Aunt Melba
Everyone’s got at least one crazy relative, the skeleton in the closet, the One Who Is Not To Be Emulated.1 In my family, it’s Aunt Melba, the clairvoyant,2 the black sheep, and former trapeze artist. Every
Thanksgiving, when the whole family gathers at my grandmother’s house in Indiana, Aunt Melba steals the show. This is particularly
interesting since she never actually shows up. But no one can talk
about anything else, so she might as well have a chair at the table.
She rules by remote control, from Alaska, where she’s living now on a fishing boat that rests on dry land.
Family gatherings used to be fun when I was younger--seeing all the
cousins, even if I had to pay for the privilege with pinches on the
cheeks from aunts and slaps on the back from uncles, who always
comment about how much I’ve grown. (If their enthusiasm for my growing were matched in inches, I’d be ten feet tall.) But lately, the
cousins, who are mostly a few years older than I am, have stopped
coming, since they’ve gotten married and, for some reason, all wind
up at their other relatives’ houses for Thanksgiving. Aunt Melba is a letter writer. Not an e-mailer, but someone who writes
in long hand on the backs of store fliers. (She’s not into wasting paper, so she saves everything.) She writes not to tell us what she’s up to, but, rather, to report on what we’ve been doing. “It’s good to hear that Allie is pursuing her studies in agricultural science” is on the reverse of “Codfish Cakes! $2.99 a pound! Free Coleslaw!” I wonder
why advertisements always contain exclamation points and how she
always knows what my cousins and I are doing, since no one claims to
talk to her.
1
2
emulate: to try to be like
clairvoyant: the power of seeing or knowing about things that are not present to the senses
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Text: Copyright © 2007 Weekly Reader Corporation. All rights reserved. Weekly
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Used by permission.
Name:
_____________ Date: _______________________
1. How does Aunt Melba communicate with her family?
A
B
C
D
by
by
by
by
writing letters
e-mailing
calling them on the phone
going to family gatherings
2. How does the author describe Aunt Melba?
A
B
C
D
as
as
as
as
someone who is painfully shy
the black sheep of the family
a role model everyone greatly admires
a person who is extremely boring
3. Which of the following conclusions about the author is supported by the passage?
A
B
C
D
She
She
She
She
no longer thinks family gatherings are fun.
hopes to host Thanksgiving the following year.
wishes she were getting married like her cousins.
wants Aunt Melba to start attending family gatherings.
4. Read this sentence from the passage: ”’It’s good to hear that Allie is pursuing her
studies in agricultural science’ is on the reverse of ‘Codfish Cakes! $2.99 a pound! Free Coleslaw!’”
In this sentence, the word pursuing means
A
B
C
D
waiting patiently
chasing after a goal
imagining or inventing
collecting one’s thoughts
5. Why does the author spend the last paragraph going into great detail about Aunt
Melba’s letters?
A
B
C
D
The
The
The
The
author
author
author
author
is trying to show just how eccentric her aunt is.
wants to show the reader why letter writing is not a lost art.
is hoping to convince people that recycling paper is important.
is trying to show how selfless and friendly her aunt can be.
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© 2012 ReadWorks , Inc. All rights reserved.
6. Why are fewer cousins attending the family gatherings?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
7. What does the author mean by saying her aunt “rules by remote control”? [paragraph 1] Cite an example from the text.
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
8. The question below is an incomplete sentence. Choose the word that best completes
the sentence.
Aunt Melba does not like to waste paper, ______ she saves store fliers.
A
B
C
D
instead
although
because
so
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9. Answer the following questions based on the sentence below.
Aunt Melba is such a character that she steals the show at Thanksgiving family
gatherings in Indiana by being the main topic of conversation.
Who? _________________________________________________________________
(does) What? ___________________________________________________________
Why? she is such a character
Where? ________________________________________________________________
When? ________________________________________________________________
How? _________________________________________________________________
10. Vocabulary Word: emulate: to try to be like.
Use the vocabulary word in a sentence: ______________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
3
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© 2012 ReadWorks , Inc. All rights reserved.
Teacher Guide and Answers
Passage Reading Level: Lexile 1090
Featured Text Structure: Descriptive – the writer explains, defines, or illustrates a concept or topic
Passage Summary: “Aunt Melba” describes how the author’s “crazy relative” steals the show at family
gatherings, even though she never actually shows up.
1. How does Aunt Melba communicate with her family?
A
B
C
D
by writing letters
by e-mailing
by calling them on the phone
by going to family gatherings
2. How does the author describe Aunt Melba?
A
B
C
D
as someone who is painfully shy
as the black sheep of the family
as a role model everyone greatly admires
as a person who is extremely boring
3. Which of the following conclusions about the author is supported by the passage?
A
B
C
D
She no longer thinks family gatherings are fun.
She hopes to host Thanksgiving the following year.
She wishes she were getting married like her cousins.
She wants Aunt Melba to start attending family gatherings.
4. Read this sentence from the passage: ”’It’s good to hear that Allie is pursuing her studies in agricultural
science’ is on the reverse of ‘Codfish Cakes! $2.99 a pound! Free Coleslaw!’”
In this sentence, the word pursuing means
A
B
C
D
waiting patiently
chasing after a goal
imagining or inventing
collecting one’s thoughts
5. Why does the author spend the last paragraph going into great detail about Aunt Melba’s letters?
A
B
C
D
The author is trying to show just how eccentric her aunt is.
The author wants to show the reader why letter writing is not a lost art.
The author is hoping to convince people that recycling paper is important.
The author is trying to show how selfless and friendly her aunt can be.
1
®
© 2012 ReadWorks , Inc. All rights reserved.
6. Why are fewer cousins attending the family gatherings?
Suggested answer: They have gotten married and go to their relatives’ houses for Thanksgiving.
[paragraph 2]
7. What does the author mean by saying her aunt “rules by remote control”? [paragraph 1] Cite an example from the text.
Suggested answer: Even though her aunt is in Alaska, she is still the subject of conversation at each
family gathering. [paragraph 1]
8. The question below is an incomplete sentence. Choose the word that best completes the sentence.
Aunt Melba does not like to waste paper, ______ she saves store fliers.
A
B
C
D
instead
although
because
so
9. Answer the following questions based on the sentence below.
Aunt Melba is such a character that she steals the show at Thanksgiving family gatherings in Indiana by
being the main topic of conversation.
Who? Aunt Melba
(does) What? steals the show
Why? she is such a character
Where? at family gatherings in Indiana
When? Thanksgiving
How? by being the main topic of conversation
10. Vocabulary Word: emulate: to try to be like.
Use the vocabulary word in a sentence: answers may vary.
2
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© 2012 ReadWorks , Inc. All rights reserved.