★Point of View
Grade 4 Reading Worksheet
Read the story. Circle the sentence that tells what a character is thinking or feeling.
Read this first
The Closed Garage Door
I woke up on my tenth birthday and raced downstairs. I expected balloons, or at least a "Happy birthday, Inés!" Instead, Mamá was reading the newspaper, and Papá was searching for his car keys. Last year, Papá had made pancakes shaped like the number nine.
"Good morning," Mamá said. That was all.
I ate my cereal slowly. I poked at it until it turned soggy. Nobody said a word about my birthday. Maybe they were too busy. Maybe they had simply forgotten. My chest felt tight, and I stared into my bowl.
After breakfast, my brother Mateo came in from the garage. He had a smudge of yellow paint on his nose. When he saw me, he quickly shut the garage door behind him.
"What were you doing in there?" I asked.
"Nothing," he said. "Looking for my soccer ball." But his soccer ball was sitting right by the front door. I decided he was just being strange, as usual.
All morning, I heard whispers and the buzz of a drill. Whenever I walked into the kitchen, everyone stopped talking. Once, I heard Mateo laugh, and Papá said, "Shh!" Papá said he was "fixing the shelves." Mamá told me to go read in my room. I sat on my bed with a book, but I read the same page four times. I felt like a guest in my own house.
At lunchtime, Mamá called me to the backyard. I trudged outside, expecting to pull weeds in the garden. Instead, my whole family was standing beside a wooden bench under the lemon tree. It was painted bright yellow, and my name was carved on the back.
"Happy birthday!" they shouted.
I looked at the bench, and then at Mateo's yellow nose. Finally, I understood.
Mateo grinned. "Do you know how hard it is to keep a secret from you?" he asked.
I had been so busy feeling forgotten that I had missed every clue.
- My chest felt tight, and I stared into my bowl.
- He had a smudge of yellow paint on his nose.
- Mamá was reading the newspaper.
- Papá was searching for his car keys.
- I felt like a guest in my own house.
- Whenever I walked into the kitchen, everyone stopped talking.
- I sat on my bed with a book.
- Mamá told me to go read in my room.
- I decided he was just being strange, as usual.
- But his soccer ball was sitting right by the front door.
- "Nothing," he said.
- When he saw me, he quickly shut the garage door behind him.
- I had been so busy feeling forgotten that I had missed every clue.
- Mateo grinned.
- Instead, my whole family was standing beside a wooden bench under the lemon tree.
- It was painted bright yellow, and my name was carved on the back.
