Reading

Give evidence from the text

to support (3 marks) Y6

Extract from ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ by J.K Rowling

Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal,
thank you very much. They were the last people you’d expect to be involved in anything strange or
mysterious, because they just didn’t hold with such nonsense. Mr Dursley was the director of a firm
called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did
have a very large moustache.

Mrs Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very
useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbours. The
Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere. The
Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that
somebody would discover it. They didn’t think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters.

Mrs Potter was Mrs Dursley’s sister, but they hadn’t

met for several years; in fact, Mrs Dursley pretended
she didn’t have a sister, because her sister and her
good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it
was possible to be. The Dursleys shuddered to think
what the neighbours would say if the Potters arrived
in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had
a small son, too, but they had never even seen him.
This boy was another good reason for keeping the
Potters away; they didn’t want Dudley mixing with a
child like that.

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1 How are the Dursleys made to seem unfriendly and pompous?
Explain two ways, giving evidence from the text to support your answer.

1.

2.

Up to
3 marks

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 Extract from ‘Pig Heart Boy’ by Malorie Blackman

The noise was deafening. Shouting, screaming, laughing, shrieking – it was so thunderous. I thought my
head was about to explode. I took a deep breath, breathed out, inhaled again, then dipped down until
my head was completely under water.

Silence.

Peace.
It was like a radio being switched off. I sat down at the
bottom of the swimming pool and opened my eyes.

The chlorine in the water stung, but better that than not seeing what was coming and being kicked in the
face. I would’ve liked to stay down there for ever, but within seconds my lungs were aching and there came
a sharp, stabbing pain in my chest. My blood roared like some kind of angry monster in my ears.

I closed my eyes and stood up slowly. If I had to emerge, it would be at my own pace and in my own
time – no matter how much my body screamed at me to take a breath as fast as I could. I was the one
in control. Not my lungs. Not my blood. Not my heart.

“Cam, are you all right?”

I opened my eyes. Marlon stood in front of me, his green eyes dark and huge with concern.

2 What does this extract tell you about Cam’s character?

Explain two features of his character, giving evidence from the text to support
your answer.

1.

2.

2.

Up to
3 marks

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 Extract from ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ by John Boyne.

Bruno ran downstairs and even passed her out on the staircase so that he was waiting in the dining room
when she arrived. He looked at her without saying anything for a moment and thought to himself that
she couldn’t have applied her make-up correctly that morning because the rims of her eyes were more red
than usual, like his own after he’d been causing chaos and got into trouble and ended up crying.

‘Now, you don’t have to worry, Bruno,’ said Mother, sitting down in the chair where the beautiful blonde
woman who had come to dinner with the Fury had sat and waved at him when Father closed the doors.
‘In fact if anything it’s going to be a great adventure.’

‘What is?’ he asked. ‘Am I being sent away?’

‘No, not just you,’ she said, looking as if she might smile for a moment but thinking better of it. ‘We all
are. Your father and I, Gretel and you. All four of us.’

Bruno thought about this and frowned. He wasn’t particularly bothered if Gretel was being sent away
because she was a Hopeless Case and caused nothing but trouble for him. But it seemed a little unfair
that they all had to go with her.

‘But where?’ he asked. ‘Where are we going exactly? Why can’t we stay here?’

3 What does this extract tell you about Bruno’s character?

Explain two features of his character, giving evidence from the text to support
your answer.

1.

2.

Up to
3 marks

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 Extract from ‘The Secret Garden’ by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

It was the sweetest, most mysterious-looking place any one could imagine. The high walls which shut it
in were covered with the leafless stems of climbing roses, which were so thick that they were matted
together. Mary Lennox knew they were roses because she had seen a great many roses in India. All the
ground was covered with grass of a wintry brown, and out of it grew clumps of bushes which were surely
rose-bushes if they were alive. There were numbers of standard roses which had so spread their branches
that they were like little trees. There were other trees in the garden, and one of the things which made
the place look strangest and loveliest was that climbing roses had run all over them and swung down
long tendrils which made light swaying curtains, and here and there they had caught at each other or at
a far-reaching branch and had crept from one tree to another and made lovely bridges of themselves.

There were neither leaves nor roses on them now, and

Mary did not know whether they were dead or alive, but
their thin grey or brown branches and sprays looked like
a sort of hazy mantle spreading over everything, walls,
and trees, and even brown grass, where they had fallen
from their fastenings and run along the ground. It was
this hazy tangle from tree to tree which made it all look
so mysterious.

4 How is the garden made to seem mysterious and enchanting?

Explain two ways, giving evidence from the text to support your answer.

1.

2.

Up to
3 marks

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 Extract from ‘Beetle Boy’ by M. G. Leonard

Dr Bartholomew Cuttle wasn’t the kind of man who mysteriously disappeared. He was the kind of man
who read enormous old books at the dinner table and got fried egg stuck in his beard. He was the kind
of man who always lost his keys, and never took an umbrella on rainy days. He was the kind of dad who
might be five minutes late picking you up from school, but he always came.

More than anything else, Darkus knew his dad was not the kind of father who would abandon his
thirteen-year-old son. The police report stated that the 27th of September had been an unremarkable
Tuesday. Dr Bartholomew Cuttle, a 48-year-old widower, had taken his son, Darkus Cuttle, to school
and gone on to the Natural History Museum, where he was the Director of Science. He’d greeted his
secretary Margaret at nine-thirty, spent a morning in meetings discussing museum business, and eaten
lunch at one o’clock with an ex-colleague, Professor Andrew Appleyard.

In the afternoon he’d gone down to the collection vaults, as he

frequently would, via the coffee machine, where he’d filled his
cup. He’d exchanged pleasantries with Eddie, the security
guard on duty that day, walked down the corridor to the
vaults and locked himself in one of the entomology rooms.
That evening, when his father didn’t come home, Darkus
alerted the neighbours and they called the police.

5 What does this extract tell you about Dr. Bartholomew Cuttle’s character?
Explain two features of his character, giving evidence from the text to support
your answer.

1.

2.

Up to
3 marks

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 Extract from ‘Wonder’ by R.J. Palacio

I know I’m not an ordinary ten-year-old kid. I mean, sure, I do ordinary things. I eat ice cream. I ride my
bike. I play ball. I have an Xbox. Stuff like that makes me ordinary. I guess. And I feel ordinary. Inside.
But I know ordinary kids don’t make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds. I know
ordinary kids don’t get stared at wherever they go.

If I found a magic lamp and I could have one wish, I would wish that I had a normal face that no one ever
noticed at all. I would wish that I could walk down the street without people seeing me and then doing
that look-away thing. Here’s what I think: the only reason I’m not ordinary is that no one else sees me
that way. But I’m kind of used to how I look by now. I know how to pretend.

I don’t see the faces people make. We’ve all gotten pretty good at that sort of thing: me, Mom and Dad,
Via. Actually, I take that back: Via’s not so good at it. She can get really annoyed when people do
something rude. Like, for instance, one time in the playground some older kids made some noises.

I don’t even know what the noises were exactly because I didn’t hear them myself, but Via heard and she
just started yelling at the kids. That’s the way she is. I’m not that way.

Via doesn’t see me as ordinary. She says she does, but if I were
ordinary, she wouldn’t feel like she needs to protect me as much.
And Mom and Dad don’t see me as ordinary, either. They see
me as extraordinary. I think the only person in the world who
realises how ordinary I am is me. My name is August, by the
way. I won’t describe what I look like. Whatever you’re thinking,
it’s probably worse.

6 What does this extract tell you about August’s character?

Explain two features of his character, giving evidence from the text to support your answer.

1.

2.

Up to
3 marks

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 Extract from ‘Holes’ by Louis Sachar.

There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. There once was a very large lake here, the largest lake in Texas.
That was over a hundred years ago. Now it is just a dry, flat wasteland.

There used to be a town of Green Lake as well. The town shrivelled and dried up along with the lake,
and the people who lived there.

During the summer, the daytime temperature hovers around ninety-five degrees in the shade – if you can
find any shade. There’s not much shade in a big dry lake.

The only trees are two old oaks on the eastern edge of the “lake.” A hammock is stretched between the
two trees, and a log cabin stands behind that.

The campers are forbidden to lie in the hammock. It belongs

to the Warden. The Warden owns the shade.

Out on the lake, rattlesnakes and scorpions find shade

under rocks and in the holes dug by the campers.

Here’s a good rule to remember about rattlesnakes and

scorpions: If you don’t bother them, they won’t bother you.

Usually.

7 How is Camp Green Lake made to seem harsh and formidable?

Explain two ways, giving evidence from the text to support your answer.

1.

2.

Up to
3 marks

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 Extract from ‘The Golden Compass’ by Philip Pullman.

Then Lord Asriel stood up and turned away from the fire. She saw him fully, and marvelled at the
contrast he made with the plump Butler, the stooped and languid Scholars. Lord Asriel was a tall man
with powerful shoulders, a fierce dark face, and eyes that seemed to flash and glitter with savage
laughter. It was a face to be dominated by, or to fight: never a face to patronize or pity. All his
movements were large and perfectly balanced, like those of a wild animal, and when he appeared in a
room like this, he seemed a wild animal held in a cage too small for it.

At the moment his expression was distant and preoccupied.

His dæmon came close and leaned her head on his waist, and
he looked down at her unfathomably before turning away
and walking to the table. Lyra suddenly felt her stomach
lurch, for Lord Asriel had taken the stopper from the
decanter of Tokay, and was pouring a glass.

8 What does this extract tell you about Lord Asriel’s character?
Explain two features of his character, giving evidence from the text to support
your answer.

1.

2.

Up to
3 marks

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 Extract from ‘Journey to the River Sea’ by Eva Ibbotson.

She read about the great broad-leaved trees of the rainforest pierced by sudden rays of sun. She read
about travellers who had explored the maze of rivers and found a thousand plants and animals that had
never been seen before. She read about brilliantly coloured birds flashing between the laden branches –
macaws and humming birds and parakeets – and butterflies the size of saucers, and curtains of sweetly
scented orchids trailing from the trees. She read about the wisdom of the Indians who could cure
sickness and wounds that no one in Europe understood.

Everyone came well-prepared to the Geography lesson the following day.

“You start, Hermione,” said Miss Carlisle, “What did you find out about the Amazon?” Hermione looked
anxiously at Maia.
“There are huge crocodiles in the rivers that can snap your head off
in one bite. Only they’re not called crocodiles, they’re called
alligators because their snouts are fatter, but they’re just as fierce.”

“And if you just put one hand in the water there are these piranhas
that strip all of the flesh off your bones. Every single bit. They look
just like ordinary fish but their teeth are terrible,” said Melanie.
Daisy offered a mosquito which bit you and gave you yellow fever.
“You turn as yellow as a lemon and they you die,” she said.

9 How is the Amazon made to seem both exciting and dangerous?

Explain two ways, giving evidence from the text to support your answer.

1.

2.

Up to
3 marks

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 Extract from ‘Tom’s Midnight Garden’ by Philippa Pearce

He went out on to the front doorstep, where his mother was waiting with his suitcase. He put his hand
out for it, but Mrs Long clung to the case for a moment, claiming his attention first. “You know, Tom,”
she said, “it’s not nice for you to be rushed away like this to avoid the measles, but it’s not nice for us
either. Your father and I will miss you, and so will Peter. Peter’s not having a nice time, anyway, with
measles.”

“I didn’t say you’d all be having a nice time without me,” said Tom. “All I said was –”

“Hush!” whispered his mother, looking past him to the road and the car that waited there and the man
at its driving-wheel. She gave Tom the case, and then bent over him, pushing his tie up to cover his
collar-button and letting her lips come to within a few inches of his ear.

“Tom, dear Tom -” she murmured, trying to prepare him for the weeks ahead, “remember that you will
be a visitor, and do try – oh, what can I say? – try to be good.” She kissed him, gave him a dismissive
push towards the car and then followed him to it. As Tom got in, Mrs Long looked past to the driver.
“Give my love to Gwen,” she said, “and tell her, Alan, how grateful we are to you both for taking Tom
off at such short notice. It’s very kind of you isn’t it, Tom?” “Very kind,” Tom repeated bitterly.

10 How is the relationship between Tom and his mother made to seem loving yet
strained?
Explain two ways, giving evidence from the text to support your answer.

1.

2.

Up to
3 marks

Total
marks
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