All Summer In a Day Comprehension Skills Test

1. It rains constantly on the planet Venus, �and the children are unable to enjoy the �sunlight. What type of conflict is this?

• a. man vs. society
• b. man vs. nature
• c. man vs. self
• d. man vs. man

2. What role does the setting play in the development of the plot?

• a. The setting is a minor detail.
• b. The setting changes several times throughout the story.
• c. The story’s plot is based on the setting.
• d. This story could take place in almost any setting.

3. In the story, the children lock Margot in the closet. This is part of the

• a. climax
• b. falling action
• c. rising action
• d. inciting incident

4. Which adjective best describes the overall mood of the story?

• a. warm
• b. gloomy
• c. peaceful
• d. frightening

5. Which piece of evidence best supports your answer to the previous question?

• a. It had been raining for seven years; thousands upon thousands of days compounded and filled from one end to the other with rain…
• b. All day yesterday they had read in class about the sun. About how like a lemon it was, and how hot.
• c. The children pressed to each other like so many roses, so many weeds, intermixed, peering out for a look at the hidden sun.
• d. She knew they thought they remembered a warmness, like a blushing in the face, in the body, in the arms and legs and trembling hands.

6. Read the excerpt and answer the question that follows.� She was a very frail girl who looked as if she had been lost in the rain for years and the rain had washed out the blue from her eyes and the red from her mouth and the yellow from her hair. She was an old photograph dusted from an album, whitened away, and if she spoke at all her voice would be a ghost.� Which of these methods does the author use to characterize Margot in this excerpt?

• a. showing how other characters react to Margot
• b. directly describing Margot to the reader
• c. showing Margot’s personality through dialogue
• d. describing Margot’s thoughts and feelings

7. Which excerpt from the story shows that the children were sorry for locking Margot in the closet?

• a. They could not meet each other’s glances. Their faces were solemn and pale. They looked at their hands and feet, their faces down.
• b. But they were running and turning their faces up to the sky and feeling the sun on their cheeks like a warm iron; they were taking off their jackets and letting the sun burn their arms.
• c. Margot stood apart from them, from these children who could never remember a time when there wasn’t rain and rain and rain.
• d. They stood looking at the door and saw it tremble from her beating and throwing herself against it.

8. Read the excerpt and answer the question that follows.� A few cold drops fell on their noses and their cheeks and their mouths.� The author uses imagery in this sentence to appeal to the reader’s sense of…

• a. sight
• b. hearing
• c. smell
• d. touch

9. Read the excerpt and answer the question that follows.�“It’s like a fire,” she said, “in the stove.”�In the excerpt above, the author uses a _______________ to compare ____________ to fire.

• a. metaphor, stove
• b. simile, heat
• c. simile, the sun
• d. metaphor, brightness

10. Which statement is a main theme of “All Summer in a Day”?

• a. Jealousy can cause children to to be cruel to each other.
• b. Be kind and others will be kind to you.
• c. You should always make the best of a bad situation.
• d. Less rain is always better.