

This Grade 7 Literature Skills worksheet guides students through a deep dive into the Sundarbans to critically evaluate an author's craft. By analyzing a compelling narrative about a young poet named Samar, learners explore how specific literary devices like similes, metaphors, and symbols shape meaning and tone. The worksheet features diverse task types including Multiple Choice Questions, Fill in the Blanks, True or False statements, and targeted Underlining exercises. This structured approach helps students move beyond basic reading to understand the "why" behind an author's stylistic decisions, such as the use of local dialect as resistance or narrative structures that mirror natural elements like the tides. It is a practical and age-appropriate way to build advanced comprehension and analytical skills in middle school literature.
Analyzing an author's craft helps students understand how meaning is constructed. For Grade 7 learners, this topic is important because:
1. It develops the ability to identify and interpret advanced literary devices like metaphors and symbols.
2. It teaches students to recognize how setting and language choices reflect deeper themes like cultural identity.
3. It encourages critical thinking about narrative structure and its impact on the reader's experience.
4. It prepares students for higher-level literary analysis by focusing on evidence-based interpretation.
This worksheet includes five literature-rich activities that build fluency with critical evaluation:
🧠 Exercise 1 – Multiple Choice Questions
Students choose the correct word that describes the author’s craft choice, focusing on specific details from the story like settings and symbols.
✏️ Exercise 2 – Fill in the Blanks
Using a word bank, students complete sentences that describe the emotional impact and thematic purpose of specific descriptions in the text.
📋 Exercise 3 – True or False
Learners assess statements based on the story to ensure accurate comprehension of the plot and the author's intentional comparisons.
📝 Exercise 4 – Underline the Words/Phrases
Students identify specific text evidence that matches literary devices described in brackets, such as similes showing desperation or symbols of responsibility.
✅ Exercise 5 – Paragraph Completion
A comprehensive task where students fill in terms reflecting stylistic choices, symbolic depth, and thematic intent to summarize the author’s craft.
Exercise 1 – Multiple Choice Questions
1. a) Fingers 2. b) Delta 3. c) Bonbibi 4. c) Salt 5. a) Resistance 6. b) Tides 7. c) Heavy 8. a) Tooth 9. b) Salt-crusted 10. a) Wood
Exercise 2 – Fill in the blanks
1. shifting 2. skeletal 3. desperation 4. metaphor 5. struggle 6. resistance 7. limitation 8. reflects 9. witness 10. encroaching
Exercise 3 – True or False
1. False 2. False 3. True 4. True 5. True 6. False 7. True 8. True 9. False 10. True
Exercise 4 – Underlined Words/Phrases
1. like skeletal fingers
2. 'exotic wilderness'
3. salt
4. local dialect
5. standard tongue
6. act of resistance
7. tides
8. ebb
9. as sharp as the tiger's tooth
10. 'heavy pen'
Exercise 5 – Paragraph Completion
In the shifting landscape of the Sundarbans, the author uses [a powerful simile] to compare mangrove roots to [skeletal] fingers. This choice establishes a tone of [desperation] and struggle against the elements. Samar's struggle with a [heavy] pen symbolizes the weight of his [responsibility]. While outsiders view the delta as an [exotic] wilderness, Samar sees the [threat] of climate change. The author uses [salt] as a [metaphor] for the destruction of the land. Samar's choice to write in a local [dialect] is an act of [resistance] against cultural erasure. The narrative [reflects] the rhythmic ebb and flow of the [tides]. By comparing his words to a [tiger's] tooth, the author emphasizes the [sharpness/truth] needed to tell the truth about his home.
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Author's critical choices refer to the deliberate decisions an author makes about the structure, style, and content of their text to convey meaning.
Understanding these choices helps students gain insight into how authors craft their messages and influence the reader's experience.
By focusing on the author's use of language, character development, and plot structure.