Compare a story with a true account of the same time

Grade 7 Reading Worksheet

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   The Erie Canal (pair: an account and a story)

   The account: The Erie Canal
   [1] The Erie Canal was dug across New York State to connect Lake Erie with the Hudson River, so goods could travel between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic coast. [2] Workers broke ground on July 4, 1817, and the finished canal stretched 363 miles at a cost of about $7 million. [3] It was forty feet wide and only four feet deep, with 83 locks that lifted boats up and down the land. [4] Horses and mules walked along a path beside the water, called the towpath, and pulled the boats by rope. [5] A driver, called a hoggee, led each team. [6] The canal opened on October 26, 1825, when Governor DeWitt Clinton left Buffalo for New York City aboard a boat named the Seneca Chief. [7] At the end of the trip, he poured a keg of Lake Erie water into New York Harbor to celebrate a “wedding of the waters.”

   The story: On the Towpath
   [8] On a gray October morning in 1825, twelve-year-old Ren Brandt walked beside two mules on the towpath, holding a coil of rope in chapped hands. [9] Mr. Brandt steered the family's canal boat while Ren kept the team at a steady pace. [10] The banks were crowded with villagers who had come to watch the first boats pass. [11] Ren had hauled lumber and grain for two summers, but nobody had ever cheered for Ren before. [12] Far ahead, Ren could see a bright flag on the boat that carried the governor. [13] “Keep the rope loose, Ren,” Mr. Brandt called, “or we will scrape the bank again.” [14] Ren patted the nearest mule gently and steered the team around a muddy bend. [15] When the boat floated into the next lock, the crowd clapped, and Ren wondered whether any of them knew that the mules did the real work.

2. 1.

   Bo reads the account and the story. What did the author add to the account's opening day in sentences [6] and [7]?

   • The author added a child so readers would learn the canal's length.
   • The author moved the opening to 1817, so the story disagrees with the account in the first scene.
   • The author added a child's view from the towpath, which no account sentence gives.
   • The author left out the governor, so the story shows just a child.
3. 2.

   Esme reads the account and the story. Is the boat entering a lock in story sentence [15] faithful to the account, and why?

   • Faithful: the account names Ren and describes the crowd clapping.
   • Faithful: the account says the canal had 83 locks, so a boat entering a lock fits history.
   • Altered: locks were added so the canal would seem longer.
   • Altered: the account says boats did not use locks.
4. 3.

   Jun reads the account and the story. Why might the author end with Ren wondering whether anyone knew the mules did the real work?

   • To show that the towpath work in the account mattered as much as the governor's trip.
   • To show that mules were stronger and steadier than the horses that also pulled boats on the canal.
   • To repeat the account's point that Clinton did the real work.
   • To suggest that the governor's trip was fake.
5. 4.

   Kira reads the account and the story. In the chart row for sentences [5] and [9], what does each column say?

   • The account says Ren led the team; the story says a hoggee led each team.
   • The account says boys led the teams on the whole canal; the story shows Ren with two mules.
   • The account says a hoggee led each team; the story shows Ren doing that job at a steady pace.
   • The account says a hoggee led each team; the story shows Ren steering the family's boat.

6. The Great Wheel at the Fair (pair: an account and a story)

   The account: The Great Wheel at the Fair
   [1] The 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, a huge world's fair, featured a giant wheel designed by George Ferris, an engineer from Pittsburgh who had built bridges. [2] The wheel stood 264 feet tall, making it the tallest attraction at the fair, and it carried 36 passenger cars. [3] Each car could hold as many as sixty riders, so more than two thousand people could ride at once when the wheel was full. [4] A ticket cost fifty cents, which paid for one ride. [5] A ride lasted about twenty minutes and made two full turns of the wheel high above the fairgrounds. [6] On the first turn of the ride, the wheel stopped several times to let passengers on and off, and the second turn did not stop at all. [7] The wheel opened to riders in June 1893, during the summer of the fair.

   The story: Luz and the Great Wheel
   [8] In the summer of 1893, thirteen-year-old Luz Moreno rode a train to Chicago with Grandpa to see the great fair. [9] For weeks Luz had read about the giant wheel in the newspaper, and Luz had saved fifty cents for a ticket. [10] On the Midway, the wheel rose higher than any building Luz had ever seen, and it turned slowly against the sky. [11] Grandpa bought a second ticket, and they stepped into a car crowded with other riders. [12] The wheel lurched forward, stopped to load more passengers, and lurched again. [13] On the second turn the wheel glided without stopping, and the fair spread out beneath them like a toy city. [14] Luz pressed close to the window and counted the buildings along the lake. [15] When the ride ended, Luz was sure it had lasted only a few minutes and begged Grandpa to ride again.

7. 5.

   Milo reads the account and the story. In the chart row for sentences [4] and [9], which note fits?

   • The account says fifty cents was a fortune; the story shows Luz saving it.
   • The account gives the ticket price; the story shows a child saving that amount.
   • The account gives the length of the ride; the story shows a child saving for it.
   • The account says Luz saved fifty cents; the story gives the price of a ticket.
8. 6.

   Noah reads the account and the story. Story sentence [15] says the ride felt short, but account sentence [5] says twenty minutes. How should a reader treat the difference?

   • As Luz's feeling: time can seem short when Luz is enjoying it, so the story does not break the account.
   • As a mistake: the author got the length of the ride wrong.
   • As history: the account is wrong and the story is right.
   • As proof that the ride was shortened that summer.
9. 7.

   Pia reads the account and the story. What did the author add to the account's facts about the wheel in sentences [2] and [3]?

   • A list of what each car cost to build.
   • A child's view from inside a car, including the fair spreading out below.
   • A new number of cars, so the story has many more riders on the wheel than the account gives.
   • The same height and capacity, so the story just repeats the account.
10. 8.

    Ren reads the account and the story. In the chart row for account sentence [6], which story sentences match?

    • Sentences [11] and [12]: boarding the car and the wheel stopping to load.
    • Sentences [14] and [15]: Luz counts buildings and thinks the ride was short.
    • Sentences [9] and [10]: saving for the ticket and seeing how tall the wheel is.
    • Sentences [12] and [13]: the wheel stops to load on the first turn and glides on the second.
11. 9.

    Tala reads the account and the story. Why might the author have Luz save fifty cents for a ticket?

    • To repeat that the ticket cost fifty cents.
    • To show readers what the ticket price meant to a child, which the price alone cannot show.
    • To show that the fair was too expensive for most families.
    • To show that children paid less than adults for a ride, since a child's ticket was cheaper at the fair.
12. 10.

    Zee reads the account and the story. Story sentence [13] says the fair spread out “like a toy city.” What kind of detail is that?

    • A fact: the account says the fair looked like a toy city.
    • A comparison from Luz's view, not a fact from the account.
    • A measurement: it tells how high the wheel stood above the ground at the fair.
    • A mistake: a real city cannot look like a toy.