A Pocketful of Places
On the morning Eli left home, his grandmother gave him a small notebook with a blue cloth cover.
“Bring me back something wonderful,” she said.
Eli pictured a carved elephant, a shining stone, or perhaps a tiny glass ship. He tucked the notebook into his backpack and promised he would find the perfect gift.
Eli and his mother were traveling around the world during her year away from work. Their route would take them east from their home in California, across oceans and continents, and eventually back again. Eli had helped draw the route on a map, but the looping line had looked much simpler than the crowded airport.
Their first stop was Tokyo, Japan. On a rainy afternoon, Eli and his mother ducked into a small shop where an elderly man folded paper into birds. His fingers moved quickly, turning flat squares into wings and pointed beaks.
Eli bought one bright red bird for his grandmother. But by the time they reached their room, the bird was crushed beneath his water bottle.
“It looked so perfect,” Eli said, staring at its bent wing.
His mother helped him smooth the paper. “It still looks like a bird to me.”
Eli wasn't convinced. He placed it carefully between two pages of his notebook anyway.
- route:
- The path taken to get from one place to another.
- crushed:
- Pressed out of shape.
- gust:
- A sudden strong burst of wind.
- grateful:
- Feeling thankful for something.
- smudge:
- A blurry mark made by rubbing or smearing something.
- crease:
- A line made by folding or pressing something.
- examined:
- Looked at something carefully.
One passage, many ways to practice
Reading-skill questions, word work and writing prompts — all built from this text.
Main Idea
Identify the central idea and explain how important details develop it.
Context Clues
Use clues in the passage to work out what words mean. A separate printable Vocabulary worksheet is also available.
Summarize
Select, organize, and restate the most important information without adding opinion.
Purpose
Analyze what the author aims to do and how choices serve audience and purpose.
Structure
Analyze how sections and organizational choices build the text's ideas or effects.
Vocabulary
Practice words from the passage with a printable worksheet.
Writing Prompts
Use the passage as a springboard for short written responses, from personal reflection to evidence-based arguments.
Fix the Sentence
Practice editing sentences drawn from this passage with a printable worksheet.
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Preview questions from this passageShowHide
- 1Why does Eli expect to bring his grandmother an object at the start of the story?
- 2How does the crushed paper bird affect Eli, and what does he do with it?
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About this short story passage for Upper Elementary
“A Pocketful of Places” is a short story reading passage about World Travel, written for Upper Elementary. It takes about 4 minutes to read (614 words) and comes with an interactive quiz and a printable worksheet with comprehension questions and an answer key.