Name ______
Date ______
In Grandma’s Attic, by Arleta Richardson
Comprehension Guide
Introduction
1. When and where was Grandma born?
2. The author says the old house was really “a big ______.”
Story 1
1. What did Grandma and Sarah Jane wear to church?
2. Grandma learned what lesson from her experience?
a. Pride goes before a fall.
b. Hoopskirts are really easy to sit down in.
c. Her ma can really get mad.
Story 2
1. Why didn’t Grandma’s family have much money in summer?
2. What did Grandma catch?
3. What did she learn?
a. God didn’t care about her birthday.
b. Birthday dresses are not important.
c. God orders the lives of His children for their good.
Story 3
1. What were the red coat and bonnet originally?
2. T / F Grandma was hiding to make her family worry about her.
Story 4
1. Grandpa kept ______in his apron.
a. sermon notes
b. a hymnal
c. scripture verse cards
d. cookies
e. all of the above
2. Why did Reuben and Roy stop teasing Grandpa about his apron?
Story 5
1. How many aprons did Ma wear that day?
2. Why did she wear so many aprons that day?
Story 6
1. What reminded Grandma of her school story?
2. Why did Teacher think Mabel was not bright?
Story 7
1. From where did the button basket come?
2. What did the Indian want?
a. pewter mugs
b. a mirror
c. food
Story 8
1. What did Grandma do to get the gray shoes?
2. What made Emily special?
3. Of what did Emily’s eyes remind Grandma?
Story 9
1. Why did Nellie knock Mabel down and bite her buttons?
Story 10
1. Why did Grandma wear her dress backwards?
2. T / F The dress incident taught Grandma not to be prideful.
Story 11
1. T / F Nellie went home by herself.
2. Who took the horse and buggy?
a. Naughty boys
b. Grandpa Hobbs
c. Mabel
d. The minister
Story 12
1. T / F Cold can burn as badly as hot.
2. What did Mabel do that was so foolish?
Story 13
1. Who dirtied Roy’s shoes?
2. How did the sheep gate get left open and the food left in Roy’s bed?
Story 14
1. What did they call the little door at the bottom of the door?
a. the dog hole
b. the cat hole
c. the kiddie door
2. Who knocked on the door the third time?
Story 15
1. What did Mabel do with the dishwater?
2. Why didn’t she get spanked?
Story 16
1. A cellar was used for storing what?
a. canned fruit
b. canned vegetables
c. apples, potatoes, onions
d. all of the above
2. What did Mabel use the cellar to store?
Story 17
1. What was the first thing Mabel baked?
2. What did she put in for flavoring?
Story 18
1. Why did they warm their clothes before going to bed or when getting up?
2. What makes Ma say she hopes Mabel grows up to have a little sense?
Story 19
1. What happened when Mabel prayed for cooler weather?
2. T / F It was all her fault that the wheat was destroyed.
Story 20
1. Why didn’t Mabel like Molly Blue?
2. What happened when Mabel tried to bring the cows home alone?
Story 21
1. Why did Mabel handle Reuben’s gun?
2. How did she nearly kill her family?
Story 22
1. What did Grandma lose?
2. What was her punishment?
Story 23
1. What happened when Grandma prayed for shoes for Grandpa?
2. T / F God put out the stove fire.
3. Does God perform miracles for his children?
In Grandma’s Attic, comprehension guide answers
Intro
a. over 100 years ago, MI
b. storybook
#1
1. hoopskirt
2. a
#2
1. They depended on the sale of the crops in fall for money for what they couldn’t raise.
2. Measles
3. C
#3
1. drapes
2. f
#4
1. e
2. It kept him from falling to the barn floor.
#5
1. 5
2. She liked to be tidy and had no time to remove the dirty aprons before donning a clean one.
#6
1. new plaid dress
2. She would not answer because her Ma told her not to.
#7
1. Indian
2. C
#8
1. deceived her Ma
2. She had gray shoe-button eyes.
3. Not to be deceitful.
#9
1. Because she remembered them as Reuben’s and he’d trained her to shake his coat to ask for sugar.
#10
1. no one had time to button it for her
2. t
#11
1. f
2. b
#12
1. t
2. stuck her tongue on the cold water faucet
#13
1. Roy
2. Roy Sleepwalks
#14
1. b
2. the new minister
#15
1. threw it over the edge of the porch instead of behind the chicken house.
2. Pa saw the funny side
#16
1. d
2. dirty dishes
#17
1. a surprise birthday cake for Ma
2. liniment
#18
1. no heat in bedrooms
2. she put her clothes in the oven and forgot them
#19
1. hailed
2. f
#20
1. she’s a bawler
2. Mabel got her foot stuck between two stones in the creek.
#21
1. he didn’t want her to “breathe on it”—being bossy
2. she raised gun to see how it worked and accidentally fired into the kitchen
#22
1. buggy
2. can’t go to school without her brothers
#23
1. on Saturday a church member asked if he could use a pair of shoes
2. t
3. yes