Grade 3 English Reading Comprehension Exercises

In the following story, a boy called Shannon is being teased by his friends. Read the story carefully. Answer the questions based on the story.

Shannon To The Rescue

Shannon reluctantly changed into his best clothes. He had been invited by his classmate Ben for his birthday party. Shannon usually did not like to go for such events. He was very shy, and was constantly bullied by his classmates. But today he had to go, as his mother said that if he was invited, he had better go.

The ride to Ben’s house was unfortunately short. In no time Shannon arrived at Ben’s house and rang the bell.

“Hi Shannon,” Ben said, opening the door. Behind Ben, Shannon could see all his classmates laughing and eating.

“Oh! Shy Shannon is here,” Patricia, who sat next to Shannon in class, screamed on seeing him. The girls who stood in a group laughed loudly.

“Why don’t you join the girls, sissy?” Raul, who was known to be the class bully, called out.

Shannon tried to make himself invisible. He went to a corner and stood all by himself.

The party continued; the cake was cut and handed out. Shannon was given a piece by Ben’s mother. She tried to talk to Shannon, who answered her questions in mono-syllables.

It was almost 8.00 pm. Shannon’s mother had promised to pick him up at 8.30. He couldn’t wait to go home.

Suddenly one of the girls who was sitting on the window sill screamed. She jumped down and screamed again, “snake! Snake!”

Ben’s parents were called immediately. All the children stood in a tight group in the middle of the room, holding their breath.

“Keep calm everyone,” said Ben’s father.

Meanwhile, the snake that had caused so much chaos slithered quietly down the window, into the room. The children stifled their screams and huddled together. Patricia’s eyes were round and bulged like two saucers.

Shannon, who had been standing quietly in the corner, had his full attention on the snake now. Ever since he was a toddler he had been interested in all sorts of creepy crawlies. Snakes did not scare him. This particular snake, instead of scaring him, fascinated him. It had thin yellow stripes on its slender body. “No need to be scared,” he said loudly, and was surprised to hear his own voice.

Everyone looked at him, shocked.

Shannon went to the sofa and took one of the cushions. Very gently, he took out the cushion case. He slowly moved towards the snake, careful not to make noise. very slowly, almost lovingly, he grabbed the tail, upon which the snake began to writhe vigorously. The children gasped collectively, their eyes wide with fear and shock. Without loosening his grip, and very quickly, he placed the snake head first in the cushion case and closed the open end with a knot.

He went to Ben’s father and handed him the cushion case with its catch writhing inside. “You can let it out outside. It will slither away immediately,” he said.

“You saved the day, Shannon,” Ben’s father said, relief evident in his voice.

“Thank you, sir. Thank you, Ben, and happy birthday,” Shannon said as he headed for the door. He had just seen his mother pulling into the driveway.

“My life at school is going to be so much easier from tomorrow onwards,” Shannon told his mother happily.

Questions

• Shannon reluctantly changed into his best clothes. Why does the writer use the word ‘reluctantly’?
• Why did the other children bully Shannon?
• Why did Ben’s father say that Shannon was the bravest boy he knew?
• Why did Shannon think that school was going to be easier from the next day onwards?

Answer Scheme

• The writer wants to indicate that Shannon was not at all interested in going for the party.
• Shannon was very shy.
• Shannon did not lose his calm when handling the snake. He successfully caught the snake in the pillow case and handed it to Ben’s father. This could not be done by any other child present there.
• Shannon knew that because of the incident in which he caught the snake with bare hands, all the other children thought of him as brave. He was, after all, not shy. So Shannon thought that the other kids will be respectful of him and not bully him anymore as they usually did.