Reading Comprehension: Jack and the Giant Pepper (elementary)
Name: ______
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Jack and the Giant Pepper
Once there was a boy named Jack. He lived in the forest with his
mother and their pet panda bear, Archibald. They were happy, but they were very poor. One day, Mom said, "Jack, we have no money left. You must sell Archibald at the market. Buy food and seeds. Don't buy anything silly!" Jack liked his panda, but he was very hungry. So he walked with Archibald through the forest to the market. Suddenly, a little purple man with shiny silver hair jumped onto the path! "Gushing grape juice!" he croaked. "If you give me that panda, I'll give you something magical."
Magical. Jack shivered happily. "But we need food and seeds."
"How about this seed?" The old man showed Jack a seed that glittered
like a ruby. "It's magic. It’ll grow into the biggest pepper in the world."
"A giant pepper plant!" Jack said. "I can climb up the vine to the clouds
where the mean giant lives! I can steal his treasures and never work again!"
Jack traded the panda, took the seed home, and planted it. The next morning, the magic plant had grown. But it wasn’t a giant vine, it was a giant pepper. The plant was average. The pepper was the size of a house. "I can’t climb a pepper to the giant!" Jack said. "You must sell the pepper," Mom said. "Please buy food and seeds!"
Jack rolled the pepper to market. He had to roll it up a big hill. Suddenly, up came the old man. He was riding Archibald!
"Is that pepper for sale?" asked the man. "Not to you!" Jack said.
"Not even for a magic toothbrush?" The old man smiled. His teeth
shone like the moon. "How would you like to never brush your teeth again?"
Jack hesitated. He did hate to brush his teeth. Then he said, "No! I must buy food and seeds!" "I want that pepper," said the man.
"That's a shame," said Jack.
"Give it to me!" the man screamed. He leaped from the panda towards Jack! Jack dodged, and the man crashed into the pepper (which, like all peppers, was hollow). Then the pepper rolled away with him down the hill!
So Jack rode the panda home. He'd never ridden him before. It was fun. "Not another panda!" Mom said. But Jack explained everything. "I'm happy to see Archibald," Mom said. "But we still have to sell him."
"I have a better idea," Jack said. "We have the only panda around here. Why don't we teach people how to ride Archibald?" And so they did. Everyone cheerfully paid big bucks to learn how to ride a panda. From then on, Jack had plenty of money. And he never saw the old man again.
Exercise A: What did Jack do?
Answer each question. If your instructor doesn't mind, you can look for
answers in the story.
1. Remember this part of the story:
"I can’t climb a pepper to the giant!" Jack said.
How do you think Jack felt? Circle the word that tells how.
Sleepy angry bored merry
2. What did Jack’s mother want Jack to buy?
3. How long did it take the magic plant to grow?
4. Why did Jack consider the offer of the magic toothbrush?
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5. How did Jack make money at the end of the story?
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6. What incident in the story might have given Jack the idea for this way of making money?
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7. How did the old man leave? Why would his exit have been different if
this story had been called Jack and the Giant Onion?
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Reading Comprehension: Jack and the Giant Pepper (elementary)