Question 1 of 16 · Literary reading
Literary meaning and character · Curriculum connections: 4R1, 4R2, 4R3
A Place for the Banner — original fictional story
Original classroom text; all characters, events, organizations, and reported trial results are fictional.
Lena spread her drawing across the art-room table. The neighborhood festival needed a banner, and she had drawn a tall tower of colored squares. “Everyone will notice this,” she told Amir. Amir set down his pencil. “Where will the festival name go?” Lena pointed to a narrow space at the bottom. She had spent most of the page on the squares.
At the park gate, the children held the drawing against the fence. From the far sidewalk, Amir could see the tower but could not read the name. Lena felt a hot flush rise into her cheeks. She wanted to roll the drawing up. Then a neighbor asked, “Is that a new playground?” The banner’s problem had become impossible to ignore.
Back in the art room, Lena gave the letters half the page. She moved her squares into a border. “They still look like a tower from here,” Amir said, tilting the page. Lena smiled, but she asked him to test the new letters from the hallway before they painted. At the festival, she watched families read the name as they entered. Her design was different from her first plan, and that no longer felt like losing.