Same Author, Same Characters is a free printable Grade 3 English worksheet on finding what two related stories share and change, aligned to Common Core standard RL.3.9. It prints 2 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions, 24 of them with different questions, so no two pupils in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.
Set 1 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.
24 of these 25 sets ask different questions — this skill does not have 25 questions to give. The rest reorder them, so no two pupils have the same paper in front of them.
Same Author, Same Characters
RL.3.9
NameDate
Read the text, then answer the questions.
1.Read the text, then answer the questions.
The Violin in the Loft
Nobody in our family plays anything. So the violin in the loft was a mystery for eleven years.
Then Great-Aunt Sylvie came for Christmas and saw the case on the table. She went very quiet.
"That was my brother's," she said. "He played in a café in Marseille before the war."
She opened it. Three strings had gone, and the bridge lay loose in the bottom of the case.
She did not play it. She held it under her chin for about ten seconds, put it back, and closed the lid. Then she asked for more potatoes and did not mention it again.
1. How does this story's ending differ from "The Last Letter"?
2. How is this story like "The Last Letter"?
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.
The Last Letter
Every Thursday for six years, Mr Ellis posted a letter to his sister in Canada.
Then the letters started coming back. Address unknown.
He kept writing them anyway. He put them in a shoebox instead of the postbox.
When his neighbour Ada asked why, he said, "Because the day I stop writing is the day she is really gone."
Ada went home and looked up the town on a map. It took her three weeks and eleven phone calls to find the new address.
The shoebox held ninety-two letters. They posted them all on the same day.
1. How is this story's ending different from "The Violin in the Loft"?
2. How is Ada like Great-Aunt Sylvie?
LessonPrint · RL.3.9 · Set 1 · free to copy for classroom use
Answer key — Same Author, Same Characters
Set 1. Prints on its own sheet.
1.1. This one closes the subject — Sylvie shuts the violin case; that one opens it up, and the letters are posted. 2. Both are about an object — a violin, a shoebox of letters — that carries somebody's history.
2.1. This one resolves — the letters go; that one closes the subject with nothing changed. 2. Both act rather than explain — Ada found the address, Sylvie held the violin and asked for potatoes.
Questions about Same Author, Same Characters
What does the Same Author, Same Characters worksheet cover?
It practises finding what two related stories share and change — 2 questions for Grade 3, all on Common Core RL.3.9: Compare two books from a series on theme, setting and plot. The instruction to pupils is “Read the text, then answer the questions”, and the answer key follows on the next sheet.
Which Common Core standard does Same Author, Same Characters practise?
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.9 — RL.3.9, in the Reading: Literature domain for Grade 3. The published standard reads: “Compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about the same or similar characters (e.g., in books from a series).” The worksheet assesses that standard rather than a paraphrase of it.
What age or grade is this worksheet for?
Same Author, Same Characters is written for Grade 3, typically ages 8-9. It is one of the sheets on RL.3.9, so it suits any pupil working at that standard — including older pupils revisiting it and younger ones working ahead.
Does Same Author, Same Characters come with an answer key?
Yes. All 2 answers are generated from the same problems as the questions, so the key cannot drift out of step with the sheet. It starts on a fresh sheet of paper, after the questions, so it is not handed out with the class by accident.
How many different versions of Same Author, Same Characters can I print?
25 versions, of which 24 ask genuinely different questions — this skill does not have 25 distinct questions to give, so the rest reorder them and no two pupils still share a paper. Set 1 downloads all 25 as one PDF.
Is Same Author, Same Characters free to print and photocopy?
Yes. Same Author, Same Characters, its answer key and its 25 versions are free to print and photocopy for your own class, with no account, no email capture and no subscription at the download step. Please do not resell them or republish them as your own.
More practice for RL.3.9
Compare two books from a series on theme, setting and plot.