Examples:

EOG
1. Which of the following best describes how Marvin feels when he returns to school on Monday?
a. joyful                  b. conceded
c. confused             d. loving
 

Fact/Opinion
What was the name of the game that Marvin’s sister, Linzy, wanted to play at the beginning of the book?

Answer: Unicorns (p. 1 par.5)

Problem/Solution
What was Marvin’s problem on pg. 7?  How did he solve his problem?  How do you predict Marvin will solve his problem?  How would you solve his problem?

Answer: Marvin was scared to tell his friends that he was terrified of riding his new big mountain bike down suicide hill. (p.7 par 4 and 5)
Marvin went inside and purposely called his sister names so that he would have to spend the rest of the afternoon in his room.  This would prevent him from having to go and ride his bike down suicide hill. (p. 8 and 9 par 6-16)
I would tell my friends that my bike was brand new and that I wanted to practice riding it around the neighborhood before I tried to ride it down suicide hill.

Cause/Effect
What or who caused everyone in Marvin’s class to think that he was going to take the dangerous bike ride down suicide hill?

Answer: Stewart told Judy and then the whole class found out by word of mouth. (p. 13 par 4)

Characterization
Choose a character from this section and think of words that describe that character.  Remember to write down the page and paragraph of where you get your characterization.

Example:Linzy-  Marvin’s five year old sister (p. 1 par 4), pest (p.4 par 3), scared of lightning (p. 26 par 2) tries to act brave and overcome her fears (p.28 par 9 and pg 29 par 1 and 2), creative (p. 3 par 7 and 8).
 

Setting
Describe the setting of the story.

Answer: Marvin and his friends are hanging out in Marvin’s backyard trying to find something exciting to do (p. 1)

Compare/Contrast
Compare and Contrast how Marvin and his little sister Linzy feel at the very end of this section.

Answer: Marvin and Linzy are both afraid of different things.  Linzy is afraid of lightning (p. 27-29) and Marvin is scared to death to ride his bicycle(p.10-11).  They are both trying to act brave about their situations.

Main Idea
In a couple of sentences write down the main idea of this section.

Answer:Marvin was terrified to ride his bike down suicide hill and everyone in his class thinks that he is going to on Saturday at twelve and they are all coming to watch him.  He does not want to ride down this hill and he is very nervous about doing so (p. 1-29)

Sequence
What is the secquence of  the major events that took place in this section?

Answer: Marvin and his friends are hanging out in his backyard looking for something exciting to do.  Nick suggests that they ride their bikes down suicide hill.  Marvin is afraid to ride his bike in the first place and he really doesn’t want to ride it down suicide hill.  He decides to get out of the situation by calling his sister names so that his mom will send him to his room for the remainder of the afternoon.  The next day at school Steuart tells everyone that Marvin is going to ride his bike down suicide hill on Saturday.   Then Marvin goes to his brother Jacob’s room and asks him for advice.  Next, Marvin tells his mom hoping that she will tell him that it is too dangerous, but she encourages him to ride his new bike down suicide hill.  Finally, Marvin realizes that he is going to have to ride his bike down suicide hill.

Genre
What is the genre that this book fits in?

Answer: Realistic Fiction

Italics
Why are the words in the last pargraph on page 3 italicized?

Answer: The  words on p. 3 par 8 are italicized because Linzy is singing a song about unicorns and this helps the reader understand this and create a tune in their head.

Point of View
In what point of view is this story written?

Answer: third point of view because it is being told by someone (p.1-29)

Mood
Describe the mood in which you think that the author is trying to create and how does it make you feel?

Answer: The author is trying to create a fearful mood that consists of a problem that the main character does not know how to solve.  It makes the reader feel sorry for him and want to help him.  It makes the reader want to know how Marvin is going to solve his problem.

Figurative Language

Simile
Metaphor
Personification

Click here to return to previous page.