Save the White Stag: Reading Comprehension

‘Save the White Stag’ is a children’s story which follows on from my earlier book, ‘Footprints in the Snow’ and takes the same four children on a new fantasy adventure, in which they have to save a white stag that has magic powers. I only wrote this new story in July 2021 and sent it out to primary schools and home-schoolers who signed up for my White Stag Project. The story was received with excitement and enthusiasm, so I went ahead, published it (available at Amazon and via Gardners/Askews) and am now in the process of creating classroom resources for it.

You can read the first 3 chapters for free at this link: bit.ly/3ovEFxW

This resource is a chapter-by-chapter reading comprehension package. The format is the same for all 18 chapters:

• A set of literal comprehension questions with answers found in the text

• Some broader questions to encourage inferred/critical thinking

• Some questions for class discussion

• Some words from each chapter to encourage vocabulary knowledge (For this exercise, I have deliberately chosen words which I hope will extend student vocabulary knowledge, rather than general vocabulary)

At the end of the resource there is an appendix which contains the answer key. Here I have not always included a specific answer for every inferred/critical thinking question, as I felt it was important to let students feel confident to think creatively for these questions, and not look for an answer from the resource itself.

For ease of printing and use, the questions and their answers for each chapter start on a new page, so as a teacher you can decide which pages you might want to print or laminate. The answers are also clearly set out and well-spaced so that a student could follow them independently to check their answers.

The book and this resource are ideal as a fantasy reading project, a project about forests or about animal care and welfare. Because the main character is a traveller child who lives in a camp, it is also relevant to this student group.

The story is aimed at middle-grade readers aged 8-12, but is also appropriate for younger readers who read above their age.

I totally enjoyed writing this story, connecting with students while doing so and creating a resource for it. I hope you also enjoy reading the story and find this comprehension resource useful in your classroom.

Thank you, Maggie