Perseverance and Making Sense: Through the Looking Glass

Read the excerpt from Through the Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll. In another moment Alice was through the glass, and had jumped lightly down into the Looking-glass room. The very first thing she did was to look whether there was a fire in the fireplace, and she was quite pleased to find that there was a real one, blazing away as brightly as the one she had left behind. "So I shall be as warm here as I was in the old room," thought Alice: "warmer, in fact, because there'll be no one here to scold me away from the fire. Oh, what fun it'll be, when they see me through the glass in here, and can't get at me!" Then she began looking about, and noticed that what could be seen from the old room was quite common and uninteresting, but that all the rest was as different as possible. For instance, the pictures on the wall next to the fire seemed to be all alive, and the very clock on the chimney-piece (you know you can only see the back of it in the Looking-glass) had got the face of a little old man, and grinned at her.

Which detail from the passage allows the reader to predict that Alice has stepped into an unusual place? D . . . . and the very clock on the chimney-piece (you know you can only see the back of it in the Looking-glass) had got the face of a little old man, and grinned at her.

Read the excerpt from Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. Alice didn't like this idea at all: so, to change the subject, she asked "Does she ever come out here?" "I daresay you'll see her soon," said the Rose. "She's one of the thorny kind." "Where does she wear the thorns?" Alice asked with some curiosity. "Why all round her head, of course," the Rose replied. "I was wondering YOU hadn't got some too. I thought it was the regular rule." "She's coming!" cried the Larkspur. "I hear her footstep, thump, thump, thump, along the gravel-walk!"

Which detail from the passage allows the reader to predict that the arriving character is frightening? B . "She's one of the thorny kind."

Read the excerpt from Through the Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll. "But oh!" thought Alice, suddenly jumping up, "if I don't make haste I shall have to go back through the Looking-glass, before I've seen what the rest of the house is like! Let's have a look at the garden first!" She was out of the room in a moment, and ran down stairs—or, at least, it wasn't exactly running, but a new invention of hers for getting down stairs quickly and easily, as Alice said to herself. She just kept the tips of her fingers on the hand-rail, and floated gently down without even touching the stairs with her feet; then she floated on through the hall, and would have gone straight out at the door in the same way, if she hadn't caught hold of the door-post. She was getting a little giddy with so much floating in the air, and was rather glad to find herself walking again in the natural way.

Which plot event from the excerpt helps the reader recognize that this is fantasy fiction instead of realistic fiction? A . Alice floats down the stairs, instead of running.

Read the excerpt from Through the Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll. "How would you like to live in Looking-glass House, Kitty? I wonder if they'd give you milk in there? Perhaps Looking-glass milk isn't good to drink—But oh, Kitty! now we come to the passage. You can just see a little PEEP of the passage in Looking-glass House, if you leave the door of our drawing-room wide open: and it's very like our passage as far as you can see, only you know it may be quite different on beyond. Oh, Kitty! how nice it would be if we could only get through into Looking-glass House! I'm sure it's got, oh! such beautiful things in it! Let's pretend there's a way of getting through into it, somehow, Kitty. Let's pretend the glass has got all soft like gauze, so that we can get through. Why, it's turning into a sort of mist now, I declare! It'll be easy enough to get through—" She was up on the chimney-piece while she said this, though she hardly knew how she had got there. And certainly the glass WAS beginning to melt away, just like a bright silvery mist.

Which plot event from the excerpt suggests that this is a piece of fantasy fiction? D . Alice notices that the glass is melting away.

Which character from Through the Looking Glass could appear in realistic fiction as well as fantasy fiction?

A . Dinah the cat

Read the excerpt from Through the Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll. "How would you like to live in Looking-glass House, Kitty? I wonder if they'd give you milk in there? Perhaps Looking-glass milk isn't good to drink—But oh, Kitty! now we come to the passage. You can just see a little PEEP of the passage in Looking-glass House, if you leave the door of our drawing-room wide open: and it's very like our passage as far as you can see, only you know it may be quite different on beyond. Oh, Kitty! how nice it would be if we could only get through into Looking-glass House! I'm sure it's got, oh! such beautiful things in it! Let's pretend there's a way of getting through into it, somehow, Kitty. Let's pretend the glass has got all soft like gauze, so that we can get through.

Based on details in the text, which statement is the best prediction of Alice's behavior? A . Alice will climb through the looking glass to have a look at the other room.

Read the excerpt from "Jabberwocky," by Lewis Carroll. He took his vorpal sword in hand: Long time the manxome foe he sought— So rested he by the Tumtum tree, And stood awhile in thought

Based on the context clues of this excerpt, which words best replaces the nonsense words "vorpal" and "manxome?" B . "trusty" and "fearsome"

Read the examples of chapter titles from Through the Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll. The Garden of Live Flowers Looking-glass Insects Tweedledum and Tweedledee Humpty Dumpty

Based on the titles of these chapters, which of the following predictions can be made about Alice's adventures in the novel? B . Alice will meet a variety of interesting creatures and characters.

Which plot event from Through the Looking Glass, could only happen in fantasy fiction?

D . Alice meets talking flowers.

Chapters 11 and 12 from Through the Looking Glass are titled "Waking" and "Which Dreamed It?" Based on these titles, a reader could predict that Alice will

D . fall asleep and have a strange dream.