📖 Reading Literature: The Census Taker (Grade 11)

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Read the story. Then answer using details from the text.

The Census Taker

The census taker knocked at the last house on the mountain road just before dusk. An old man answered, holding a lantern though the electricity worked fine.

"How many people live here?" she asked, pen ready.

He considered. "Officially, one." He gestured to the porch: a rocking chair beside his own, a pair of small boots by the door, a fishing rod leaning on the rail. "My wife’s chair. My son’s boots — he’s in the city now. My father’s rod. They all still live here, in a way. Your form doesn’t have a box for that."

She wrote "1" on the form. Then, on the drive down the mountain, she pulled over and wrote three more names on the back of the page, where no computer would ever read them.

1. Why does the old man say "officially, one"?

2. What do the objects on the porch represent?

3. What does "Your form doesn’t have a box for that" suggest?

4. Why does the census taker write three names on the back?

Theme: State the theme and explain how it develops over the text.

Answer key: 1) only he lives there, but his memories of family remain · 2) family members who are gone or away · 3) official records can’t capture emotional reality · 4) to honor the man’s view of who "lives" there · Theme: Official measures cannot capture the full reality of human lives and memory.

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Worksheets › Grade 11 English › Reading Literature › Reading Literature

Grade 11 (ages 16–17)Reading comprehensionFree printable PDF

About this grade 11 worksheet

Free Grade 11 English worksheet (Common Core RL.11-12.1): read "The Census Taker" and answer questions about key details, characters and theme. Skill: Key ideas and details in literature. Level: Grade 11 — also suits Year 12 (UK).

For teachers: skills & standards

CCSS RL.11-12.1: Key ideas and details in literature
CCSS RL.11-12.2: Key ideas and details in literature
CCSS RL.11-12.3: Key ideas and details in literature
Works as a morning-work page, a centre/station activity, homework or an early-finisher task.

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What age is it for?

It is designed for Grade 11 (ages 16–17), but use it with any child who is ready.

What skills does it build?

Key ideas and details in literature.

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More “Reading Literature” printables (rl.11-12.1–3: key ideas and details in literature)

Reading Literature: The Inheritance of Silence (Grade 11) · Reading Literature: Overtime (Grade 11) · Reading Literature: The Portrait (Grade 11) · Reading Literature: Small Talk (Grade 11)

All 5 reading literature sheets → · Grade 11 English: all 10 skills → · All Common Core grades

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