Name: ______
GHOST GAME - Close Reading Homework
For this homework, what you will need to do is read the passage and answer questions on it. Simple! Make sure you read the question carefully and check your answers once you have finished.
Ghost Game – Chapter Six Extract
1. At that moment, the lights went off and the TV went dark.
2. Danny jolted with shock. Had he done that?
3. “Damn,” his dad said, getting up and stumbling towards the window to look through the curtains. “The lights are on over the road – something must have tripped our fuse. The fuse box is in the cellar and we haven’t got a torch or any candles.”
4. Danny stood in the hall, listening to Dad swearing as he groped his way down to the cellar in the dark.
5. “It’s cold as the grave down here!” Dad called. “Urgghhh, cobwebs too – got one all over my face.”
6. A movement caught Danny’s eye and he saw a point of green light move slowly across the hall and rise above the staircase. It grew larger, glowing and changing shape, floating like one of the bubbles in a lava lamp. And now another one suddenly flicked on. And then a third. A fourth. Four bubbles of light. They twisted round and round, spinning faster, so that they left streaks of light as they moved.
7. And now the cold hit him. His breath was steaming and the air was so icy that it seemed to clamp to his skin. The lights stopped moving and, as they hung there, Danny had the horrible feeling that they were eyes, looking at him.
8. He stepped back and bumped into the wall. The lights glowed brighter for an instant as if they had noticed his movement, as if they’d seen that he was trapped. They started coming towards him.
9. “Dad!” he tried to shout, but the word came out as a whisper as if the air had frozen his throat.
10. The lights were around him now: one to his left, one to his right and the other two directly in front of him. He was surrounded. They stopped moving and he felt as if they were watching him, examining him.
11. “Dad!” This time his voice was louder. “Dad, quick!”
12. “What?”
13. “Quick!” Danny called.
14. “Hold on a bit. Ah, here it is.”
15. Suddenly, the light flashed on and the sound of the TV burst from the front room. The four glowing bubbles disappeared, lost in the brightness. The temperature went back to normal. It all happened so fast that Danny felt stunned. Dark to light. Cold to warm. The menace gone.
Read paragraphs 1-5
1. What did Danny think had happened when the lights went out?
______
(1)
2. Why do you think Danny’s dad looked outside after the power went off?
______
(1)
3. “Danny stood in the hall, listening to Dad swearing as he groped his way down to the cellar in the dark.” (Paragraph 4) Why did Dad have to “grope” his way downstairs?
______
(1)
4. “It’s cold as the grave down here!” (Paragraph 5) What technique is used here? Circle one of the following:
· A metaphor
· A Simile
· Onomatopoeia
· Personification (1)
Read paragraphs 6-8
5. Describe what Danny saw in paragraph 6. Try to use your own words as best as you can.
______
______
(2)
6. “And now the cold hit him. His breath was steaming and the air was so icy that it seemed to clamp to his skin.” (Paragraph 7) Circle the correct definition of the word “clamp”:
· To brush against something
· To hold on tightly to something
· To bump into something
· To push something (1)
7. What did Danny think was the reason for the lights glowing brighter in paragraph 8?
______
______
(1)
Read paragraphs 9-11
8. What made Danny feel “as if the air had frozen his throat”? Why couldn’t he shout for help?
______
______
(1)
9. What did Danny imagine the lights were doing once they had surrounded him?
______
______
(1)
10. “…he felt as if they were watching him, examining him.” (Paragraph 10) Circle the correct definition of the word “examine”:
· To study closely
· To look at
· To intimidate
· To stare at intensely (1)
Read paragraphs 12-15
11. Describe the four things that happened in the house once Danny’s dad found the fuse box.
1. ______
2. ______
3. ______
4. ______
(4)
Total Marks: 15