Theme 23

Read:

One day Michael's new friend, Brice, invited him over for dinner. Brice's family had a lot of money and Michael was amazed at how big their house was. His family's whole apartment could probably fit in Brice's living room.Michael's amazement turned to envy when he saw Brice's bedroom. Brice had his own computer, a big screen TV, and about every video game that was ever made! Michael had to share his tiny room with his brother and all they had was a shelf full of books. When it was time for dinner, the boys went down to the dining room and sat at a long, fancy table. No one else came to sit with them. A woman served them their dinner and cleaned up after they were done. “Is that your mom?" Michael asked. “No, that's Ana, our maid." Brice replied. “My parents always work late. I almost never see them before I go to bed." Michael thought about how his own family always ate dinner together. He thought about how his dad helped him with his homework and how his mom always came in to say goodnight to him at bedtime. Suddenly, he didn't feel so envious of Brice anymore.

What is the theme of this passage?

• Michael's parents are better than Brice's.

• You should not be envious of other people.

• There are more important things than money.

Read:

Sam had wanted to be a writer for as long as he could remember. He was always writing stories. In fifth grade his school had a short story contest. Sam worked on his entry for weeks. When he won first prize, which came with a check for $100, his classmates kept saying how lucky he was. Sam continued to write through middle school. In high school he took every English and writing class that he could. He even took a special writing class over the summer. Sam applied for three writing scholarships for college and got two of them! His brother, who had not applied for any scholarships, said that he was really lucky. Sam worked hard in college. He became the editor of the college newspaper and started posting his stories on the internet. Toward the end of his senior year, one of his writing instructors told his class about well-known magazine that was looking to hire a junior writer. Hundreds of students applied for the job, including Sam. Sam worked for hours on his application letter. When he was selected for an interview, he spent days getting ready. Sam impressed the editors and got the job. “Man, how did you get so lucky?" asked one of his classmates.

“Luck has nothing to do with it." replied Sam.

What is the theme?

• Sam got the job because he worked hard.

• You make your own luck.

• Some people are lucky and others are not.

Read: Ethan had never learned to swim. He hadn't really needed to in the city where he had lived. But then his family moved to a new town. The town was on a lake and it soon became clear that everyone hung out down by the lake all summer long. Ethan's family had moved in the spring and Ethan had made some great new friends at the end of the school year. But now he had a big problem. Everyone just assumed he could swim and he was too embarrassed to set them straight. So far, no one had really noticed that he never went into the water. Then one day his friends decided they wanted to sit on the dock instead of on the beach. Ethan knew it would look strange if he did not come along, so he followed them out onto the dock. When they got past the shallow part of the lake, the boys started to horse around, and pretty soon they were pushing each other into the water. Suddenly, Ethan felt hands on his back. He lost his balance and plunged into the cold water. Down, down he sunk. Fortunately, the lifeguard was paying attention and was able to save Ethan from drowning. What is the theme?

• You should never swim without a lifeguard.

• If you can't swim, don't go to a lake.

• Speak up and tell the truth, even if it is hard.

Read: Cody had not studied for the big math test. When he got his test, he quickly realized that he had no idea how to solve the problems. Luckily, Cody sat right behind Emily. Emily was the best math student in the class and he could see her paper. Cody copied all of Emily's answers. The next day when Mrs. Jenkins passed back the graded tests, she told that class that only two students had gotten A's. Since these two students had done so well, she would have them explain some of the more challenging problems to the class. Emily was first. Mrs. Jenkins wrote a problem on the board. Emily solved it easily and explained each step to the class. Then it was Cody's turn. Again, Mrs. Jenkins wrote a problem on the board. Of course, Cody did not know how to solve the problem. A long moment passed as Cody stood in front of the board trying to figure out what to do. Some of his classmates started to whisper and snicker. “Can you solve this problem?" Mrs. Jenkins finally asked. Humiliated, Cody just shook his head. Now everyone knew he had cheated and he was in big trouble. What is the theme?

• Cheating does not pay off in the end.

• Cody got in trouble for cheating on his test

• It is important to study for a test.

Read: Mara's family lived next door to a very grumpy old lady named Mrs. Olson. Mrs. Olson was always yelling at Mara's family for making too much noise, or leaving toys in the driveway, or letting their grass grow too long. One day, Mara was playing in the front yard when Mrs. Olson dropped a whole bag of groceries on her porch. Mara rushed to help. Despite Mrs. Olson's objections, Mara helped her to bring the groceries inside and to clean up the broken jar of applesauce. The next day, Mrs. Olson called Mara over to her house. At first, Mara was a little scared. But Mrs. Olson just wanted her to help get some boxes down from the attic. After that, Mara started helping Mrs. Olson around the house a few times a week. Sometimes, Mrs. Olson would offer her tea and the two of them would sit at Mrs. Olson's big kitchen table and drink their tea and chat. The years passed and Mara grew up and went to college, but whenever she came home, she always made sure to visit Mrs. Olson. One day, Mara got a letter from a lawyer. Mrs. Olson had died in her sleep. Mara was sad, but also surprised. The letter said that Mrs. Olson had thousands of dollars in the bank and she left it all to Mara. What is the theme?

• Sometimes grumpy people have a lot of money.

• Mara is a very kind person.

• Treat people with kindness.

Read: Mr. Jones decided to take his family camping. It was a beautiful weekend and the family was excited about the trip. So he packed up the car and away they went. At first they had trouble finding an empty campsite. Most of the other campers had made reservations ahead of time. When they finally found one, Dad asked the kids, Tim and Katie, to pitch the tent. It wasn't long before Tim reported that he could not find the tent stakes. Sure enough, they were nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, mom was trying to light the portable stove, but Dad had forgotten the matches. Not only that, they did not have a can opener to open the can of spaghetti sauce they had brought for dinner or a pot big enough to cook the noodles. Then Katie discovered that they had forgotten to bring the sleeping bags! It soon became clear that camping was not going to happen. Grumpily, Dad packed everything back into the car and they drove back to the city. They picked up a pizza on the way home and everyone slept in their own beds that night. What is the theme?

• Plan ahead and be prepared.

• Don't go camping without sleeping bags.

• Mr. Jones is not very good at camping.

What is the best definition of THEME?

• The location and time of the story.

• The events that occur in a story.

• The universal truth, moral or idea that the author wants to express.

• The author's purpose for writing a story.

A novel or movie can have more than 1 theme.

• False

• True

Read this paragraph and choose the best theme:

• live life to the fullest

• in order to succeed, one has to take risks

• people or animals are safer in a large number - more support and teamwork

• Always preserve because you never know how close you are to succedding