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4th grade (Year 5 in England) · 16 questions · Common Core: RL.4.2, RL.5.2 · England: Y5/6 Reading (themes), KS2 SATs Reading
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Date
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The Margin
Zainab had read the library book three times before she noticed the handwriting.
It was in the margin of page 112, so faint she had taken it for a smudge. In tiny, slanted letters, someone had written: "Don't trust the narrator." Underneath, in different ink and a rounder hand, someone else had replied: "Why not?" And beneath that, in the first writer's slant: "Read chapter 9 again."
She read chapter 9 again. Then she read it a fourth time, and a fifth, and on the sixth she saw it – a single sentence where the narrator claimed to have been at home when, three chapters earlier, he had described himself on a train. A lie, hidden in plain sight. The whole story tilted, like a picture knocked crooked on a wall.
Zainab sat back. She checked the date stamps on the card inside the front cover. The book had been borrowed forty-seven times since 1994. Somewhere among those forty-seven readers were two people who had held a conversation across years without ever meeting.
She found a pencil. For a long time she hesitated over the page, feeling as if she were about to speak in a room full of strangers. Then, carefully, beneath the other two, she wrote: "Found it. Thank you."
When she returned the book, the librarian frowned at the pencil marks. Zainab apologised. But as she walked home, she wondered who would be next to find them.
Question 1
Read "The Margin". Which theme does the story explore?
- A. Librarians are unfriendly.
- B. Narrators always lie.
- C. Reading can create connections between people across time.
- D. Library books should never be written in.
Question 2
The new boy didn't speak English yet. At first, Sam ignored him. Then they discovered they both loved football, and soon they didn't need many words at all. What is the theme?
- A. Learning English is easy.
- B. Football is the best sport.
- C. New pupils should stay quiet.
- D. Friendship can grow across differences.
The Gardener's Ledger
My father kept two books. The first was the ledger in which he recorded every coin that passed through the shop: the price of flour, the cost of the new awning, the debts that customers swore they would settle by Friday. He wrote in it every evening, in a small, upright hand, and he never let anyone else touch it.
The second book I did not discover until after he died. It was a cheap school exercise book, its cover soft with handling, hidden at the back of the shed behind the seed trays. Inside, in the same upright hand, he had recorded something quite different: the date the first snowdrop appeared each year; the night a fox had dug up the tulips; the morning, in 1987, when "M. laughed at the robin on the spade and said it was the bravest bird in England." M. was my mother. I had never heard my father mention her laugh.
For forty years, it seemed, he had been keeping accounts of another kind – of small, unprofitable things that added up to a life. The shop ledger balanced to the penny. The garden book did not balance at all. There were gaps of months, sometimes years. In 1993, the year my mother died, there is only one entry: "Rain."
I used to think my father was a man who cared only for what could be counted. I sat in that cold shed until the light went, reading his small, careful sentences, and understood that I had been reading the wrong book.
Question 3
Read "The Gardener's Ledger". What does the final phrase "I had been reading the wrong book" mean?
- A. He should have studied gardening.
- B. He had judged his father by the wrong evidence.
- C. He had borrowed the wrong library book.
- D. He had misread the shop accounts.
The Mapmaker's Apprentice
Ines had worked in Master Corvo's shop for three years, and in all that time he had never let her draw a single line on a real map. She ground his inks, stretched his parchment and swept up the shavings from his quills. When she asked why she could not draw, he only said, "A mapmaker must first learn to see."
So Ines watched. She watched sailors come in, sunburnt and impatient, to buy charts of the southern coast. She watched merchants argue over which mountain pass was fastest. Most of all, she watched Master Corvo, who spent far longer listening to travellers than he did holding his pen.
One winter morning, a fisherman stumbled into the shop, soaked and shaking. A storm had pushed his boat far north, past the edge of every chart in the city. He had found a narrow channel between two islands that no map showed, and it had saved his life.
Master Corvo was in bed with a fever. The fisherman was leaving on the evening tide.
Ines hesitated only for a moment. Then she sat the fisherman by the fire and asked him questions — not just where the channel was, but how the water changed colour near the rocks, where the gulls gathered, how long it took to row from one island to the other. She wrote down every answer. Only when she had heard everything did she pick up a pen.
When Master Corvo recovered, she laid the new chart in front of him. He studied it for a long time without speaking. Then he took his own pen, signed his name in the corner, and beneath it, for the first time, he wrote hers.
Question 4
Read "The Mapmaker's Apprentice". Which statement best expresses a theme of the story?
- A. Patient observation is the foundation of real skill.
- B. Fishermen are the bravest people.
- C. Maps are more important than people.
- D. Masters should never trust apprentices.
The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter
The storm had been building all afternoon. By the time the sun set, waves as tall as houses were hurling themselves against the rocks below Gull Point Lighthouse, and the wind screamed around the tower like a wild animal.
Nell pressed her face to the window of the little cottage. Her father had rowed to the mainland that morning to fetch the doctor for Mrs Penrose, and the sea had turned before he could return. Now, for the first time in her twelve years, Nell was alone at the lighthouse.
She knew what that meant. Every night at dusk, the great lamp at the top of the tower had to be lit. Without it, ships would have no warning of the rocks.
Nell grabbed the lantern and her father's oilskin coat, which hung down past her knees, and pushed open the door. The wind nearly knocked her flat. Bent double, she stumbled across the yard and into the tower.
There were one hundred and twelve steps to the top. Nell had climbed them hundreds of times, but never in the dark, never with the whole tower trembling. Halfway up, her lantern flickered and almost went out. She stopped, cupped her hand around the flame and whispered, "Not now. Please, not now."
At the top, her fingers were numb with cold. She trimmed the wick the way her father had shown her, filled the oil and struck a match. Nothing. A second match. Nothing. With the third, a tiny flame caught, grew and then blazed, and the great lens began to turn, sweeping its beam across the furious sea.
Far out in the darkness, a ship's horn sounded twice. Nell did not know whose ship it was. But she knew that, tonight, it would find its way home.
Question 5
Read "The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter". What does the ending suggest?
- A. Nell's father is on the ship.
- B. Nell's brave action has probably saved a ship.
- C. The lighthouse will close.
- D. The storm will last forever.
My Grandmother's Hands
My grandmother's hands are brown and wrinkled, like a map of rivers that have been flowing for eighty years. When I was small, I used to trace the lines with my finger and ask her where each one went.
"This one," she would say, pointing to a deep crease across her palm, "goes back to the farm where I grew up, where I picked cotton until my fingers bled." Then she would point to a thin white scar on her thumb. "And this one leads to the night I learned to cook for eight brothers and sisters."
Her hands have kneaded thousands of loaves of bread. They have stitched every quilt in our house and plaited my hair before every first day of school. They once caught my baby brother when he slipped from the top of the slide, faster than anyone thought an old woman could move.
These days her hands shake a little when she holds her teacup. Sometimes she drops a stitch and has to start a row again. But when she takes my hands in hers, they are still the strongest hands I know.
Question 6
Read "My Grandmother's Hands". What is the main message of the final paragraph?
- A. The narrator is angry with her grandmother.
- B. Her hands are now useless.
- C. Although she is growing weaker, her love and strength remain.
- D. Old people should stop sewing.
The Kite Festival
Amara had spent three weeks building her kite. She had bent the bamboo sticks, stretched the paper tight and painted a fierce golden dragon across the front. It was going to win the prize for best design at the town's kite festival. She was sure of it.
On the morning of the festival, the field was crowded with families. Kites shaped like fish, birds and boats bobbed in the breeze. Amara's little brother, Kofi, trailed behind her, clutching a small diamond kite he had made from a plastic bag and two straws.
"Mine's not very good," Kofi mumbled.
Amara ran, and her dragon rose beautifully – until a sudden gust snapped one of the bamboo sticks. The kite twisted, spun and crashed into the grass. The paper ripped right through the dragon's face.
Amara's eyes stung. Three weeks of work, ruined in three seconds.
Kofi tugged her sleeve. "You can fly mine with me," he offered.
At first Amara shook her head. Then she looked at Kofi's hopeful face and took the string. Together they ran, and the little plastic kite shot up higher than any other kite in the sky. People pointed and cheered.
That afternoon, the judges gave Kofi a ribbon for "Highest Flyer". Amara clapped louder than anyone. She realised she was smiling more than she would have if she had won the prize herself.
Question 7
Read "The Kite Festival". What is the theme of the story?
- A. You should never enter competitions.
- B. Sharing someone else's success can bring real happiness.
- C. Little brothers are annoying.
- D. Expensive kites always fly best.
Message in a Bottle (a poem)
I am a bottle, empty and light,
tossed from a boat on a bright summer night.
No note inside me, no secret to tell,
just plastic and air and a sea-salty smell.
The ocean is patient, the ocean is wide;
it rocks me and rolls me from tide to tide.
A turtle swims near me and stares at my shine.
I am not a jellyfish. Please, don't you dine!
I'll drift for a lifetime, I'll drift for a few,
I'll crumble to pieces too tiny for you.
But somebody somewhere could carry me back,
a hand on the beach and a bin in a sack.
So here is my message, though no one wrote it:
the sea keeps whatever we throw. Don't forget it.
Question 8
Read "Message in a Bottle (a poem)". What is the main message of the poem?
- A. Everyone should send messages in bottles.
- B. Bottles make good homes for turtles.
- C. Summer nights at sea are beautiful.
- D. Litter we throw into the sea stays there and causes harm.
The Climbing Wall
The climbing wall at the leisure centre was twelve metres high, and from the bottom it looked like a mountain covered in brightly coloured sweets. Jaya had watched her older cousin, Ravi, scramble to the top of it a dozen times. Today was her first turn.
The instructor clipped the rope to her harness and checked the knot twice. "Remember," she said, "use your legs, not just your arms. And don't look down until you're ready."
The first few holds were easy. Jaya climbed quickly, buoyed by Ravi's cheers. But halfway up, the holds grew smaller and farther apart. Her arms began to burn. She looked down – and immediately wished she hadn't. The floor seemed impossibly far away, and her legs began to tremble.
"I want to come down," she called.
"You can," the instructor answered calmly. "Or you can rest. Lean back into the harness. The rope's got you."
Jaya didn't believe her. But slowly, she let her weight sink back. The rope held. Her breathing steadied. She looked at the wall in front of her, not at the floor, and noticed a small yellow hold to her right that she hadn't seen before.
Ten minutes later, she slapped the top of the wall. The leisure centre erupted in cheers – or at least Ravi did, which felt like the same thing.
Question 9
Read "The Climbing Wall". Which theme best fits the story?
- A. Older cousins are always better at sports.
- B. Climbing is too dangerous for children.
- C. You should never take risks.
- D. Staying calm and trusting support can help us overcome fear.
The Drone at the Marsh (a play)
CAST: NIA, a young volunteer · AMIR, her older cousin · MRS HOLT, the nature reserve warden
SCENE: A wooden bird hide at the edge of a marsh. Early morning.
(NIA peers through binoculars. AMIR carries a small drone and a controller.)
AMIR: (cheerfully) Watch this, Nia. I'll fly it over the reeds and film the whole marsh.
NIA: (lowering the binoculars) Wait! The terns are nesting out there.
AMIR: It's only a little drone. They won't even notice.
(MRS HOLT enters, holding a clipboard.)
MRS HOLT: Morning, both. Is that a drone?
AMIR: (proudly) It has a 4K camera.
MRS HOLT: (gently) Birds may think a drone is a hawk. If the parents fly off their nests, the eggs can get cold.
NIA: So filming them could hurt them.
(AMIR looks at the drone, then at the marsh. A pause.)
AMIR: (quietly) I didn't know that. Could I film the car park instead, and show people where the hide is?
MRS HOLT: (smiling) That would be very helpful.
Question 10
Read "The Drone at the Marsh (a play)". What is the main message of the play?
- A. Birds do not need eggs.
- B. New gadgets are always bad.
- C. Think about how your actions affect wildlife.
- D. Never listen to older people.
The Margin
Zainab had read the library book three times before she noticed the handwriting.
It was in the margin of page 112, so faint she had taken it for a smudge. In tiny, slanted letters, someone had written: "Don't trust the narrator." Underneath, in different ink and a rounder hand, someone else had replied: "Why not?" And beneath that, in the first writer's slant: "Read chapter 9 again."
She read chapter 9 again. Then she read it a fourth time, and a fifth, and on the sixth she saw it – a single sentence where the narrator claimed to have been at home when, three chapters earlier, he had described himself on a train. A lie, hidden in plain sight. The whole story tilted, like a picture knocked crooked on a wall.
Zainab sat back. She checked the date stamps on the card inside the front cover. The book had been borrowed forty-seven times since 1994. Somewhere among those forty-seven readers were two people who had held a conversation across years without ever meeting.
She found a pencil. For a long time she hesitated over the page, feeling as if she were about to speak in a room full of strangers. Then, carefully, beneath the other two, she wrote: "Found it. Thank you."
When she returned the book, the librarian frowned at the pencil marks. Zainab apologised. But as she walked home, she wondered who would be next to find them.
Question 11
Read "The Margin". Which theme does the story explore?
- A. Librarians are unfriendly.
- B. Library books should never be written in.
- C. Reading can create connections between people across time.
- D. Narrators always lie.
Question 12
The old fisherman had caught nothing for days. Still, every morning he rowed out. On the ninth day, his net came up full. What is the theme?
- A. Fishing is boring.
- B. Perseverance can pay off.
- C. Old people should rest.
- D. The sea is dangerous.
The Gardener's Ledger
My father kept two books. The first was the ledger in which he recorded every coin that passed through the shop: the price of flour, the cost of the new awning, the debts that customers swore they would settle by Friday. He wrote in it every evening, in a small, upright hand, and he never let anyone else touch it.
The second book I did not discover until after he died. It was a cheap school exercise book, its cover soft with handling, hidden at the back of the shed behind the seed trays. Inside, in the same upright hand, he had recorded something quite different: the date the first snowdrop appeared each year; the night a fox had dug up the tulips; the morning, in 1987, when "M. laughed at the robin on the spade and said it was the bravest bird in England." M. was my mother. I had never heard my father mention her laugh.
For forty years, it seemed, he had been keeping accounts of another kind – of small, unprofitable things that added up to a life. The shop ledger balanced to the penny. The garden book did not balance at all. There were gaps of months, sometimes years. In 1993, the year my mother died, there is only one entry: "Rain."
I used to think my father was a man who cared only for what could be counted. I sat in that cold shed until the light went, reading his small, careful sentences, and understood that I had been reading the wrong book.
Question 13
Read "The Gardener's Ledger". What does the final phrase "I had been reading the wrong book" mean?
- A. He had misread the shop accounts.
- B. He had borrowed the wrong library book.
- C. He should have studied gardening.
- D. He had judged his father by the wrong evidence.
The Mapmaker's Apprentice
Ines had worked in Master Corvo's shop for three years, and in all that time he had never let her draw a single line on a real map. She ground his inks, stretched his parchment and swept up the shavings from his quills. When she asked why she could not draw, he only said, "A mapmaker must first learn to see."
So Ines watched. She watched sailors come in, sunburnt and impatient, to buy charts of the southern coast. She watched merchants argue over which mountain pass was fastest. Most of all, she watched Master Corvo, who spent far longer listening to travellers than he did holding his pen.
One winter morning, a fisherman stumbled into the shop, soaked and shaking. A storm had pushed his boat far north, past the edge of every chart in the city. He had found a narrow channel between two islands that no map showed, and it had saved his life.
Master Corvo was in bed with a fever. The fisherman was leaving on the evening tide.
Ines hesitated only for a moment. Then she sat the fisherman by the fire and asked him questions — not just where the channel was, but how the water changed colour near the rocks, where the gulls gathered, how long it took to row from one island to the other. She wrote down every answer. Only when she had heard everything did she pick up a pen.
When Master Corvo recovered, she laid the new chart in front of him. He studied it for a long time without speaking. Then he took his own pen, signed his name in the corner, and beneath it, for the first time, he wrote hers.
Question 14
Read "The Mapmaker's Apprentice". Which statement best expresses a theme of the story?
- A. Masters should never trust apprentices.
- B. Maps are more important than people.
- C. Fishermen are the bravest people.
- D. Patient observation is the foundation of real skill.
The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter
The storm had been building all afternoon. By the time the sun set, waves as tall as houses were hurling themselves against the rocks below Gull Point Lighthouse, and the wind screamed around the tower like a wild animal.
Nell pressed her face to the window of the little cottage. Her father had rowed to the mainland that morning to fetch the doctor for Mrs Penrose, and the sea had turned before he could return. Now, for the first time in her twelve years, Nell was alone at the lighthouse.
She knew what that meant. Every night at dusk, the great lamp at the top of the tower had to be lit. Without it, ships would have no warning of the rocks.
Nell grabbed the lantern and her father's oilskin coat, which hung down past her knees, and pushed open the door. The wind nearly knocked her flat. Bent double, she stumbled across the yard and into the tower.
There were one hundred and twelve steps to the top. Nell had climbed them hundreds of times, but never in the dark, never with the whole tower trembling. Halfway up, her lantern flickered and almost went out. She stopped, cupped her hand around the flame and whispered, "Not now. Please, not now."
At the top, her fingers were numb with cold. She trimmed the wick the way her father had shown her, filled the oil and struck a match. Nothing. A second match. Nothing. With the third, a tiny flame caught, grew and then blazed, and the great lens began to turn, sweeping its beam across the furious sea.
Far out in the darkness, a ship's horn sounded twice. Nell did not know whose ship it was. But she knew that, tonight, it would find its way home.
Question 15
Read "The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter". What does the ending suggest?
- A. Nell's father is on the ship.
- B. The storm will last forever.
- C. The lighthouse will close.
- D. Nell's brave action has probably saved a ship.
My Grandmother's Hands
My grandmother's hands are brown and wrinkled, like a map of rivers that have been flowing for eighty years. When I was small, I used to trace the lines with my finger and ask her where each one went.
"This one," she would say, pointing to a deep crease across her palm, "goes back to the farm where I grew up, where I picked cotton until my fingers bled." Then she would point to a thin white scar on her thumb. "And this one leads to the night I learned to cook for eight brothers and sisters."
Her hands have kneaded thousands of loaves of bread. They have stitched every quilt in our house and plaited my hair before every first day of school. They once caught my baby brother when he slipped from the top of the slide, faster than anyone thought an old woman could move.
These days her hands shake a little when she holds her teacup. Sometimes she drops a stitch and has to start a row again. But when she takes my hands in hers, they are still the strongest hands I know.
Question 16
Read "My Grandmother's Hands". What is the main message of the final paragraph?
- A. Her hands are now useless.
- B. Old people should stop sewing.
- C. Although she is growing weaker, her love and strength remain.
- D. The narrator is angry with her grandmother.
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