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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 22 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. 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.

Why Anansi Has Thin Legs

Long ago Anansi the spider had eight fat legs, and a nose for other people's cooking. One morning he smelled beans at Rabbit's house. "Tie a web to my leg," he told Rabbit, "and tug it when the beans are ready." Rabbit agreed. Then Anansi smelled fish at Monkey's, and yams at Guinea Fowl's, and soup at Warthog's. To each he said the same thing. By noon he had eight webs tied to eight legs. At noon every pot was ready at once. Eight tugs came together. The webs pulled so hard that Anansi's legs stretched thin as thread — and he got no dinner at all. They have been thin ever since.

  1. 1. How is Anansi like the fox in "The Fox and the Well"?
  2. 2. How does Anansi's ending differ from the fox's?
2.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. 1. How is this story like "The Last Letter"?
  2. 2. How does this story's ending differ from "The Last Letter"?

LessonPrint · RL.3.9 · Set 22 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Same Author, Same Characters

Set 22. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Both are clever — Anansi with his webs, the fox with his flattery — and both schemes cost somebody dearly. 2. Anansi is left with nothing by his own scheme; the fox talks somebody else into taking his place.
  2. 2.1. Both are about an object — a violin, a shoebox of letters — that carries somebody's history. 2. This one closes the subject — Sylvie shuts the violin case; that one opens it up, and the letters are posted.

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to RL.3.9 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.