Can You Prove It?

Answer Key

Can You Prove It?

Use the story “The Drive-In Movies” with this guided reading chart. What does the author say that proves each of the following? Write down the author’s own words in the boxes below.

1. Gary Soto, the narrator, was trying to be good. / The author says… (Possible Answers)
“coffee I had fixed for her”; “I made her toast”; “and set three boxes of cereal in front of her”; “I got to work quickly”
2. Gary worked hard outside. / “I picked up a trowel and began to weed the flower bed.”; “crescents of earth began rising under my fingernails”; “I was sweaty and hot.”; “My knees hurt from kneeling, and my brain was dull”; “I then mowed the lawn”
3. His brother and sister were not helping him. / “My brother and sister watched from the window.”; “Their faces fat with cereal”; “they asked how come I was working.”
4. Rick and Gary made a mess of the car. / “gym sock was now blue”; “The paint was coming off.”; “there wasn’t enough to cover the entire car”; “only half got waxed”; “the waxed side of the car was foggy”; “the fog wouldn’t come off.”
5. Their mom was proud of them. / “She looked around the yard and said, ‘pretty good.’”; “She winced at the grille”; “She said, ‘You boys worked so hard.’”
6. Gary’s family was not wealthy. / “For our family, movie going was rare.”; “I kept a wad of homemade popcorn in my cheek”

7. Do you think that the narrator is older or younger than his brother and sister? Use evidence from the selection to support your answer.

Students may say the narrator is older. He takes the responsibility for the household jobs while his brother and sister watch for the most part.