Sister Hood of the Traveling Pants Excerpt By Ann Brashares Once there were four girls who shared a pair of pants.The girls were all different sizes and shapes, and yet the pants fit each of them. You may think this is a suburban myth. But I know it's true, because I am one of them —one of the sisters of the Traveling Pants.We discovered their magic last summer, purely by accident. The four of us were splitting up for the first time in our lives. Carmen had gotten them from a secondhand place without even bothering to try them on. She was going to throw them away, but by chance,Tibby spotted them. First Tibby tried them; then me,Lena; then Bridget; then Carmen.By the time Carmen pulled them on, we knew something extraordinary was happening. If the same pants fit — and I mean really fit — the four of us, they aren't ordinary. They don't belong completely to the world of things you can see and touch. My sister, Effie,claims I don't believe in magic, and maybe I didn't then. But after the first summer of the Traveling Pants, I do. What is the main idea?

Four friends were connected through a special pair of pants.

A pair of pants called the Traveling pants.

Carmen finding a pair of pants from a second-hand shop.

Sea of Monsters: Percy & the Olympians Excerpt By Rick Riordan My nightmare started like this.I was standing on a deserted street in some little beach town. It was the middle of the night. A storm was blowing.Wind and rain ripped at the palm trees along the sidewalk. Pink and yellow stucco buildings lined the street, their windows boarded up. A block away, past a line of hibiscus bushes, the ocean churned. Florida, I thought. Though I wasn’t sure how I knew that. I’d never been to Florida. Then I heard hooves clattering against the pavement. I turned and saw my friend Grover running for his life. Yeah, I said hooves.Grover is a satyr. From the waist up, he looks like a typical gangly teenager with a peach-fuzz goatee and a bad case of acne. He walks with a strange limp, but unless you happen to catch him without his pants on (which I don’t recommend), you’d never know there was anything unhuman about him. Baggy jeans and fake feet hide the fact that he’s got furry hindquarters and hooves. Grover had been my best friend in sixth grade. He’d gone on this adventure with me and a girl named Annabeth to save the world, but I hadn’t seen him since last July, when he set off alone on a dangerous quest—a quest no satyr had ever returned from. What is the main idea of the dream?

The main character is in danger.

Florida is in the middle of a hurricane.

A Series of Unfortunate Events #1: The Bad Beginning Excerpt By Lemony Snicket If you are interested in stories with happy endings,you would be better off reading some other book.In this book, not only is there no happy ending,there is no happy beginning and very few happy things in the middle. This is because not very many happy things happened in the lives of the three Baudelaire youngsters. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire were intelligent children, and they were charming, and resourceful, and had pleasant facial features, but they were extremely unlucky, and most everything that happened to them was rife with misfortune, misery, and despair.I'm sorry to tell you this, but that is how the story goes. What is the main idea?

A warning about the story and it's sad content.

A description about the story to come.

A declaration about the Baudelaire family.

A beginning for the end of the story.

Life of Pi Excerpt By Yann Martel I was alone and orphaned, in the middle of the Pacific, hanging on to an oar, an adult tiger in front of me, sharks beneath me, a storm raging about me.Had I considered my prospects in the light of reason, I surely would have given up and let go of the oar,hoping that I might drown before being eaten. But I don’t recall that I had a single thought during those first minutes of relative safety. I didn’t even notice daybreak. I held on to the oar, I just held on, God only knows why. The elements allowed me to go on living.The lifeboat did not sink. Richard Parker kept out of sight. The sharks prowled but did not lunge. The waves splashed me but did not pull me off. I watched the ship as it disappeared with much burbling and belching. Lights flickered and went out. I looked about for my family, for survivors, for another lifeboat, for anything that might bring me hope. There was nothing. Only rain, marauding waves of black ocean and the flotsam of tragedy. The darkness melted away from the sky. The rain stopped. What is the main idea?

The narrator explains the shipwreck and his survival.

The tiger keeps the survivors from safety.

The ship sinks with no survivors.

The elements allow the narrator to survive.

The Scorch Trials Excerpt By James Dashner She spoke to him before the world fell apart.Hey, are you still asleep?Thomas shifted in his bed, felt a darkness around him like air turned solid, pressing in. At first he panicked; his eyes snapped open as he imagined himself back in the Box--that horrible cube of cold metal that had delivered him to the Glade and the Maze. But there was a faint light, and lumps of dim shadow gradually emerged throughout the huge room. Bunk beds.Dressers. The soft breaths and gurgly snores of boys deep in slumber. Relief filled him. He was safe now, rescued and delivered to this dormitory. No more worries. No more Grievers.No more death.Tom?A voice in his head. A girl's. Not audible, not visible. But he heard it all the same, though never could he have explained to anyone how it worked. Exhaling a deep breath, he relaxed into his pillow, his razor-edged nerves settling down from that fleeting moment of terror. He spoke back, forming the words with his thoughts. Teresa? What is the main idea?

Tom realizes he is safe as he talks to Teresa in his mind.

Teresa spoke to Tom before the world fell apart.

Tom thinks about his surroundings.

The narrator explains how the characters are able to communicate.

If I Stay Excerpt By Gayle Forman I edge closer and now I know that it's not Teddy lying there.It's me. The blood from my chest has seeped through my shirt, skirt, and sweater, and is now pooling like paint drops on the snow. One of my legs is askew, the skin and muscle peeled away so that I can see white streaks of bone. My eyes are closed and my dark brown hair is wet and rusty with blood. I spin away. This isn't right. This cannot be happening. We are a family, going on a drive. This isn't real. I must have fallen asleep in the car. No! Stop. Please stop.Please wake up! I scream into the chilly air. It's cold. My breath should smoke. It doesn't. I stare down at my wrist, the one that looks fine, untouched by blood and gore, and I pinch as hard as I can. I don't feel a thing. I have had nightmares before—falling nightmares, playing-a-cello recital-without-knowing-the-music nightmares, breakup-up with-Adam-nightmares—but I have always been able to command myself to open my eyes, to lift my head from the pillow, to halt the horror movie playing behind my closed lids. I try again. Wake up! I scream. Wake up! Wakeupwakeupwakeup! But I can't. I don't. What is the main idea?

Unable to wake up, the girl looks at her injured self after a car accident.

The girl thinks she is in a nightmare.

The girl is bleeding and has a broken leg.

Reading Comprehension & Main Idea Quiz

1.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

3 mins • 1 pt

When we think of seaweed, we usually picture brown or green plants a foot or so in length. Seaweeds are also of other colors. Some are red. Some kinds grow to lengths of a hundred feet! These form giant seaweed forests, where many kinds of fish take shelter. What is the main idea?

Why some seaweed grows so large

What seaweed is like

Why seaweed is red

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

2.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

3 mins • 1 pt

One dinosaur had a brain that weighed about as much as three pencils. Its body weighed ten tons and was over twenty feet in length. As you can guess, this dinosaur did not think too clearly. It wasn't the world's brightest dinosaur! What is the main idea of this paragraph?

How big one dinosaur was

What one dinosaur's brain was like

Why one dinosaur had a small brain

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

3.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

3 mins • 1 pt

Not all animals that live in the water are fish. Frogs and tadpoles, for example, spend part of their lives in water. They are amphibians, not true fish. Whales and seals are warm-blooded mammals. Some snakes live partly in water too. What is the main idea?

Why just fish live in water

Why whales live in water

Which animals live in water

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

4.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

1 min • 1 pt

The red, green and amber traffic light is a safety signal. Yet some drivers don't see it. Some drivers don't obey it. People cross the street without looking at it. Often the traffic light turns out to be a signal of death. What is the main idea?

What the traffic light signals

Why all people obey traffic lights

Why all people disobey traffic lights

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

5.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

1 min • 1 pt

A man from another country counted all the car accidents. He found out that cars painted pink or any light hade seem to be safer. The light colors are more easily seen. Cars of two or three different colors may be even safer. What is the main idea?

Which color cars are safest

How to paint a car

What colors can't be seen

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

6.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

1 min • 1 pt

Great waves that sweep in from the ocean are known as tidal waves. Actually a tidal wave has nothing to do with the tides. It is caused by an undersea earthquake called a seaquake, or by storms far out to sea. A tidal wave may rise over fifty feet high. What is the main idea?

How high tidal waves may be

How to start a tidal wave

What tidal waves are like

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

7.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

1 min • 1 pt

The Navajo Indians have greatly increased in numbers in the last one hundred years. One hundred years ago there were about six thousand Navajo. Today there are fifteen times that many Navajo Indians - ninety thousand. Today the Navajo is the biggest Indian tribe. What is the main idea?

What the life of Navajo Indians is like

Why there are so few Indians

How much the Navajo tribe has grown

Tags

CCSS.RI.4.2

CCSS.RI.5.2

CCSS.RL.3.2

CCSS.RL.4.2

CCSS.RL.5.2

8.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

5 mins • 1 pt

The Outsiders Excerpt
By S. E. Hinton
When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home. I was wishing I looked like Paul Newman---he looks tough and I don't--- but I guess my own looks aren't so bad. I have light-brown, almost-red hair and greenish-gray eyes. I wish they were more gray, because I hate most guys that have green eyes, but I have to be content with what I have.My hair is longer than a lot of boys wear theirs,squared off in back and long at the front and sides, but I am a greaser and most of my neighborhood rarely bothers to get a haircut.Besides, I look better with long hair.
What is the main idea?

The narrator likes movies.

The narrator wishes he was Paul Newman.

The narrator is content with his appearance.

The narrator looks better with long hair.

Tags

CCSS.RI.4.2

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RL.4.2

CCSS.RL.5.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

9.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

45 sec • 1 pt

Matilda Excerpt
By Roald Dahl
By the time she was three, Matilda had taught herself to read by studying newspapers and magazines that lay around the house. At the age of four, she could read fast and well and she naturally began hankering after books. The only book in the whole of this enlightened household was something called Easy Cooking belonging to her mother, and when she had read this from cover to cover and had learnt all the recipes by heart, she decided she wanted something more interesting. "Daddy," she said, "do you think you could buy me a book?" "A book,” he said. "Whatd' you want a flaming book for?" "To read, Daddy." "What's wrong with the telly, for heaven's sake? We've got a lovely telly with a twelve-inch screen and now you come asking for a book! You're getting spoiled, my girl!"
What is the main idea?

Matilda can read fast.

Matilda is eager to learn and read more.

Matilda is interested in cookbooks.

Matilda’s dad won’t buy her a new book.

Tags

CCSS.RI.5.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.5.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

10.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

5 mins • 1 pt

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Excerpt
By Roald Dahl
Charlie Bucket stared around the gigantic room in which he now found himself. The place was like a witch’s kitchen! All about him black metal pots were boiling and bubbling on huge stoves, and kettles were hissing and pans were sizzling,and strange iron machines were clanking and spluttering, and there were pipes running all over the ceiling and walls, and the whole place was filled with smoke and steam and delicious rich smells. Mr. Wonka himself had suddenly become even more excited than usual, and anyone could see that this was the room he loved best of all. He was hopping about among the saucepans and the machines like a child among his Christmas presents, not knowing which thing to look at first. He lifted the lid from a huge pot and took a sniff; then he rushed over and dipped a finger into a barrel of sticky yellow stuff and had a taste; then he skipped across to one of the machine sand turned half a dozen knobs this way and that; then he peered anxiously through the glass door of a gigantic oven,rubbing his hands and cackling with delight at what he saw inside. Then he ran over to another machine, a small shiny affair that kept going phut-phut-phut-phut-phut, and every time it went phut, a large green marble dropped out of it into a basket on the floor.
What is the main idea?

Charlie’s discovery of the gigantic room

the boiling pots and kettles

seeing the machine that makes green candy

to learn about the room through Mr.Wonka’s excitement and discoveries

Tags

CCSS.RI.4.2

CCSS.RI.5.2

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

Reading Comprehension & Main Idea

16 questions

When we think of seaweed, we usually picture brown or green plants a foot or so in length. Seaweeds are also of other colors. Some are red. Some kinds grow to lengths of a hundred feet! These form giant seaweed forests, where many kinds of fish take shelter. What is the main idea?

One dinosaur had a brain that weighed about as much as three pencils. Its body weighed ten tons and was over twenty feet in length. As you can guess, this dinosaur did not think too clearly. It wasn't the world's brightest dinosaur! What is the main idea of this paragraph?

Not all animals that live in the water are fish. Frogs and tadpoles, for example, spend part of their lives in water. They are amphibians, not true fish. Whales and seals are warm-blooded mammals. Some snakes live partly in water too. What is the main idea?

The red, green and amber traffic light is a safety signal. Yet some drivers don't see it. Some drivers don't obey it. People cross the street without looking at it. Often the traffic light turns out to be a signal of death. What is the main idea?

A man from another country counted all the car accidents. He found out that cars painted pink or any light hade seem to be safer. The light colors are more easily seen. Cars of two or three different colors may be even safer. What is the main idea?

Great waves that sweep in from the ocean are known as tidal waves. Actually a tidal wave has nothing to do with the tides. It is caused by an undersea earthquake called a seaquake, or by storms far out to sea. A tidal wave may rise over fifty feet high. What is the main idea?

The Navajo Indians have greatly increased in numbers in the last one hundred years. One hundred years ago there were about six thousand Navajo. Today there are fifteen times that many Navajo Indians - ninety thousand. Today the Navajo is the biggest Indian tribe. What is the main idea?

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