The Captive

​The Captive

From Pearson Education Be a Better Reader

​ From the day she learned to walk, Katie's parents had warned her not to wander past the wire fence. The fence divided the Cavanaughs' farm from the open prairie that stretched miles like a dusty, green sea. A child could get lost in the high, waving grass. Katie's mother would remind her about her sister Hannah. "Hannah was no older than you the day that she disappeared," Mama would say. Then for a week or two, Katie would stay close to home. She couldn't think of anything worse than to be separated from her mother and father.

Multiple Choice

The setting of the story is

• a Sioux village

• An army camp

• a farm on the prairie

• a large city

​ Katie had never seen her sister. Hannah had been lost before Katie was ever born. Katie often thought about the fun that they might have had together. She liked to imagine that one day a beautiful stranger would come driving up the road in a buggy and it would be Hannah. Katie's mother told her that it was foolish to hope for the impossible. Yet, Katie thought that sometimes even her mother hoped that Hannah was not lost forever.

Multiple Choice

What does the main character most want at the beginning of the story?

• To have her sister back

• To live on the prairie

• To clean the spare bedroom

• To catch a rabbit

Now, more than twelve years after her disappearance, Hannah was coming home! Major Hawkins rode out from Sioux Falls with the wonderful news. His cavalry unit had found Hannah at a Sioux village many miles away. A Lakota woman told them how she had found the lost child many years ago. She had carried her home and raised Hannah like one of her own children. ​

Multiple Choice

The first important event in the story is when:

• Katie is told not to walk past the fence.

• The rabbit was gone from it's sturdy pen.

• Katie cleans the spare bedroom.

• Major Hawkins tells Katie's family that Hannah has been found.

Katie's father and Major Hawkins would bring Hannah back the next day, but the major warned them about Hannah's return. "Hannah might not be able to settle down easily," he said. "She probably has no memory of her childhood before she disappeared. Remember, this is not her real home." Katie found that difficult to believe. How could Hannah not want to live with her real family?

Katie and her mother kept busy all day. They dusted and polished the spare bedroom. They set the white china pitcher and the best towels on the washstand. Katie put her own silver-backed mirror and brush on the dresser. She made the big bed with fresh, clean sheets. She also laid out her newest nightgown for Hannah. Then she and her mother dug up a small wild rosebush that was growing on the other side of the fence. THey put the plant in a clay pot on the mantlepiece in Hannah's room. The lovely marble mantelpiece had been bare. Now, centered above the fireplace, the roses made the room look pretty.

The next day, Hannah arrived with her father, Major Hawkins, and an interpreter. Katie flung open the front door and raced out into the yard, he arms open wide. As she came closer to the tall, young woman, her arms dropped. The cry of welcome died in her throat. Hannah had sun-browned skin and her pale hair hung in a long braid. She had a blanket pulled around her shoulders and beaded moccasins on her feet. She stood staring, looking helpless, as Katie's mother moved forward to embrace her. ​

Multiple Choice

This scene takes place:

• at the back door of the house

• in the yard right outside the house

• on the prairie

• in the Sioux village

Multiple Choice

The most important event in the middle of the story occurs when:

• Hannah comes home

• Katie puts the rosebush on the mantelpiece

• Katie remembers her rabbit

• Katie goes out into the prairie

​ At that moment, Katie remembered the rabbit that she had caught in her trap last winter. It was still alive when she found it. Katie had carried it home gently. She had built a sturdy pen and filled it with fresh wood shavings. The next morning, the rabbit was gone. "It was used to freedom," her mother had explained. Katie wondered if her mother remembered that now.

Multiple Choice

Katie's experience with the rabbit that she caught helps her to believe that people:

• Belong where they are most comfortable

• Are cruel to animals

• Should not run away

• Should have pets

Hannah stayed at her new home for almost a month. She never slept in the soft bed or wore her nightgown or used the silver hair brush. She seldom came our of her room. Whenever Katie went into Hannah's room, she always found Hannah looking out the window. Katie's mother and father kept telling her that it was just a matter of time. Hannah would get used to their ways. "After all," Mama said, "we're her real family."​

Multiple Choice

Katie's mother believes that Hannah:

• Is free

• Is not her real daughter

• Should stay for awhile

• Belongs with her real family

Then one night, when Katie went in to say goodnight, Hannah was gone. Her window was open wide. Katie looked around the empty room. It looked just as it had the day Hannah came, except that the wild roses on the mantelpiece had withered and turned brown. Katie started to run down the stairs to call her mother and father, but then she stopped. The wild roses reminded Katie of the rabbit that she had caught. She would not tell. She would let her parents discover Hannah's absence in the morning. Then Hannah would have a head start on her longer journey back to her family.

Multiple Choice

The climax of the story occurs when

• Katie sees that the roses have withered

• Hannah sleeps in the soft bed

• Katie finds Hannah's room empty

• Hannah speaks in English

Multiple Choice

The story ends when

• Hannah leaves the Cavanaughs' home

• Katie says goodnight to Hannah

• Katie gets a new rabbit

• Katie gives Hannah a head start

Multiple Choice

Hannah's room is described in paragraph 5. What change in this setting is mentioned when the room is described again in paragraph 9

• The white china pitcher was missing

• The rosebush had withered and turned brown

• The window was shut

• One moccasin was torn

Multiple Choice

The story takes place

• In the present

• about 150 years ago

• about 1,000 years ago

• in the future

Multiple Choice

Who is the main character in this story?

• Katie's mother

• Major Hawkins

• Hannah

• Katie

Multiple Choice

Which words best describe the main character?

• Kind and understanding

• Selfish and unking

• Shy and unhappy

• Helpless and scare

Multiple Choice

By the end of the story, the main character:

• Has not changed in any important way

• Understands more than she did at the beginning of the story

• Understands less than she did at the beginning of the story

• Does not understand why she left