Name______Class Period______

English 8Date______

“All Summer in a Day” - Reading Comprehension

Multiple Choice

Identify the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.

____1. What are the children doing as “All Summer in a Day” opens?

a. / They are teasing Margot.
b. / They are reciting poetry.
c. / They are peering out a window.
d. / They are pushing Margot into a closet.

____2. What does this passage from “All Summer in a Day” suggest about the setting?

A thousand forests had been crushed under the rain and grown up a thousand times to be crushed again. And this was the way life was forever on the planet Venus.

a. / Venus was a thousand years old.
b. / Venus had rain most of the time.
c. / There had never been forests in Venus.
d. / There were no forests in Venus.

____3. What do the details in this passage tell you about Bradbury's purpose?

And this was the way life was forever on the planet Venus and this was the schoolroom of the children of the rocket men and women who had come to a raining world to set up civilization and live out their lives.

a. / He wishes to inform.
b. / He wishes to persuade.
c. / He wishes to question.
d. / He wishes to entertain.

____4. What does the following passage from “All Summer in a Day” say about Margot?

She was a very frail girl who looked as if she had been lost in the rain for years and the rain had

washed out the blue from her eyes and the red from her mouth and the yellow from her hair.

a. / Margot has been out in the rain for years.
b. / Margot is pale and delicate.
c. / Margot's eyes have no color.
d. / Margot no longer wears lipstick.

____5. How do the children show their disrespect for Margot?

a. / They lose her in the tunnel.
b. / They force her to take a shower.
c. / They lock her in a closet.
d. / They push her out the door.

____6. In “All Summer in a Day,” why do the children say “Yes!” when their teacher asks, “Are we all here?”

a. / They do not want to wait for Margot.
b. / They have forgotten about Margot.
c. / They are afraid to tell what they did.
d. / They want Margot to miss the sun.

____7. What does the following passage tell you about the setting of “All Summer in a Day”?

The children lay out, laughing, on the jungle mattress, and heard it sigh and squeak under them,

resilient and alive.

a. / The children have put their beds outside.
b. / Venus is covered with thick vegetation.
c. / The vegetation on Venus can talk.
d. / The vegetation on Venus is dangerous.

____8. If wind is slackening, which of the following statements is true?

a. / It is not as windy now as it was a little while ago.
b. / It is windier now than it was a little while ago.
c. / The wind is now mixed with rain and sleet.
d. / The wind is creating dangerous driving conditions.

____9. In which of the following sentences is a personal pronoun used as the subject?

a. / She would play no games with them in the echoing tunnels.
b. / “Now, don't go too far,” called the teacher after them.
c. / The door slid back and the smell of the … world came in to them.
d. / A few cold drops fell on their noses and their cheeks and their mouths.

____10. In “All Summer in a Day,” how does William show his disrespect for Margot?

a. / He refuses to let her play tag with the rest of them.
b. / He refuses to listen when she reads her poem.
c. / He runs away and leaves her alone in the tunnel.
d. / He shoves her and tells her the sun will not shine.

____11. What do the details in this passage tell you about the author's purpose?

They stopped running and stood in the great jungle that covered Venus, that grew and never

stopped growing, tumultuously, even as you watched it. It was a nest of octopi, clustering up

great arms of fleshlike weed, wavering, flowering in this brief spring.

a. / He wishes to inform.
b. / He wishes to persuade.
c. / He wishes to create an image.
d. / He wishes to teach a lesson.

____12. What does this passage from “All Summer in a Day” suggest about the setting?

They looked at everything and savored everything. Then, wildly, like animals escaped from their

caves, they ran and ran in shouting circles. They ran for an hour and did not stop running.

a. / Venus is full of caves.
b. / Venus is full of animals.
c. / One can feel free on Venus.
d. / There is much to see on Venus.

____13. Which details does the author of “All Summer in a Day” use to inform readers that the children feel

guilty about locking Margot in the closet?

I. They cannot look into each other's eyes.

II. Their faces are solemn and pale.

III. They run around in the sun.

IV. They look at their hands and feet.

a. / I, II, III
b. / II, III, IV
c. / I, II, IV
d. / I, III, IV

____14. In “All Summer in a Day,” which setting does the author use to show the children's cruelty?

a. / the shower rooms
b. / the jungle
c. / the schoolroom closet
d. / the underground tunnel

____15. Who is the author of the story?

a. / Rudyard Kipling
b. / Richard Peck
c. / Shel Silverstein
d. / Ray Bradbury

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