Skill and Form Number: Literary Elements #1
Literary Elements
A Tidal Tale
by Anne LeMieux
Sarah sat on the edge of the wooden dock, dangling her feet in the chilly water. The
summer sun warmed her back.
Her sailboat, Whisper, bobbed quietly against the dock.
"Ten knots out of the south. Perfect." She stepped across the dock and into her boat.
Whisper strained against her dock lines almost as if she were answering.
"You can't go sailing, Sarah. Mom's not home," called Jimmy, Sarah's eight-year-old
brother, from the shore.
"I know!" Sarah said. "Leave me alone, please."
"Just one quick sail around the cove," she thought. "I can't tell Mom if she's not
home."
Her conscience bothered her, but Sarah pulled her life jacket out from under the seat
and strapped it on. Then she took the mainsail from its sail bag and hoisted it up the
mast. It flapped and fluttered in the breeze. After untying the dock lines, Sarah pushed
Whisper away from the dock and jammed down the centerboard. Whisper's jaunty white
sail caught the wind, and she was sailing.
With one hand on the tiller to steer and the other holding the mainsheet rope to trim
the sail, Sarah balanced her weight to keep Whisper on an even keel. Over the waves
she skimmed. Glints of sunlight bounced off the water's rippled surface as Whisper's
bow sliced through the sea.
Sarah laughed aloud. The wind rushed against her face. Beneath her feet, she could
feel the water gurgle as they surged forward. It was as if she and Whisper were one, a
creature of sea and air.
Clang! Clang! The sound of the big red bell buoy echoed across the water. It marked
the channel, a safe passage between rocks and sandbars out to the Atlantic Ocean.
She was outside Crab Cove now. The wind began to weaken, then disappeared.
Whisper's sail drooped listlessly. The little boat drifted in the water, motionless.
"Uh-oh," Sarah muttered. She reached under the seat for the small oar, and started
paddling back. After a while her arms grew stiff and sore, but the shore didn't seem to
be getting any closer.
Sarah realized that Whisper was being carried backward, in the direction of the
ocean. "The tide!" she gasped. When the tide went out, it sent millions of gallons of
water draining into the Atlantic, and it created powerful currents, too strong for even an
adult to row against. She and Whisper were caught in one now.
"If the wind would only come back," Sarah thought desperately. With a little breeze,
she would be able to sail against the current. Remembering an old sailor's superstition,
Sarah tried to "whistle up the wind." But her mouth was so dry with fear that she
managed only a few weak "phweets." She and Whisper were going to be washed out to
sea!
The rumble of a motor in the distance caught Sarah's attention. It was a lobster boat.
She stood, braced her feet, and holding the mast with one hand, waved frantically with
the other.
Skill and Form Number: Literary Elements #1
They saw her! As the boat approached, Sarah recognized her neighbor Mr. Garner
at the helm, and beside him, her brother, Jimmy. They pulled up alongside, and Jimmy
threw Sarah a line, which she secured to a cleat on Whisper's bow. Then she climbed
over the side of the rescue boat, and they chugged slowly toward shore.
"Thank you for coming, Mr. Garner," Sarah said. Her voice was shaky.
"Got to watch your tides, Sarah," Mr. Garner said kindly. "Especially in an offshore
breeze. Dies right out when you get away from the land. You might have been in a heap
of trouble if young Jim hadn't come to fetch me."
Copyright (c) 1999 by Highlights for Children, Inc., Columbus, Ohio.
1. What is the main conflict in the story?
A. Sarah and Jimmy don’t get along very well.
B. Sarah struggles with whether or not to obey her parents’ rules.
C. Sarah wants to compete in the Junior Sailing Club's championship and
needs to practice.
D. There is no conflict in the story.
Write your response here:
(show your work)
2. What is the best way to describe Jimmy?
A.
B.
C.
D.
impatient
cautious
a tattletale
whiney
Write your response here:
(show your work)
3. Consider the plot of the story. How would the story be different if Jimmy
hadn’t gone to warn Mr. Garner?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Sarah would have kept drifting out further into the ocean.
Sarah would have been able to row herself back to shore.
The story wouldn’t have been any different.
Sarah’s parents would have taken a boat out to find her.
Write your response here:
(show your work)
Skill and Form Number: Literary Elements #1
4. What is the best way to describe Sarah?
A.
B.
C.
D.
obedient
impatient
generous
courageous
Write your response here:
(show your work)
5. Who is the narrator in the story?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Jimmy
The narrator is unnamed.
Sarah
Mr. Garner
Write your response here:
(show your work)
The Missing Balloon Pin
by Ian McMahan
The balloon was as big as a building.
My cousin, David, had invited Jordan and me to a balloon rally. We crossed the
meadow.
Jordan said, “Carol, maybe you could spot a new mystery from up there.”
I like mountains. I don’t mind airplanes. I also love solving mysteries—but not while
I’m dangling from a bag full of hot air.
“I’ll just watch,” I said.
David and his friends were unfolding a huge cloth. Ropes attached it to a wicker
basket.
David’s jean jacket had embroidered patches on it. His cap was covered with
enamel pins shaped like hot-air balloons.
“Meet Zach and Annette,” he said. “Zach’s crewing. Annette’s driving the chase car.”
“Paul,” David called to another guy.
David took off his cap and pointed to a pin attached just above the bill. It was a
bright green balloon with the word Earthquest below it. I noticed another pin just like it
that was red.
“A green Earthquest pin is rare!” Paul exclaimed.
“May I see?” Zach asked. David tossed him the cap.
Annette explained, “Collecting pins is a big hobby, and that one’s hard to find.”
“Inflation time,” David said.
“I’ll help,” Paul said. “What about tomorrow?”
Skill and Form Number: Literary Elements #1
“Zach’s crewing for me the whole meet,” David replied.
Zach and David wheeled over a big fan. Once the balloon was filling with air, David
started the propane burner. Soon it was swaying over our heads. David and Zach
climbed into the basket.
“Preflight check,” David said. “Zach, try the rip line.”
Zach tugged at a dangling rope.
“No, not the turning vent line,” David said. “The red rip line.”
Zach looked confused. He pulled on another rope. “This one?” he asked.
David unhooked the anchor ropes. “Where’s my cap?”
It was on the ground. I handed it to David.
“My green Earthquest pin’s gone. Zach, give it back!” David growled.
“I didn’t take it,” Zach said.
I searched the grass. The pin wasn’t there.
“All I did was look at it,” Zach insisted. “Then, I put the cap down.”
“Carol, you’re the detective,” Jordan said. “Can you figure it out?”
I thought about everything I had seen and heard. There must be a clue somewhere.
“I can prove Zach is innocent! Which rope has red paint on it?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Zach said. “I’m color-blind.”
“Zach couldn’t have taken the green pin. To him, it looked like the red one. Annette
wasn’t near the cap,” I explained.
Paul reached in his pocket and handed David the pin. “I wasn’t going to keep it. I
wanted to get you angry at Zach so you’d let me crew tomorrow.”
“See, Jordan?” I said. “I can find plenty of mysteries to solve on the ground.”
Copyright (c) 1998 by Highlights for Children, Inc., Columbus, Ohio.
6. What is the main conflict in the story?
A. A pin goes missing, and no one knows who took it.
B. Carol is scared of hot-air balloons, and the gang tries to calm her
down.
C. Zach wants to crew for David, but David turns him down.
D. The story has no conflict.
Write your response here:
(show your work)
7. What is the setting of the story?
A.
B.
C.
D.
the inside of a hot-air balloon in the sky
a hot-air balloon rally in a meadow
a campsite where environmental challenges take place
The story has no setting.
Write your response here:
(show your work)
Skill and Form Number: Literary Elements #1
8. How is the conflict resolved?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Jordan thinks that Carol took the pin.
Carol figures out that Zach took the pin.
Carol figures out that Paul took the pin.
Carol thinks that Jordan took the pin.
Write your response here:
(show your work)
9. Who is the narrator in the story?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Jordan
David
Carol
The narrator is unnamed.
Write your response here:
(show your work)
10. What is the best way to describe the narrator?
A.
B.
C.
D.
observant
hopeless
slow
panicked
Write your response here:
(show your work)
Skill and Form Number: Literary Elements #1
Answers
1. B
2. B
3. A
4. B
5. B
6. A
7. B
8. C
9. C
10. A
Explanations
1. There is more than one conflict taking place in the story, but the main
conflict is with Sarah trying to decide whether or not to break her parents’
rule. The passage states, “Her conscience bothered her." Her disobedience
creates all of the events that get her in trouble.
2. Jimmy, Sarah's little brother, is very cautious because he knows Sarah is
thinking about sailing and disobeying their parents' rule. He knows Sarah will
go sailing anyway, so instead of going back inside, he goes to the neighbor's
house and warns Mr. Garner. If it hadn't been for Jimmy being cautious,
Sarah might have drifted further out to sea.
3. It’s clear that Sarah isn’t very experienced when it comes to sailing. In
fact, Mr. Garner says, “Especially in an offshore breeze. Dies right out when
you get away from the land. You might have been in a heap of trouble if
young Jim hadn't come to fetch me."
4. Sarah is quick to take her boat out even though her parents told her she
isn't supposed to without an adult present. Despite this, she jumps at the
chance to go sailing when her parents are gone, and she almost pays a price
for it.
5. The story is told from the third person omniscient point of view since the
narrator in the story knows about everything that is happening and is able to
tell the audience what the characters are doing and thinking. However, the
narrator isn't given a name.
Skill and Form Number: Literary Elements #1
6. There are a few conflicts in the story, but the main one is that David's pin
goes missing, and no one knows who took it. It angers David, and David
takes it out on Zach because Zach is the last person to have seen it.
7. All of the action takes place at a hot-air balloon rally in a meadow;
however, the balloon never takes off. There are a few people crowded
around the balloon, and this increases the chances for conflict.
8. Carol is able to figure out that Paul took the pin even though everyone
thinks it was Zach since Zach was the last person to see the pin. Carol
realizes that Zach is colorblind and wouldn't know what color the pin is.
9. It's clear that the narrator of the story is Carol based on the second, third,
and fourth sentences of the passage. They read, "My cousin, David, had
invited Jordan and me to a balloon rally. We crossed the meadow. Jordan
said, 'Carol, maybe you could spot a new mystery from up there.'"
We get to see the story through Carol's point of view.
10. Pay attention to the way Carol acts. She notices everything. When the
pin goes missing, she remembers everything that took place and is able to
put the pieces together to figure out Zach is colorblind, and Paul was the one
who took David's pin.
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