Worksheet

How order and timing create suspense or surprise

Grade 9 Reading Worksheet - Challenge Me

NameDate

Circle the best answer.

  1. Read this first

    The Blank Square (story)

    [1] On the morning the library mural was unveiled, the crowd on the sidewalk clapped for the painted river and its herons, and then, one by one, noticed the blank square in the lower corner. [2] Milo, who had planned the mural and led the painting for six weeks, stood beside the wall with both hands in a paint-stained jacket and said nothing.

    [3] Six weeks earlier, Milo had drawn a pencil grid of one hundred squares on the bare wall and written a painter's name in each, with Milo's own name in the lower corner, where the river reached the edge. [4] On the first Saturday, Zee, who had moved to town that spring, asked whether a square was left, and Milo, checking the grid, said no. [5] Zee came back the next Saturday, and the one after, with a sketch of a heron lifting off the water, and each time heard the same answer. [6] In the fourth week, the hardware store ran out of the deep river blue, and for three days the painters argued over whether a lighter blue would spoil the corner where the river reached the edge. [7] That same week, the librarian saw Milo alone at the wall after closing, holding an eraser over the lower corner of the grid. [8] The lighter blue arrived, the river was finished, and by the fifth week each square had been painted and signed except one.

    [9] Now, in front of the crowd, the mayor asked politely whether the paint had run out after all, and a few people nodded. [10] Instead of answering, Milo walked into the crowd, found Zee near the back, and held out a brush that had never been used. [11] The square had been Milo's own, and Milo had erased that name in the fourth week and saved the space for a heron lifting off the water. [12] Zee painted it that afternoon while the crowd watched, and when the heron was done, the mural looked less like one person's plan than like a river with room in it.

  2. Ren imagines The Blank Square told in time order, starting with the pencil grid. What would the reader lose?

    • The chance to meet the blank square first and suspect a failure, so the surprise and the misjudged leader would be lost.
    • Nothing would be lost; the reader would be even more surprised, since the erasing would come as news at the end.
    • Nothing that matters: the same events would happen in the same detail, so the reader would feel the same way at the end.
    • The fact that the river blue ran out, since time order would leave out the argument about the paint.

  3. Tala is checking whether the ending of The Blank Square is fair. Which sentence first plants the fact that the blank square was Milo's own?

    • [5] Zee came back the next Saturday, and the one after, with a sketch of a heron lifting off the water, and each time heard the same answer.
    • [11] The square had been Milo's own, and Milo had erased that name in the fourth week and saved the space for a heron lifting off the water.
    • [6] In the fourth week, the hardware store ran out of the deep river blue, and for three days the painters argued over whether a lighter blue would spoil the corner where the river reached the edge.
    • [3] Six weeks earlier, Milo had drawn a pencil grid of one hundred squares on the bare wall and written a painter's name in each, with Milo's own name in the lower corner, where the river reached the edge.

  4. Ari is linking the order of The Blank Square to its theme. How does the order of events support what the story says?

    • Opening on the blank square lets the reader misjudge Milo as the crowd does, so the reveal shows that leading well can mean making room.
    • The story shows that a good leader makes room for a newcomer who keeps asking to help with the work.
    • The story opens at the unveiling, goes back six weeks to the grid, and returns to the sidewalk for the ending.
    • Opening on the blank square tells the reader at once that the space was saved for Zee, so the theme is clear early and no surprise is left at the end.

  5. Three Times on Saturday (story)

    [1] Six o'clock in the evening: Tala came through the kitchen door with mud to the knees, no medal, and an orange course flag tucked under one arm like a prize. [2] Aunt Mira, who had followed the race online, asked why the results showed Tala in nineteenth place after holding third for most of the course, and whether the new racing shoes had been a mistake. [3] Tala ate two bowls of noodles without saying much and went upstairs to shower, leaving the question unanswered. [4] Later, Aunt Mira read the results a second time, slowly, as if the order of the names might change.

    [5] Eleven in the morning: at the two-mile mark, where the trail split at a huge oak, Tala was running third when a gust pulled the orange course flag out of the soft ground and sent it tumbling into the brush. [6] Without the flag, the turn was invisible, and the wide trail straight ahead looked more traveled than the true course, which bent to the left. [7] Tala stopped, dug the flag out of the brush, pushed its stake back in at the turn, and stayed to wave the next pack of runners to the left. [8] Eleven runners passed during that minute and five more on the long hill, and after the race the director, hearing what had happened, collected that same flag and handed it to Tala.

    [9] Seven in the morning: on the bus to the cross-country race, Coach Brandt reminded the team that the course had changed this year and that the turn at the old oak was where runners had gone wrong before. [10] Tala, who had run the old course twice, said that the oak would be easy to spot. [11] Coach Brandt answered that a race was measured by more than the order of the finish, which Tala took as the kind of thing coaches like to say. [12] The bus pulled into the park at seven thirty, and Tala stepped off into a wind strong enough to make each course flag snap on its stake.

  6. Milo imagines Three Times on Saturday told in time order, from the bus to the kitchen. What would the reader lose?

    • The coach's warning about the oak, since time order would leave out the bus ride in the morning.
    • The puzzle of the nineteenth place, because time order would make the story shorter and quicker to read.
    • Nothing that matters: the reader would learn about the flag, the turn and the coach in exactly the same detail.
    • The puzzle of the nineteenth place, and the weight the coach's words gain by coming last, after the flag.

  7. Pia is linking the backward order of Three Times on Saturday to its theme. How does the order support what the story says?

    • The story shows that helping the runners behind you can matter more than where you finish the race.
    • Ending on the coach's words shows that hard training pays off when a runner finishes near the front of the race.
    • The story begins at six in the evening, moves back to eleven in the morning, and ends at seven in the morning.
    • Ending on the coach's words lets the reader hear them after seeing the flag, so the theme lands: a race is measured by more than the order of the finish.

  8. Quarter Turns (story)

    [1] Now: on Tuesday at the bike co-op on Mill Street, Bo clamped a badly bent wheel into the truing stand and showed Noah how to pluck each spoke. [2] Two years ago: Bo had stood at the same stand for the first time, yanking at spokes and making a wobbly wheel wobblier, until the old mechanic, Mr. Kask, laid a hand on the tire and stopped it. [3] Now: Noah tightened a spoke a full turn, watched the rim swing the wrong way, and groaned that whoever bent this wheel must have hit a wall. [4] Two years ago: Mr. Kask had explained that a wheel was fixed by quarter turns and patience, never by force, and had scratched a small star on the rim to mark where the work should begin.

    [5] Now: Bo laughed, took back the spoke wrench, and said that the first rule was quarter turns and the second was to start at the star. [6] Two years ago: the bent wheel had been Bo's own, from a bike left out in the snow all winter, and it took three Tuesdays to bring it back to straight. [7] Now: Noah worked around the rim a quarter turn at a time, until the gap between the rim and the brake pad stayed the same all the way around. [8] Two years ago: the day after the wheel came true, Mr. Kask had loosened its spokes again, hung it on the co-op wall, and called it too good a teacher to waste.

    [9] Now: Noah spun the finished wheel, watched it run straight, and asked where such a badly bent wheel had come from. [10] Bo turned the rim until the scratched star came around to the top and pointed at the empty hook on the wall behind the counter. [11] Mr. Kask, watching from the counter, passed a nail across, and Bo scratched a second small star beside the first. [12] Then Bo loosened the spokes again and hung the wheel back on its hook for whoever came through the door next.

  9. Zee imagines Quarter Turns with each "Two years ago" sentence told first, then each "Now" sentence. What would the reader lose?

    • Nothing would be lost; the reader would be more surprised, because the wall, the hook and the star would come together.
    • The late surprise about the wheel, because the past sentences would lose their "Two years ago" labels.
    • Nothing that matters: the reader would still learn the lessons, so the ending would feel the same.
    • The echo of each past lesson beside the present one, showing Bo stepping into Mr. Kask's place, and the late surprise.

  10. Esme is checking whether the ending of Quarter Turns is fair. Which "Now" sentence first hints that Noah's wheel is the one Bo once fixed?

    • [5] Now: Bo laughed, took back the spoke wrench, and said that the first rule was quarter turns and the second was to start at the star.
    • [10] Bo turned the rim until the scratched star came around to the top and pointed at the empty hook on the wall behind the counter.
    • [3] Now: Noah tightened a spoke a full turn, watched the rim swing the wrong way, and groaned that whoever bent this wheel must have hit a wall.
    • [1] Now: on Tuesday at the bike co-op on Mill Street, Bo clamped a badly bent wheel into the truing stand and showed Noah how to pluck each spoke.

  11. Jun is linking the alternating order of Quarter Turns to its theme. How does the order support what the story says?

    • Setting each past lesson beside its echo now shows Bo turning into the teacher, so the order itself carries the theme that skills pass from hand to hand.
    • Switching back and forth shows that Bo has forgotten Mr. Kask's lessons and must relearn them beside Noah.
    • Setting each past lesson beside the present shows that a badly bent wheel is better thrown away than repaired.
    • The story shows that a skill like fixing wheels is passed from one patient teacher to the next learner.

  12. The Green Box (story)

    [1] After practice, Kira was packing a folder of research cards that no teammate had been allowed to see when Mr. Ostrowski, the debate coach, pulled up a chair and asked for five minutes. [2] He sat turning the top half of a small brass key over and over in his fingers, and said that in 1996 his school's team had two partners who were the best researchers in the state.

    [3] One partner kept every evidence card in a locked green box and read them aloud in rounds, but never let the other partner see them first, because a card seemed worth more when only one person had it. [4] The other partner shared everything, wrote notes for the younger debaters, and was often so busy helping that a speech got finished in the hallway. [5] That partner, Mr. Ostrowski added, later became a teacher in another state and still sent the old team a card every winter. [6] At the state final, the green box jammed, the key snapped off in the lock, and the partner who owned it stood at the podium with nothing to read. [7] Without a word, the other partner slid over a stack of handwritten cards covering each argument the box had held, copied out over the season.

    [8] They won by a single point, and Kira, who had stopped packing, asked what had become of the partner with the box. [9] Mr. Ostrowski opened the bottom drawer of his desk and took out a small green box with a broken lock, its lid held shut by a rubber band. [10] He said that he had kept it for thirty years so that he would never forget the feeling of standing at a podium with empty hands. [11] Kira looked at the folder for a long moment, then opened it and spread the cards across the table, where the whole team could reach them. [12] Mr. Ostrowski put the green box back in the drawer, and practice ran an hour late.

  13. Ren imagines The Green Box told in time order, starting in 1996. What would the reader lose?

    • The frame that sets Kira's closed folder beside the old box, and the late reveal that the box was the coach's.
    • The detail of the jammed lock, since time order would leave out the state final, its podium and the snapped key.
    • The late reveal about the box, because time order would make the coach's story too long for one practice.
    • Nothing would be lost; the reader would be more surprised to find the box in a desk drawer thirty years on.

  14. Tala is checking whether the reveal in The Green Box is fair. Which sentence first hints that Mr. Ostrowski was the partner with the box?

    • [9] Mr. Ostrowski opened the bottom drawer of his desk and took out a small green box with a broken lock, its lid held shut by a rubber band.
    • [2] He sat turning the top half of a small brass key over and over in his fingers, and said that in 1996 his school's team had two partners who were the best researchers in the state.
    • [8] They won by a single point, and Kira, who had stopped packing, asked what had become of the partner with the box.
    • [1] After practice, Kira was packing a folder of research cards that no teammate had been allowed to see when Mr. Ostrowski, the debate coach, pulled up a chair and asked for five minutes.
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How order and timing create suspense or surprise

Answer Key - Grade 9 Reading Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

  1. Read this first

    The Blank Square (story)

    [1] On the morning the library mural was unveiled, the crowd on the sidewalk clapped for the painted river and its herons, and then, one by one, noticed the blank square in the lower corner. [2] Milo, who had planned the mural and led the painting for six weeks, stood beside the wall with both hands in a paint-stained jacket and said nothing.

    [3] Six weeks earlier, Milo had drawn a pencil grid of one hundred squares on the bare wall and written a painter's name in each, with Milo's own name in the lower corner, where the river reached the edge. [4] On the first Saturday, Zee, who had moved to town that spring, asked whether a square was left, and Milo, checking the grid, said no. [5] Zee came back the next Saturday, and the one after, with a sketch of a heron lifting off the water, and each time heard the same answer. [6] In the fourth week, the hardware store ran out of the deep river blue, and for three days the painters argued over whether a lighter blue would spoil the corner where the river reached the edge. [7] That same week, the librarian saw Milo alone at the wall after closing, holding an eraser over the lower corner of the grid. [8] The lighter blue arrived, the river was finished, and by the fifth week each square had been painted and signed except one.

    [9] Now, in front of the crowd, the mayor asked politely whether the paint had run out after all, and a few people nodded. [10] Instead of answering, Milo walked into the crowd, found Zee near the back, and held out a brush that had never been used. [11] The square had been Milo's own, and Milo had erased that name in the fourth week and saved the space for a heron lifting off the water. [12] Zee painted it that afternoon while the crowd watched, and when the heron was done, the mural looked less like one person's plan than like a river with room in it.

  2. Ren imagines The Blank Square told in time order, starting with the pencil grid. What would the reader lose?

    • The chance to meet the blank square first and suspect a failure, so the surprise and the misjudged leader would be lost.
    • Nothing would be lost; the reader would be even more surprised, since the erasing would come as news at the end.
    • Nothing that matters: the same events would happen in the same detail, so the reader would feel the same way at the end.
    • The fact that the river blue ran out, since time order would leave out the argument about the paint.

  3. Tala is checking whether the ending of The Blank Square is fair. Which sentence first plants the fact that the blank square was Milo's own?

    • [5] Zee came back the next Saturday, and the one after, with a sketch of a heron lifting off the water, and each time heard the same answer.
    • [11] The square had been Milo's own, and Milo had erased that name in the fourth week and saved the space for a heron lifting off the water.
    • [6] In the fourth week, the hardware store ran out of the deep river blue, and for three days the painters argued over whether a lighter blue would spoil the corner where the river reached the edge.
    • [3] Six weeks earlier, Milo had drawn a pencil grid of one hundred squares on the bare wall and written a painter's name in each, with Milo's own name in the lower corner, where the river reached the edge.

  4. Ari is linking the order of The Blank Square to its theme. How does the order of events support what the story says?

    • Opening on the blank square lets the reader misjudge Milo as the crowd does, so the reveal shows that leading well can mean making room.
    • The story shows that a good leader makes room for a newcomer who keeps asking to help with the work.
    • The story opens at the unveiling, goes back six weeks to the grid, and returns to the sidewalk for the ending.
    • Opening on the blank square tells the reader at once that the space was saved for Zee, so the theme is clear early and no surprise is left at the end.

  5. Three Times on Saturday (story)

    [1] Six o'clock in the evening: Tala came through the kitchen door with mud to the knees, no medal, and an orange course flag tucked under one arm like a prize. [2] Aunt Mira, who had followed the race online, asked why the results showed Tala in nineteenth place after holding third for most of the course, and whether the new racing shoes had been a mistake. [3] Tala ate two bowls of noodles without saying much and went upstairs to shower, leaving the question unanswered. [4] Later, Aunt Mira read the results a second time, slowly, as if the order of the names might change.

    [5] Eleven in the morning: at the two-mile mark, where the trail split at a huge oak, Tala was running third when a gust pulled the orange course flag out of the soft ground and sent it tumbling into the brush. [6] Without the flag, the turn was invisible, and the wide trail straight ahead looked more traveled than the true course, which bent to the left. [7] Tala stopped, dug the flag out of the brush, pushed its stake back in at the turn, and stayed to wave the next pack of runners to the left. [8] Eleven runners passed during that minute and five more on the long hill, and after the race the director, hearing what had happened, collected that same flag and handed it to Tala.

    [9] Seven in the morning: on the bus to the cross-country race, Coach Brandt reminded the team that the course had changed this year and that the turn at the old oak was where runners had gone wrong before. [10] Tala, who had run the old course twice, said that the oak would be easy to spot. [11] Coach Brandt answered that a race was measured by more than the order of the finish, which Tala took as the kind of thing coaches like to say. [12] The bus pulled into the park at seven thirty, and Tala stepped off into a wind strong enough to make each course flag snap on its stake.

  6. Milo imagines Three Times on Saturday told in time order, from the bus to the kitchen. What would the reader lose?

    • The coach's warning about the oak, since time order would leave out the bus ride in the morning.
    • The puzzle of the nineteenth place, because time order would make the story shorter and quicker to read.
    • Nothing that matters: the reader would learn about the flag, the turn and the coach in exactly the same detail.
    • The puzzle of the nineteenth place, and the weight the coach's words gain by coming last, after the flag.

  7. Pia is linking the backward order of Three Times on Saturday to its theme. How does the order support what the story says?

    • The story shows that helping the runners behind you can matter more than where you finish the race.
    • Ending on the coach's words shows that hard training pays off when a runner finishes near the front of the race.
    • The story begins at six in the evening, moves back to eleven in the morning, and ends at seven in the morning.
    • Ending on the coach's words lets the reader hear them after seeing the flag, so the theme lands: a race is measured by more than the order of the finish.

  8. Quarter Turns (story)

    [1] Now: on Tuesday at the bike co-op on Mill Street, Bo clamped a badly bent wheel into the truing stand and showed Noah how to pluck each spoke. [2] Two years ago: Bo had stood at the same stand for the first time, yanking at spokes and making a wobbly wheel wobblier, until the old mechanic, Mr. Kask, laid a hand on the tire and stopped it. [3] Now: Noah tightened a spoke a full turn, watched the rim swing the wrong way, and groaned that whoever bent this wheel must have hit a wall. [4] Two years ago: Mr. Kask had explained that a wheel was fixed by quarter turns and patience, never by force, and had scratched a small star on the rim to mark where the work should begin.

    [5] Now: Bo laughed, took back the spoke wrench, and said that the first rule was quarter turns and the second was to start at the star. [6] Two years ago: the bent wheel had been Bo's own, from a bike left out in the snow all winter, and it took three Tuesdays to bring it back to straight. [7] Now: Noah worked around the rim a quarter turn at a time, until the gap between the rim and the brake pad stayed the same all the way around. [8] Two years ago: the day after the wheel came true, Mr. Kask had loosened its spokes again, hung it on the co-op wall, and called it too good a teacher to waste.

    [9] Now: Noah spun the finished wheel, watched it run straight, and asked where such a badly bent wheel had come from. [10] Bo turned the rim until the scratched star came around to the top and pointed at the empty hook on the wall behind the counter. [11] Mr. Kask, watching from the counter, passed a nail across, and Bo scratched a second small star beside the first. [12] Then Bo loosened the spokes again and hung the wheel back on its hook for whoever came through the door next.

  9. Zee imagines Quarter Turns with each "Two years ago" sentence told first, then each "Now" sentence. What would the reader lose?

    • Nothing would be lost; the reader would be more surprised, because the wall, the hook and the star would come together.
    • The late surprise about the wheel, because the past sentences would lose their "Two years ago" labels.
    • Nothing that matters: the reader would still learn the lessons, so the ending would feel the same.
    • The echo of each past lesson beside the present one, showing Bo stepping into Mr. Kask's place, and the late surprise.

  10. Esme is checking whether the ending of Quarter Turns is fair. Which "Now" sentence first hints that Noah's wheel is the one Bo once fixed?

    • [5] Now: Bo laughed, took back the spoke wrench, and said that the first rule was quarter turns and the second was to start at the star.
    • [10] Bo turned the rim until the scratched star came around to the top and pointed at the empty hook on the wall behind the counter.
    • [3] Now: Noah tightened a spoke a full turn, watched the rim swing the wrong way, and groaned that whoever bent this wheel must have hit a wall.
    • [1] Now: on Tuesday at the bike co-op on Mill Street, Bo clamped a badly bent wheel into the truing stand and showed Noah how to pluck each spoke.

  11. Jun is linking the alternating order of Quarter Turns to its theme. How does the order support what the story says?

    • Setting each past lesson beside its echo now shows Bo turning into the teacher, so the order itself carries the theme that skills pass from hand to hand.
    • Switching back and forth shows that Bo has forgotten Mr. Kask's lessons and must relearn them beside Noah.
    • Setting each past lesson beside the present shows that a badly bent wheel is better thrown away than repaired.
    • The story shows that a skill like fixing wheels is passed from one patient teacher to the next learner.

  12. The Green Box (story)

    [1] After practice, Kira was packing a folder of research cards that no teammate had been allowed to see when Mr. Ostrowski, the debate coach, pulled up a chair and asked for five minutes. [2] He sat turning the top half of a small brass key over and over in his fingers, and said that in 1996 his school's team had two partners who were the best researchers in the state.

    [3] One partner kept every evidence card in a locked green box and read them aloud in rounds, but never let the other partner see them first, because a card seemed worth more when only one person had it. [4] The other partner shared everything, wrote notes for the younger debaters, and was often so busy helping that a speech got finished in the hallway. [5] That partner, Mr. Ostrowski added, later became a teacher in another state and still sent the old team a card every winter. [6] At the state final, the green box jammed, the key snapped off in the lock, and the partner who owned it stood at the podium with nothing to read. [7] Without a word, the other partner slid over a stack of handwritten cards covering each argument the box had held, copied out over the season.

    [8] They won by a single point, and Kira, who had stopped packing, asked what had become of the partner with the box. [9] Mr. Ostrowski opened the bottom drawer of his desk and took out a small green box with a broken lock, its lid held shut by a rubber band. [10] He said that he had kept it for thirty years so that he would never forget the feeling of standing at a podium with empty hands. [11] Kira looked at the folder for a long moment, then opened it and spread the cards across the table, where the whole team could reach them. [12] Mr. Ostrowski put the green box back in the drawer, and practice ran an hour late.

  13. Ren imagines The Green Box told in time order, starting in 1996. What would the reader lose?

    • The frame that sets Kira's closed folder beside the old box, and the late reveal that the box was the coach's.
    • The detail of the jammed lock, since time order would leave out the state final, its podium and the snapped key.
    • The late reveal about the box, because time order would make the coach's story too long for one practice.
    • Nothing would be lost; the reader would be more surprised to find the box in a desk drawer thirty years on.

  14. Tala is checking whether the reveal in The Green Box is fair. Which sentence first hints that Mr. Ostrowski was the partner with the box?

    • [9] Mr. Ostrowski opened the bottom drawer of his desk and took out a small green box with a broken lock, its lid held shut by a rubber band.
    • [2] He sat turning the top half of a small brass key over and over in his fingers, and said that in 1996 his school's team had two partners who were the best researchers in the state.
    • [8] They won by a single point, and Kira, who had stopped packing, asked what had become of the partner with the box.
    • [1] After practice, Kira was packing a folder of research cards that no teammate had been allowed to see when Mr. Ostrowski, the debate coach, pulled up a chair and asked for five minutes.