Activity of text interpretation, aimed at fifth graders, about the creator of Garfield. Let's get to know the Jim Davis story? So, read the text carefully! Then answer the various interpretative questions proposed!
You can download this text comprehension activity in an editable Word template ready to print to PDF and also the answer activity.
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SCHOOL: DATE:
PROF: CLASS:
NAME:
Read:
James Robert Davis was born on July 28, 1945 in Marion, Indiana (USA). The son of farmers, he had a brother, and he grew up full of responsibilities in the fields and among many cats. When he was little, he developed asthma and had to spend a good deal of time indoors. One day, when his mother realized that Jim was bored, she gave him a pencil and paper to distract him. One of Jim's first drawings was a cow.
From that moment on, she never stopped drawing. Already better at asthma, he enrolled at Fairmount High School and later moved to the big city to study Business and Arts at Ball State University. Jim's talent was soon noticed by an advertising agency, which hired him shortly after graduation. But the great discovery was to the credit of cartoonist Tom Ryan, who needed an assistant and hired Jim. […]
His first creation was a comic strip. The “Gnorm Gnat” included a huge variety of insects, but its publication only lasted five years, as it did not have great public appeal. It was then that she started to pay attention to the strips that were doing well and realized that there were many dogs as characters, but no cats. He then began to draw cats, using the 25 cats he lived with on the farm as a model. The funniest model was a fat half, whom he named Garfield after his stubborn grandfather James Garfield Davis. At first, Garfield was the supporting role of Jon, a cartoonist, until Jim realized that Garfield had the best possibilities for jokes. Within two years, the strip had caught the attention of some newspapers, and by June 1978, Garfield had appeared in 41 newspapers across the United States, including Boston, Dallas and Chicago. The cat's popularity grew. In 1987, the strip was in 2,000 newspapers. And, currently, it is published worldwide, in more than 2,600 newspapers. Approximately 263,000 people read the strip daily. […]
Available in:. (With adaptations).
Question 1 - The text above is:
( ) A tale.
( ) a biography.
( ) a report.
Question 2 – In “Son of farmers, he had a brother, and grew up full of responsibilities in the field and among many cats.”, The text refers to:
Question 3 – In the passage “When he was little, he developed asthma and had to pass most of the time indoors.”, the underlined expression indicates:
( ) a wish.
( ) a promise.
( ) a necessity.
Question 4 – In the segment “One day, when his mother realized that Jim was bored, she gave the he a pencil and a paper to distract.it.”, the underlined terms:
( ) take back Jim.
( ) feature Jim.
( ) characterize Jim.
Question 5 - In the fragment “Jim's Talent soon was noticed by an advertising agency.”, the highlighted word was used to express:
( ) place.
( ) mode.
( ) time.
Question 6 – According to the text, the publication of the strip “Gnorm Gnat”, Jim Davis' first creation, lasted a short time because:
( ) “it was a comic strip”.
( ) “did not have great appeal to the public”.
( ) “included a huge variety of insects”.
Question 7 – Identify the fact about Garfield's June 1978 strip:
( ) “Garfield appeared in 41 newspapers in the United States”.
( ) “the strip was in 2,000 newspapers”.
( ) “is published worldwide, in more than 2,600 newspapers”.
Question 8 – The excerpt "The cat's popularity grew." It's:
( ) a narration.
( ) a description.
( ) an argument.
By Denyse Lage Fonseca
Graduated in Languages and specialist in distance education.