Theme and Point of View Analysis
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Theme and Point of View Analysis
The Long Way Home
When Mara’s family moved from a small town in Ohio to a crowded city in Illinois, she packed a jar of smooth stones from the creek behind her old house. She told everyone the stones were just for decorating her desk. Really, she kept them because each one reminded her of a place she missed. On the drive to Illinois, Mara’s father told stories about his own childhood. He had moved three times before he was twelve. “Every new place felt strange at first,” he said. Mara stared out the window. She thought he could not understand: he had chosen to leave his old home, while she had not. At her new school, Mara met Lila, who sat alone at lunch and drew tiny houses in the margins of her notebook. Mara nearly walked past. Then she remembered how she felt on her first day, when every table seemed to belong to someone else. She asked Lila about the drawings. Lila said she was sketching the house her family had left in Louisiana. For a moment, Mara wanted to tell Lila that she knew exactly how she felt. But she didn’t. She knew their stories were not the same. Instead, she listened as Lila described the porch where her grandmother used to sit. Mara took a stone from her pocket and rolled it gently between her fingers. That evening, Mara placed the stone beside her new window. The city outside was still unfamiliar, but it no longer seemed to belong only to strangers. She wondered what stories her neighbors carried with them, and what she might learn if she took the time to ask.
Understand the Story
Use the passage to identify what happens and what the details suggest.
- Mara discovers that moving can be easy if you make friends quickly.
- Mara begins to feel less alone when she listens to someone whose experience is different from hers.
- Mara wants to return to Ohio because she dislikes the city.
- Mara and Lila become close friends because they have exactly the same life story.
- People should keep every object they find.
- Listening with care can help people understand one another, even when their lives are not the same.
- Moving to a city solves problems from the past.
- A person can only understand someone who has had the exact same experience.
- Her wish to collect valuable objects
- Her memories and connection to the home she misses
- Her plan to build a creek in Illinois
- Her father's stories about moving
Use Evidence and Explore Perspective
Support your thinking with specific details from the passage. You may quote a short phrase or describe an event accurately.
- She looks out the car window while her father tells stories.
- She puts a stone beside her new window.
- She chooses to ask Lila about her drawings and listens to Lila’s story.
- She remembers that the tables at lunch seemed to belong to someone else.
3 printable pages
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
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