O Reading Sample Answers
Comprehension Packet for Part 3
REMEMBER YOU NEED 3 PARTS TO A GOOD FIFTH GRADE ANSWER: 1) THE ANSWER WHERE YOU
ALSO RESTATE THE QUESTION, 2) EVIDENCE USUALLY IN THE FORM OF A QUOTE TO SUPPORT YOUR
ANSWER, AND 3) AN EXPLANATION OF YOUR EVIDENCE WHICH CAN BEGIN WITH “THIS MEANS…”,
“THIS SHOWS…”, OR “THIS PROVES…”.
1. Maniac did not stay at the band shell because the memories of the time he spent with Grayson
came flooding back. “Even if the Superintendent had allowed it, he could not have brought
himself to stay at the band shell. This proves that Maniac was feeling too many lonely feelings
after Grayson died to stay in the house they shared.
2. Maniac ended up staying in Valley Forge Park, which in the winter time is “the vast, stark, frozen
desolation”. This means that Valley Forge is a lonely place, and what is ironic about this is that
Maniac is feeling lonely and desolate himself.
3. The two boys who found Maniac turned out to be Russell and Piper McNab, John McNab’s little
brothers. McNab says at the end of Chapter 34, “So what’re you doing with my little brothers?”
Maniac was not aware of who the boys actually were because he had nicknamed them
Screecher and Missing Tooth based on their physical appearances.
4. Maniac said he was a “pizza delivery boy” and the “two were chosen for a free pizza”. Maniac
told the boys this to trick them into going back to Two Mills with him.
5. Russell and Piper’s brother was “Big John McNab himself”, and he was very angry to see Maniac
with his brothers until the boys explained what had happened to cause them to meet Maniac.
6. When the brothers found out that their fictional pizza delivery boy was actually Maniac, they
laughed and “it took a good five minutes of rolling on the sidewalk to get all the laughing out of
their systems.” This means the boys were amused by the fact that they were finally meeting the
boy who hit a “frogball” off of their big brother.
7. George McNab is a smelly, tattooed, neglectful, drunk father. In Chapter 35, despite the cold
“He wore no winter jacket… Tattooes blued his upper arms… swaggers bare-armed out the front
door...”and he returns later to yell “Do yer homework!” in a “slurred voice”. George McNab is
only home in this chapter to drop Burger King Whoppers on the dinner table before heading
back out the door again. All this shows he is not a very good role model for his sons.
8. Use adjectives to describe the scenes. Answers will vary.
9. The deal between Maniac and the boys was that “if Russell and Piper went to school for the rest
of the week, Maniac would show them the shortcut to Mexico on Saturday. Maniac continues
to have to bribe the boys into attending school. This shows that Russell and Piper are not
interested in going to school.
10. The McNab boys were tolerating school because of the importance they felt from having Maniac
do all the things they asked of him. “The attention, not the pizza, was the real reason they put
up with school each day.” This shows that Russell and Piper are only interested in the fame they
receive from other neighborhood kids, so they keep the deal going with Maniac.
11. Once the McNab boys get used to all the attention Maniac gets for them, they demand Maniac
start doing amazing feats, like “enter Finsterwald’s backyard” in order for them to agree to
attend school. This shows that pizza will not be enough anymore to keep them in school.
12. After going into Finsterwald’s backyard and staying there for ten minutes, Maniac makes a deal
with the boys that they will attend school for two more weeks if Maniac will “knock on the front
door”. This shows how Maniac was able to ensure that the boys stayed in school.
13. Maniac completed all of these amazing feats because “A tuition had to be paid. Every week
Maniac paid it.” This means that the McNabs do not willingly attend school like they should, but
rather they need to be bribed to attend. Maniac is paying the price for them to attend with
amazing deeds.
14. The most dangerous challenge the boys came up with was asking Maniac to go onto the East
End. “And then one day they gave him the most perilous challenge of all. They dared him to go
into the East End.” This word “perilous” means dangerous and it shows that the McNabs believe
the East Enders pose a threat to any white person caught on their side of Two Mills.
15. Mars Bar Thompson was the first person to find Maniac on the East End. “Yo-fishbelly!” Mars
yells. Mars Bar is the only one who calls Maniac “Fishbelly”. This shows that Mars Bar noticed
that Maniac had returned.
16. Mars Bar challenges Maniac to a foot race. He says, “We gonna race, honky donkey.” Although
Maniac cannot decide whether he should win or not, he ends up winning the race and “beat him
going backwards!” This means that Mars Bar must have been really humiliated. It is impossible
to run as fast backwards as you do forwards, so Maniac’s actions really embarrassed Mars Bar.
17. Giant John was putting up bars and a steel door because he and the other McNabs in the text
believe the East Enders are going to fight with the West End one day and they need to protect
themselves. “What’s gonna happen is, one of these days they’re gonna revolt.” When John says
this it means that the McNabs believe the East Enders will start a war with the West Enders, and
the McNabs are going to be prepared.
18. After leaving the McNabs’, Maniac visits the Pickwells for dinner. They “treated him like a
legend in the flesh.” This means the Pickwell children were especially happy to see Maniac and
it must have felt refreshing for Maniac to be around love after having left a house full of hate.
19. The Beales and the Pickwells are “friendly, giving, and accepting”. They are different because
the Beales are East Enders and black, while the Pickwells are West Enders and white.
20. Maniac continued to help the McNab kids because he felt if he abandoned them that he would
be abandoning a part of himself, or walking away from a responsibility he felt toward them.
Maniac believes that “unless somebody did something, the rot would reach the pit”. This means
that even though the rotten thoughts and beliefs that George McNab has are affecting his two
younger sons, Maniac thinks there may still be hope for Russell and Piper to become good again.
21. Russell and Piper definitely went too far when they began playing with the baseball glove that
Grayson had given Maniac. “Maniac exploded”. This means that Maniac’s reaction was to
become so angry that the boys were afraid of him and obeyed him, but only for three days.
22. Piper wanted Maniac to come to his birthday party. Maniac agreed, but only “If I can bring
somebody with me.” This shows that Maniac has a plan to bring another person to the birthday
party, but he does not want to say who it is.
23. Maniac brought “none other than Mars Bar Thompson himself” to the birthday party. Maniac
had to convince Mars to come with him to the West End, and he did so by calling him out about
how “bad” Mars actually acted. “You don’t cross Hector. You stay over here, where it’s safe.
How bad would you be over there?” When Maniac says these words, he is daring Mars to cross
to the West End and Mars has to do it to save his reputation.
24. Mars and Maniac first go to the Pickwells when they cross to the West End. “Maniac wanted
Mars Bar to see the best the West End had to offer.” This means the Pickwells are a great family
for Mars Bar to see because they are good accepting people, unlike the McNabs.
25. The Pickwell kids convinced Mars Bar “to perform his legendary feat of stopping traffic”. This
means that when Mars Bar stepped into the road, all the traffic came to a stand-still.
26. Maniac learned from the incident at the McNabs’ that Mars Bar is very brave and is an “East End
warrior”. Even though Mars Bar is “Out-numbered” and “out-weighed”, he is not “out-hearted”.
This means that Mars Bar was willing to try to fight with the Cobras even though he would lose,
so that he could show his pride for being an East Ender.
27. The only time of day when there were no divisions between the sides is before sunrise. “For
now, before sunrise, there were no divisions, no barriers”. This means that Maniac notices that
while the Two Mills residents are sleeping, no one is arguing and they are all the same.
28. Maniac ended up sleeping in peoples’ backyards. “From then on, he slept in a different
backyard or back porch every night.” This shows that Maniac does not interact with the
residents, rather he just uses their backyards at night to sleep.
29. The early hour cruiser that Maniac bumped into was Mars Bar. “It wasn’t the what that
surprised him, it was the who: Mars Bar Thompson.” This shows that Mars Bar was out jogging
during the early hours at the same time as Maniac, so their paths intersected.
30. The problem with Russell and Piper was that they had been playing a game when Russell
became stuck on the trolley trestle. “And that’s where Russell was now, out on the middle of
the trestle, high over the water, frozen in terror,…”. This means, Russell was unable to move
and needed saving. Maniac did not save him. Instead he “left the platform and went
downstairs”. Maniac could not bring himself to go save Russell because the trestle was where
his parents had died.
31. Maniac could not bring himself to go save Russell because the trestle was where his parents had
died. “He told about his problem with the trestle, how he had learned to avoid it.” Maniac tells
Mars Bar that he was imagining the night mare of his parents dying, not seeing Russell out there
on the trestle. After Maniac left, Mars Bar saved Russell.
32. Mars Bar tells Maniac that the kids “didn’t wanna go home. They stayed all day.” Meaning,
they stayed all day at Mars Bar’s house.
33. Amanda Beale woke Maniac up at the beginning of Chapter 46. “The voice of the buffalo was
the voice of Amanda Beale…”. This means Maniac realizes that the buffalo is not the one waking
him up, but rather it is Amanda pulling on his ear and waking him.
34. Amanda tells Maniac “You’re sorry for a whole mess of things, boy.” Amanda is upset with
Maniac for leaving Mars Bar with no option but to go wake Amanda up in the middle of the
night to go sneak off to the zoo to get Maniac to come home with her.
35. Amanda wanted Maniac to come back and live with her and the rest of the Beale family. “And
you are going to sleep there tonight and tomorrow night and the night after that and the night
after that and every night,…” This shows Amanda is persistent and she is not going to allow
Maniac to remain in the buffalo pen. She is insisting that Maniac return to Sycamore Street with
her and make the Beale house his permanent home.