All summer in a day questions and answers pdf

‘All Summer in a day’ is a science fiction written by one of the most famous sci-fi writers Douglas Brad Burry. the story is set on the planet Venus where it rains continuously for seven years with 2-hour break of sun shine between such seven-year rain-periods. The summary of the story along with word-meanings and textbook solutions of the chapter ‘All Summer in a Day’ are given here.

All Summer in a Day Video Tutorial

Summary: All Summer in A Day

This story is set on the planet Venus, where the Sun shines for only two hours once every seven years. It opens
on the day that the Sun is due to make its appearance once again. Margot and the other children in her school
on Venus are nine years old. Margot came from Earth to Venus five years ago. Therefore, she accurately recalls
the Sun and the way it looked and felt as it shone on her when she was back in Ohio. However, this is not the
case with the other children. They were far too young to remember what the Sun was like when last it shone
upon them. They can only imagine the warmness of that Sun upon their arms and legs. Margot tells the others
that the Sun is round like a penny and hot like a fire in the stove. The other children accuse her of lying, and
they show their resentment of her seeming superiority by locking her in a closet. When the Venus rains finally
stop and the Sun comes out, it sends a flaming bronze colour throughout the jungle growth. The children
soak up the life-giving Sunshine until the rains start to fall again. The children now know that Margot was
telling the truth about the Sun. Then and only then do they remember that Margot is still locked in the closet

Word-Meanings: All Summer in a Day

dystopia – imaginary place where conditions and situations are bad and unpleasant (Opposite of utopia)

peer – to look carefully so that it is clearly visible

compounded – complicated or worsened the situations

gush of water – fast flow of water in large amount from a narrow space

concussion – a violent jerk blow or shock

stunned – surprised and shocked

stir – to move

recall – to remember

protest – to show your disapproval or disagreement

slackening – loosening, falling off

feverish – very excited, full of passion and emotion

shove – to push in a rough way

drenched – completely wet

penny – coin

clutch – to hold or grip tightly

scream – to give a loud shout or cry

dimly – slowly and gradually

pale and snow face – looked worried and afraid

muffled – not clearly audible

repercussion – result and impact of any happening or action (generally bad impact)

rip – cut or tear apart

tremor – shaking and trembling

immense – large and great

blazing – burning and shining bright

release – let free

caught out – found doing something wrong

vanish – disappear

cluster up – to group together

resilient – springy

savoured – feeling delighted in, enjoying fully

boom of thunder – a loud deep noise of thunder

gigantic – very large or huge

solemn – serious and not happy, grave

Textbook Exercises Solutions: All Summer in A Day

Answers- Exercise A

1. The children lived on the planet Venus

2. They were getting ready for the Sun to come out.

3. Margot was one of the girls who studied in the school. She came from planet Earth

4. Margot was a very frail girl who was now very sad as she had left the Earth and had now settled down
in Venus. She stood alone most of the time and did not take part in any games. She was different
because she had once felt the Sun as she was from Earth. The other children had not experienced it
the way she had. She missed her life on the Earth where the Sun used to shine

5. The children didn’t believe her because they had seen the Sun only once and only for a short while.
They did not know what it really looked like.

6. They treated her as though she was an outsider. They were jealous of the fact that she had seen the
Sun and that there was a possibility of her going back to the Earth. They teased her and were mean
to her.

7. Venus is described as a place where it rains all the time. The Sun never shines and the children there
long for the Sun. It has been raining there for seven years. The rains have caused tidal waves over
the islands. A thousand forests have been crushed under the rain and grown up a thousand times
to be crushed again

8. The children bully Margot and then lock her in a closet.

9. When the Sun comes out the children run out and try to soak it in. They take off their jackets and
let the Sun burn their arms. They run among the trees, they slip and fall, they push each other, they
play with each other and enjoy the Sun.

10. In the end the children unlock the door of the closet and free Margot because earlier they were
overwhelmed by Sun. But when they experienced the joys of being in Sun, they realised that Margot
was true about Sun. Hence, they unlock her in the end and realise their mistake in cornering her.

Answers-Exercise B

1. a. ‘They’ refer to the children.
b. They lived on Venus
c. Their dreams were about how life would be if the Sun came out.
d. Their dreams were gone because the climate had changed so much that the Sun never shone.
It only rained all the time.

2. a. The poem was about the Sun and how it looked like a flower.
b. She could write it because she had seen the Sun when she was on the planet Earth.
c. The children did not believe that Margot could have written the poem.
d. The words are significant as they strike a contrast to what Margot had written in the poem. Her
poem was about the Sun and the truth was that it rained all the time outside.

3. a. Margot had been shut up behind the door. She was all alone. So it was silent.
b. They are the children who had locked Margot up.
c. One of the boys had suggested it and all the children had sent her there.
d. When they realised that Margot had been right about the Sun they let her out

Answers- Exercise C

1. The day was special because the Sun was expected to come out that day and it did. It had been
raining for seven years before the Sun came out.

2. Answers may vary. Accept all appropriate responses. Encourage learners to come up with their own
answers. It tells us that humans can be very jealous when they see someone with something that
they do not have (the children were jealous of Margot).

3. All summer occurred in a day as the Sun shone only for a few hours and it seemed that summer had
arrived. It stayed only for a few hours in a day.

4. The children welcome the Sun and rejoice when it comes out. This reveals that they are deprived of
the rays of the Sun and they long for the same.

5. She is described as being frail and pale. She looked as if she had been lost in the rain for years and
the rain had washed out the entire colour out of her eyes, hair and face. She seemed like a ghost. The story is about the ill-effects of climate change. The fact that, it never stops raining and the Sun
never comes out, shows that the climate has turned unusual and abnormal. The message is that we
must take care of our planet and protect the environment so that the ill-effects of global warming
maybe curbed.

6. The connection is that the Sun brought hope and joy. In the same manner, the cold hearts of other
children also thawed and they felt sorry for Margot. They realised their mistake and set her free.

7. To Margot the sound of the shower sounded like the sound of the rain and the sound disturbed her.
She missed the Sun as it used to shine on the Earth.

8. Yes, they felt bad. They realised that she had been right all the time. The fact that they released her
shows that they felt bad.

9. The author means that the children were extremely happy when the Sun came out. They felt as
though a curse had been lifted and they rejoiced as they played in the open with the Sun shining
down on them.

PERFECTVocabulary

Grammar

What is the main message of All Summer in a Day?

Why didn't the children remember the sun?

What is the main conflict of All Summer in a Day?

What startled the children All Summer in a Day?