My Kingdom: reading passage and questions

A free printable short story reading passage, written at a grade 2 reading level (Peabody level 7, where 3rd grade readers start; 202 words) with 5 comprehension questions and an answer key. No sign-up.

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Name: ____________________Date: ____________

My Kingdom

Down by a shining water well I found a very little dell, No higher than my head. The heather and the gorse about In summer bloom were coming out, Some yellow and some red. I called the little pool a sea; The little hills were big to me; For I am very small. I made a boat, I made a town, I searched the caverns up and down, And named them one and all.

And all about was mine, I said, The little sparrows overhead, The little minnows too. This was the world and I was king; For me the bees came by to sing, For me the swallows flew. I played there were no deeper seas, Nor any wider plains than these, Nor other kings than me. At last I heard my mother call Out from the house at evenfall, To call me home to tea.

And I must rise and leave my dell, And leave my dimpled water well, And leave my heather blooms. Alas! and as my home I neared, How very big my nurse appeared. How great and cool the rooms!

My Kingdom was written by Robert Louis Stevenson. A Child's Garden of Verses was published in 1885.

Questions

1. What did the child call the little pool?

A river
A sea
A well

2. Why did the child feel like a king?

The child had a crown
The whole little place seemed to be the child's world
The child had many servants

3. In this poem, what does "dell" mean?

A small hollow
A kind of boat
A garden gate

4. Who called the child home to tea?

The nurse
The gardener
The child's mother

5. Which words rhyme at the end of the first two lines?

well and dell
sea and me
small and all

Words to know

dell: a small hollow
heather: a purple plant
minnows: tiny fish
caverns: big caves
evenfall: evening

Answer key: My Kingdom

B. A sea
B. The whole little place seemed to be the child's world
A. A small hollow
C. The child's mother
A. well and dell

About My Kingdom

The short version

My Kingdom is a poem about a child who plays alone by a pool and makes up a whole land there. It was written by Robert Louis Stevenson and printed in A Child's Garden of Verses in 1885.

Quick facts

Robert Louis Stevenson was a writer who lived from 1850 to 1894.
The poem is in A Child's Garden of Verses, a book of poems for children first printed in 1885.
The poem has five verses of six lines each.

Who wrote My Kingdom?

My Kingdom was written by Robert Louis Stevenson. It was printed in his book A Child's Garden of Verses in 1885.

For the teacher: how this passage is levelled

“My Kingdom” is a reading level 7 story. Every Peabody story at this level is written and checked to keep sentences to 10 words or fewer, to aim at an average of 6 words a sentence, and to show 12 to 30 words on a screen. At most 8% of its words may be off the familiar-word list. Children in 3rd grade start at this level.

This passage	202 words, 4 screens, 5 multiple-choice questions with an answer key, and 5 vocabulary words with kid-sized meanings
Longest sentence at this level	10 words
Words on a screen	12 to 30
Skills practised at this level	phonics (sounding words out), sight words, spelling

Reading level 7: the limits, a real sample and the free games. Peabody is a learning app, not an assessment: use the questions to talk about the story, not to grade a child.