The same scene in two art forms

Grade 9 Reading Worksheet

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Ptarmigan, on the Page and on the Screen (pair: a story and a film scene described shot by shot)

   Text A: “Ptarmigan” (a story) [1] The last word of the county spelling bee was ptarmigan, and Noah stood alone at the microphone while the other finalist waited in a folding chair at the side of the stage. [2] Noah had never heard the word before, and for a moment the letters seemed to scatter like birds lifting off a wire. [3] Then Noah remembered Grandpa Felix at the kitchen table, tapping each letter of a hard word onto the back of Noah’s hand until the word had a shape that could be felt. [4] Noah asked the judge where the word came from, and the judge explained that it came from Scottish Gaelic, and that the p at the front had been added long ago by a writer who wrongly believed the word was Greek. [5] The silent p was the trap, Noah realized, and the thought was oddly calming, because a trap that can be seen is only a step to take carefully.

   [6] Noah tapped the letters one by one onto the back of the left hand, slowly, while the audience held so still that the hum of the stage lights was the loudest sound in the hall. [7] Then Noah spelled the word aloud, letter by letter, and waited through a pause that felt longer than the whole afternoon. [8] When the judge said that it was correct, Noah did not jump or shout but looked down at the left hand and smiled, as if Grandpa Felix had been standing there all along.

   Text B: a scene from the short film “Ptarmigan” (described in words, shot by shot) [9] A student filmmaker later turned the story into a short film, and the description below tells, shot by shot, what the screen shows. [10] Shot 1 is a wide view of the stage from the back of the hall, with one small figure at the microphone and rows of dark heads in front. [11] Shot 2 is a close-up of the judge’s card, where the word ptarmigan is printed in plain black type. [12] Shot 3 moves in slowly on the child’s face, which stays perfectly still for eight full seconds while the only sound is a faint electrical hum. [13] Shot 4 cuts to an empty kitchen table in warm afternoon light, held for one second, and then cuts straight back to the stage. [14] Shot 5 is a close-up of two hands below the microphone stand, where one finger taps slowly, again and again, on the back of the other hand. [15] Shot 6 shows the clock above the stage door, its second hand moving forward in small jumps. [16] Shot 7 returns to the wide view from the back of the hall, where the small figure looks down at one hand while the rows of heads rise to clap.

2. 1.

   Ari adds a reason to the chart. Text A’s [3] tells Noah’s memory of Grandpa Felix in words. Why does Text B show it as the empty table in [13]?

   • A printed story cannot show a memory, so the film adds a memory that Text A did not give its reader.
   • The film has a narrator explain the memory aloud while the screen shows the empty kitchen table.
   • Grandpa Felix is away from home that day, so the filmmaker leaves the table empty to show that the house is empty that day.
   • A film cannot print a memory, so it cuts to the place where the memory happened.
3. 2.

   Bo compares the endings. How does the change from Text A’s [8] to Text B’s [16] change what the audience notices?

   • Text B shows the rows of heads rising to clap, seen from the back of the hall, with the small figure looking down.
   • Text B hides the ending so completely that the viewer cannot tell whether the word was spelled correctly.
   • Text B brings the viewer closer to the child’s smile than Text A brings the reader, so the ending feels warmer.
   • Text A stays close to the smile and Grandpa Felix, while Text B pulls back to a small figure in a clapping hall.
4. 3.

   Esme fills two rows of the chart. Which statement tells both what Text B kept from Text A and what it changed?

   • It keeps Grandpa Felix at the kitchen table in [13], but changes the tapping into a wave of the hand in [14].
   • It keeps the tapping on the hand in [14], but changes the memory of Grandpa Felix into an empty table in [13].
   • It keeps the word on the judge’s card in [11], but changes the word from ptarmigan into an easier one.
   • It keeps the tapping on the back of the hand in [14] and the still, humming hall in [12], and changes nothing.
5. 4.

   Jun adds a reason to the chart. Text A’s [6] says the hum of the lights was the loudest sound. Why does Text B hold the still face for eight seconds in [12]?

   • A film runs in real time, so eight silent seconds make the viewer feel the stillness.
   • The judge has asked the child to wait, so the camera stays on the face until the judge is ready.
   • A printed story can make readers wait eight real seconds, so the film copies that pause from Text A.
   • The film plays loud music under the face to show how nervous the child feels.
6. 5.

   Luz fills two rows of the chart for the ending. Which statement tells both what Text B kept and what it changed?

   • It keeps the close view of the smile, but changes the look at the hand into a wave to the crowd.
   • It keeps the look down at one hand, but changes the close view of the smile into a wide view of the hall.
   • It keeps the wide view of the hall from the start of the film, but changes the judge’s answer so that the word is wrong.
   • It keeps the look down at one hand and the hall full of clapping people, and it shows them just as Text A does.

7. The Lobby Piano, in a Story and on a Stage (pair: a story and a stage version with stage directions)

   Text A: “The Lobby Piano” (a story) [1] The piano in the lobby of the Garland Building had been out of tune for years, and most tenants walked past it with their mail without a glance. [2] Zee had learned to play on it anyway, pressing around the two keys that stuck, and usually practiced after school when the lobby was empty. [3] One rainy Thursday, Mrs. Kowalski from the sixth floor came down with her umbrella, stopped at the mailboxes, and stood listening while the umbrella dripped onto the tiles. [4] Zee kept playing but felt every wrong note grow louder, and wondered whether Mrs. Kowalski was about to complain to the building manager.

   [5] Instead, when the piece ended, Mrs. Kowalski sat down on the bench beside Zee, leaned the umbrella against the wall, and played the same piece back, slowly, stepping around the stuck keys so neatly that the old piano sounded almost new. [6] She explained that she had played in a hotel orchestra for forty years and that a stuck key was only a rule to follow, like a puddle to step around. [7] For the next hour the rain kept on outside the glass doors, and the two of them took turns, Zee playing a line and Mrs. Kowalski answering it. [8] When the building manager came through with a ladder, he found a small crowd of tenants sitting on the stairs, still holding their mail.

   Text B: the same scene in the stage version (printed from the script) [9] A community theater later put the story on stage, and the lines below are printed from its script, which describes each action in a stage direction. [10] The stage is dark except for one warm light on an upright piano at center, where Zee sits playing, while the sound of rain comes from offstage and a row of metal mailboxes stands at the left. [11] Mrs. Kowalski enters at the left with a dripping umbrella, stops at the mailboxes, and listens with her back to the audience. [12] Zee, still playing, turns toward the audience and says, “Every wrong note in this song just got twice as loud.” [13] Mrs. Kowalski crosses to the bench, sits, and says, “Again, from the top, and this time let the stuck keys stay quiet.” [14] The two play the piece together, four hands on the keys, while the light on the piano slowly widens until it fills the whole stage. [15] Tenants enter one by one from both sides, holding envelopes, and sit on a set of steps at the back without speaking. [16] The scene ends as the music stops, and the light goes out on the whole stage at once.

8. 6.

   Milo adds a reason to the chart. Text A’s [4] tells Zee’s worry in the narration. Why does Text B turn it into the spoken line in [12]?

   • Zee wants Mrs. Kowalski to hear the worry, so the line is said loudly enough to reach her.
   • An audience knows only what actors say and do, so a private worry must be spoken aloud.
   • The play has a narrator walk on stage and read Zee’s worry from the book.
   • A play can tell a character’s thoughts in narration, so it keeps the worry just as the story told it.
9. 7.

   Noah compares the endings. How does the ending in Text B’s [16] change the effect of Text A’s ending in [8]?

   • In Text B the music stops, the tenants sit silent on the steps, and the light goes out on the whole stage at once.
   • Text B ends more slowly and gently than Text A, because the tenants keep on talking.
   • Text A ends on a small joke about the manager, while Text B ends sharply in darkness.
   • Text B’s ending makes the audience think that the piano has broken for good.
10. 8.

    Pia fills two rows of the chart. Which statement tells both what Text B kept from Text A and what it changed?

    • It keeps the dripping umbrella in [11], but changes the turns at the piano into four hands playing together.
    • It keeps the tenants sitting on steps in [15], but changes Mrs. Kowalski into the building manager.
    • It keeps the two taking turns at the piano for an hour, but changes the dripping umbrella into a raincoat.
    • It keeps the dripping umbrella in [11] and the tenants with their mail in [15], and changes nothing important.
11. 9.

    Tala compares the two works. Text A tells that Mrs. Kowalski played in a hotel orchestra for forty years, and Text B leaves it out. How does that change what the audience knows?

    • Text B tells the audience more about her past than Text A tells the reader.
    • Text A gives a reason for her skill, while Text B shows only what she does at the piano.
    • Text A’s [6] says that she played in a hotel orchestra for forty years and that a stuck key is a rule to follow.
    • Without [6], the audience of Text B cannot tell that she can play the piano at all.
12. 10.

    Ari fills two rows of the chart for Zee’s worry. Which statement tells both what Text B kept and what it changed?

    • It keeps the worry as narration, but changes what the worry is about from wrong notes to the rain.
    • It keeps the worry about wrong notes in [12], told the same way as in the narration of Text A.
    • It keeps the worry about wrong notes, but turns it from narration into a spoken line.
    • It keeps the worry about wrong notes, but changes it into a complaint made to the building manager.