Stray Comprehension Review

How can you make a good guess about what will happen in a story?

• You connect what you know to what you don’t know.

• You relate your prior knowledge to clues in the story.

• You read the same kind of story.

• You combine your prior knowledge with what your friends tell you.

Use your prior knowledge about strays to help you answer this question:

If Doris does not take in the puppy, what is least likely to happen to it?

• It might become mean and attack someone.

• A mother dog who had recently lost her puppy might take care of it.

• Another animal might attack it.

• Another family might take it in.

Why doesn’t Doris give the dog a name?

• She hasn’t yet thought of the perfect name for it.

• She has been too sad and worried to think about a name.

• She thinks the dog’s next owners should name it.

• She does not want to become too attached to the dog.

Using your prior knowledge about families and pets, what leads you to think that Doris’s parents will not let her keep the puppy?

• Parents want to know all about a puppy’s background. Her parents don’t know anything about this puppy’s background.

• Many parents think that a small dog might be less trouble and would eat less than a big one. This puppy looks as if it will grow up to be a big dog.

• Families that have never had a dog before are not likely to take in a dog off the streets.

• Families need to talk before making important decisions. Doris’s parents won’t talk with her about the dog.

At what point in the plot of “Stray” does Mr. Lacey make the following statement?

“I don’t know where it came from,” he said mildly, “but I know for sure where it’s going.”

• exposition

• rising action

• climax

• falling action

Which of the following words best describes Mrs. Lacey?

• sensible

• selfish

• stubborn

• generous

How does Doris know that the puppy is a good dog?

• It cries for its mother in the night.

• It always tries to go into the kitchen.

• It doesn’t tear up things in the basement.

• It is completely housebroken.

After her father takes the puppy away, what does Doris do?

• She cries herself to sleep.

• She runs down the road after the car.

• She talks to her mother about how upset she is.

• She goes to school.

Which of these events happens in the falling action, after the climax of “Stray”?

• Mr. Lacey agrees to let the dog sleep in the basement.

• Mrs. Lacey tells Doris she should try to act more grown up.

• Mr. Lacey drives away with the dog.

• Mr. Lacey tells Doris he brought the dog back.

What does Mrs. Lacey mean when she tells Doris to act more grown-up?

• She wants Doris to do her chores without being asked.

• She wants Doris to stop crying about the puppy.

• She wants Doris to stop sleeping all afternoon.

• She wants Doris to be able to argue with her parents without getting so

  upset.