Name:

Beatrice’s Goatby Page McBrier

1 If you were to visit the small African village of Kisinga in the rolling hills of western Uganda, and if you were to take a left at the crossroads and follow a narrow dirt path between two tall banana groves, you would come to the home of a girl named Beatrice.

2 Beatrice lives here with her mother and five younger brothers and sisters in a sturdy mud house with a fine steel roof. The house is new. So is the shiny blue wooden furniture inside. In fact, many things are new to Beatrice and her family lately.

3 And it’s all because of a goat named Mugisa.4 Beatrice loves everything about Mugisa… the feel of her coarse

brown-and-white coat, the way her chin hairs curl just so, and how Mugisa gently teases her by butting her knobby horns against Beatrice’s hand-tup, tup- like a drumbeat waiting for a song.

5 But there is one reason why Beatrice loves Mugisa most of all.

6 In the time before Mugisa, Beatrice spent her days days helping her mama hoe and plant in the fields, tend the cickens, watch the younger children, and grind the cassava flour that they would take to market to sell.

7 Once in a while, when she was tending baby Paskavia, Beatrice would stop by the schoolhouse. Often, the students had carried their long wooden benches outside to work under the cool shade of the jackfruit trees. Then Beatrice would stand quietly off to one side, pretending she was a student, too.

8 Oh, how she longed to be a schoolgirl! How she yearned to sit on one of the benches and figure sums on a small slate chalkboard. How she wished to turn the pages of a worn copybook and study each word over and over until it stuck in her mind like a burr.

9 “I’ll never be able to go to school, “ she would sigh. “How could I ever save enough money to pay for books or a uniform?”

10 One day while Beatrice was busy pulling weeds, Mama came to her with dancing eyes. “Beatrice, some kindhearted people from far away have given us a lucky gift. We are one of twelve village families to receive a goat.”

11 Beatrice was puzzled. A goat? What kind of a gift was a goat? It couldn’t get up each morning and start their charcoal fire for cooking. It couldn’t hike down the stream and scrub their dirty clothes. It couldn’t babysit her little siblings.

12 Finally, one day the goat arrived, fat and sleek as a ripe mango. “Mama says you are our lucky gift, “ she whispered. “So that is what I will name you. Mugisa… luck.”

13 Mugisa’s milk tasted sweet and the children loved the taste. Beatrice knew Mugisa’s milk would keep her family healthy.

14 Now, Each morning after breakfast, Beatrice would head off to the shed to sell whatever milk was left over. “Open for business,” she would say, in case anyone was listening. Every coin she received she would carefully tuck in her purse. As the days went on, Beatrice watched the purse get fuller.

15 One day, Beatrice returned from collecting water and noticed Mama frowning and counting the money in her woven purse. Beatrice put down the water can and rushed to her mother’s side. “Mama! What is it?” she asked. “What’s wrong?”

16 As she looked up, Mama’s frown turned to a small smile. “I think you may just have saved enough to pay for school.”

17 “School?” Beatrice gasped in disbelief.18 Beatrice threw her arms around her mother’s neck. “Oh, mama,

thank you.” Then she ran to where her goat stood chewing grass and hugged her tight. “Oh Mugisa!” she whispered. Today I am the lucky one! You have given me the gift I wanted most.

adapted from Beatrice’s Goat

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1. What is the setting of the story?A a large city in the state of FloridaB a small Iroquois village in the Woodland areaC a small Pueblo village long agoD a small African village in the rolling hills of western Uganda

2. Why can’t Beatrice go to school?A school is too far awayB Beatrice had to help her mama plant in the fields.C Beatrice does not have enough money to buy books or a uniform.D She is afraid the other students will make fun of her.

3. Which word best describes how Beatrice felt when she first discovered her family would be getting a goat?A confusedB thrilledC sadD angry

4. In which paragraph does Beatrice give the goat her name?A paragraph 5B paragraph 12C paragraph 11D paragraph 15

5. Read the following sentences from the story: “Oh, how she longed to be a schoolgirl! How she yearned to sit on one of the benches and figure sums on a small slate chalkboard. How she wished to turn the pages of a worn copybook and study each word over and over until it stuck in her mind like a burr.”

Based on the text, the word yearned meansA dislikedB wantedC tiredD raced

6. In paragraph 5 the narrator says, “there is one reason why Beatrice loves Mugisa most of all.” What do you think the reason is? How do you know? Use two details from the story to support your answer.Write your answer in complete sentences.

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7. Describe the kind of person you think Beatrice is. Use at least two details from the story to support your answer.

In your response be sure to include: The kind of person you think Beatrice is.

What does she do to show this?Details from the story to support your answer

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