Reading Comprehension (RC) | Re: In the 1950s, reading was taught to young

In the 1950s, reading was taught to young children primarily through the use of simple primers depicting the middle-class non-adventures of “Dick and Jane.” Rudolph
Fletch’s bestselling 1955 book Why Johnny Can’t Read attacked these primers, calling them “horrible, stupid, insipid, … tasteless little readers” and asserting that such
boring stories gave no incentive for children to read on their own and learn to “sound out” each word phonetically. Fletch also bemoaned the fact that there was not a single
book in bookstores that first and second graders could read by themselves.
In response, a publisher commissioned Theodore Geisel, who wrote children’s books under the pen name “Dr. Seuss,” to write a book that “a first grader can’t put down.”
Geisel was given a list of a few hundred words considered important and asked to make a book out of them. Nine months later, Geisel, using only 220 different words,
delivered The Cat in the Hat, a whimsical story about two bored children left at home with their talking fish who are suddenly visited by a havoc-creating six-foot-tall talking
cat. In addition, Geisel wrote the entire book in a rhyming verse, making it fun to read aloud. The Cat in the Hat was a tremendous success and vaulted Geisel into instant
celebrity. Another publisher bet Geisel that he could not write an entire book using only 50 different words. Geisel won the bet by publishing the classic Green Eggs and Ham.

The Dr. Seuss books revolutionized the children’s book industry by proving that it was possible to create engaging books with a limited vocabulary. Geisel has been credited
with killing off “Dick and Jane,” replacing them with clever rhymes, plot twists and rebellious heroes who do the unexpected. Now one in four American children receives
a Dr. Seuss title as his or her first book.

1.The main function of the first paragraph is
A. to introduce Fletch’s approach to writing children’s books
B. to describe the “Dick and Jane” primers used in most school
C. to advocate the increase of children’s books in bookstores
D. to establish the premise that the status quo in the early 1950s was not satisfactory for teaching children how to read
E. to praise Fletch’s 1955 book Why Johnny Can’t Read




2.The author provides a brief synopsis of the plot of The Cat in the Hat primarily in order to
A. introduce the reader to the various characters in the book
B. contrast the story of The Cat in the Hat with those of the “boring” primers of the era
C. demonstrate how bizarre the plot of the book is
D. assert that talking cats and fish exist
E. warn parents that leaving children home alone can be dangerous



3. The primary purpose of this passage is to
A. describe how Geisel changed the children’s book
industry
B. support the conclusions of Fletch
C. compare and contrast the philosophies of Fletch and Geisel
D. demonstrate the popularity of Geisel’s books
E. summarize the state of the children’s book industry