Swarms of Terror

In the introduction, author Lauren Tarshis portrays pioneer life in the American West as

• pleasant and appealing

• new and mysterious

• difficult and dangerous

• simple and boring

Which line supports the answer you chose in Question 1?

• “Minnesota had become the 32nd state less than 20 years earlier, in 1858.” (p. 13)

• “From their one-room house, they could see nothing but miles of flat land covered with tall, waving grass.” (p. 13)

• “The newcomers arrived with high hopes of establishing prosperous farms.” (p. 13)

• “And the family contended with constant threats: deadly fevers, lightning strikes, rattlesnakes, black-out blizzards, wildfires that sent waves of flame racing across the grass.” (p. 14)

On page 13, Tarshis writes that young Laura Ingalls knew “in her gut” that something terrible was about to happen. What does it mean to know something in your gut?

• to be an expert about it

• to just know it, even though you can’t explain why

• to be confused about it

• to have a stomachache

According to “Swarms of Terror,” locusts

• spread deadly diseases.

• did not exist until the 1800s

• are no longer as large nor as destructive to crops as they once were.

• are found only in North America.

The main purpose of the article “Growing Up on a Farm” is to

• inform readers about the state of Minnesota

• give readers a sense of what it’s like to live on a farm today.

• describe the latest high-tech farm machinery.

• compare corn and soybean crops.

Both “Swarms of Terror” and “Growing Up on a Farm” support the idea that

• farming requires hard work and long hours.

• Rocky Mountain locusts are now extinct

• computerized mapping tools make planning easier for farmers.

• most crops grown in the U.S. are used to feed animals.