Name:
Rachel’s Journal Text Questions

Directions: Answer each question in complete sentences. You will need to look
back in the text to find your answer and to provide text evidence.

1. Give reasons why Rachel chooses to walk along the cut-off paths.

2. Highlight or underline the word that you think best describes Rachel.

positive brave responsible

Support your choice with at least one detail from the story.

3. Make an inference: Why do you think Rachel didn’t want the other children
to know that she was “quaking” inside?

4. Explain why Mother was joyous, and then mad on May 16.

5. Make a judgment: Do you agree with the adults that the children should
never use the cut-offs again? Explain your thinking using details from the story.

6. After Rachel and her parents float their wagon across the river, Frank says that
he wasn’t scared. In response, Rachel thinks, “I do not credit that!” What
word might the author have used in place of credit?
I do not that!

7. Write a short summary of what happened when Ben and Will needed to get
the oxen across the river.