to tell/do if Petr’s wife asks about Zasha? __________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 20

69.   Who showed up at the Tarkov’s out of breath because he was running? (A) ________________

70.   What did A want? _______________________________________________________________

71.   What did Mikhail decide to give A? _______________________________________

Chapter 21

72.   Who showed up to the Tarkov’s house? _____________________________________________

73.   As the men were knocking loud at the door, what did Mikhail & Dimitri get from the closet? ________________________________________________________________

74.   As Rina unlocked the door, what did the 3 men do? __________________________________

75.   What happened when the men ran into the house? ___________________________________

76.   Who showed up to help? ________________________________________________

77.   What did they find in the back of the yellow truck? ___________________________________

78.   Where did Dimitri & the Tarkov’s take the three men? _____________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 22

79.   Did the police captain believe them at first that the three men were dog thieves? _________________________________________________________________________

80.   What convinced the police captain that they were thieves? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

81.   Irina showed up to the police station with whom? ____________________________________

Chapter 23

82.   What did Mikhail tell the police captain? __________________________________________

83.   What decision did the police captain make regarding Zasha? __________________________

84.   Who gets the rest of the puppies? ______________________________

Chapter 24

85.   Who shows up first at the police station? _______________________________________

86.   Who shows up next? __________________________________________

87.   What did Dimitri offer Katia? __________________________________________________

Chapter 25

88.   Who was at the Tarkov’s house when they returned with the dogs? _________________________________________________________________________

89.   What surprise did the soldiers have for the Tarkov family? _________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 26

90.   Where did Constantin say he was for the last year and a half? ____________________________

91.   Where was the prison camp? _______________________________________________

92.   How did Constantin get out of the camp? ___________________________________________

93.   When was the camp liberated? ____________________________________________________

94.   What month is it now? ________________________________________________________

95.   Was Constantin happy to see Zasha? ______________________________________________________________________________

96.   Write 5 things you have learned about the war by reading this book? _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Answer Key

Update 9/15/24

Saving Zasha - Reading Comprehension

Challenging Comprehension Questions

1. Analyze Mikhail's motivations throughout the story. What drives his actions, and how do they

reflect the historical context of post-war Russia?

2. Compare and contrast the relationship between Mikhail and Nikolai. How does their dynamic

evolve, and what events cause these changes?

3. Discuss the significance of the German shepherd, Zasha, in the novel. How does Zasha

symbolize different things to different characters?

4. Evaluate the role of trust and secrecy in the story. How do these themes impact the decisions

made by Mikhail's family?

5. How does the author use setting to enhance the mood of the story? Provide specific examples

from the text.

6. What moral dilemmas do the characters face, and how do they resolve them? Discuss at least

two dilemmas in detail.

7. How does the theme of survival manifest differently in the actions of the adults versus the children

in the book?

8. What is the role of fear in shaping the behaviors of the characters? Give examples from the story

to support your answer.

9. Analyze how the author portrays the complexities of post-war life in Russia. What techniques

does she use to convey this environment?

10. Imagine a different ending to the story where Zasha is discovered by the authorities. How might

this alter the characters' relationships and the overall message of the novel?

Try this reading program for your child!