Read the passage.
Book Worm
Ernestina shuffled out the door and bounded down the front stoop. She knew she’d better hurry since the library closed at five, and she needed to get home to prepare dinner before her father arrived from work at six. If dinner were late, the men in the house—her dad, and especially her three brothers—would be howling and gnashing their teeth like the ravenous wolves in White Fang.
Stumbling on the last step, Ernestina gasped as her armload of books cascaded to the sidewalk. Dolt, she chided herself, as she retrieved each one. Why couldn’t she be more graceful? Of course, there is more to life than just being graceful, but it would really be nice not to constantly bump into things.
Ernestina crossed at the intersection, weaving and dodging oncoming pedestrians, imagining she was Katniss running the gauntlet in The Hunger Games. Hunger made her think of dinner, and then she began wondering what was in the fridge and not frozen that she could make that night. She had almost reached the other side when she collided with a boy on a bicycle and fell sprawling in the middle of the crosswalk.
“What’s the matter with you?” the boy shouted. “Why don’t you watch where you’re going?”
Picking herself up, Ernestina turned to apologize to the bicyclist, but he had already ridden off. She gathered up her books and stacked them in a tower on the curb, all the while reprimanding herself for being so preoccupied. Noticing that the title of the topmost book looked blurry, she realized her glasses were no longer perched across the bridge of her nose. Then she spotted the black frames in the road—one lens had popped out and was reflecting the red of the traffic light. Ernestina hurriedly dashed into the street and retrieved the glasses before the light changed.
As she proceeded toward the library, Ernestina couldn’t help longing for the solitude and calm that she imagined existed in other homes. Her own home was always so boisterous with her brothers shouting during football games or whooping with joy when one of them won a level in a video game. Since her mother had passed away two years before, Ernestina had assumed a lot of responsibility around the house, especially with her two younger brothers. At times she felt like she was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. But she knew she was depended upon and that feeling was well worth the efforts she made to be there for her family.
Reading was her means of escape, Ernestina knew. But everyone had a diversion, didn’t they? She just wasn’t interested in the television shows or video games her brothers seemed so captivated by. And she never understood the allure of sports. Her gratification came from turning pages in a book to delve further and lose herself inside the story, and her pleasure wasn’t even diminished by ferrying stacks of tomes back and forth to the library.
One of her teachers had suggested she get a digital reader to make her hobby more manageable, but being surrounded by books in a library exhilarated Ernestina. The whispering of flipping pages and all that knowledge just waiting to be absorbed enamored her.
Ernestina rushed to the door of the library, juggling the books in her arms, and pulled on the door handle, but it wouldn’t budge. What? She tried the door again, but it rattled in its frame and still wouldn’t move. Peering through the window at the front desk, she saw that the library was in shadow; all the lights were off. Ernestina checked her watch—it was 4:45 p.m., and the library should still be bustling. Then she saw a sign in the window. Popping the lens into her damaged glasses, she read, “Closed till June 15 for remodeling. Return books to the Mayfield Library.”
June 15th? That’s three months from now! And the Mayfield Library is in the next town and is too far to walk. I’ll have a bunch of fines!
Ernestina lumbered home, piled her books on the entry hall table, and headed directly to the kitchen to start dinner. Thank goodness I made enough chicken casserole two nights ago to serve an army she told herself as she reached into the refrigerator to take out the leftovers.
Her older brother Carlos swept into the room. “When’s supper?”
“In an hour. Can you take out the trash, please? It’s overflowing.”
“Sure. Thought you were going to the library.”
“I did, but the library’s closed for three months! What am I going to read, now?”
Carlos pulled the trash bag out of the can and secured the ends together. “You could use a digital reader.”
“That’s what my English teacher, Mr. Wentworth, said, but where’s the fun in that?” Ernestina protested from the sink, where she was rinsing vegetables for a salad.
“You can download books from the library.”
“Really? You can do that?” Ernestina turned to look at her brother.
“Yep. It’s relatively easy. They’re similar to the tablet I play my games on, but they’re designed just for books, and a lot cheaper.” Under Ernestina's watchful eye, Carlos pushed open the kitchen door and stepped outside with the trash.
While the chicken casserole roasted in the oven, Carlos showed Ernestina pictures of digital readers he had found on the Internet. He explained the features to his sister and how they operate. Ernestina was starting to think that maybe becoming a bit more techie wouldn’t be so bad. Using a digital reader would allow Ernestina to download a book whenever she wanted, from wherever she was, but she knew she’d never give up her love of bound books.
Promptly at six o’clock, Ernestina heard her father’s truck roar into the driveway. When he entered through the kitchen door with his lunchbox and a folded newspaper, he said, “Hmm, hmm, smells delicious in here.”
“Hi Dad. Supper’s almost ready,” Ernestina said. “But I have a request first.”
Question
Which sentence best explains Ernestina's preference for non-digital books?
Responses
"As she proceeded toward the library, Ernestina couldn’t help longing for the solitude and calm that she imagined existed in other homes."
"As she proceeded toward the library, Ernestina couldn’t help longing for the solitude and calm that she imagined existed in other homes."
"She just wasn’t interested in the television shows or video games her brothers seemed so captivated by."
"She just wasn’t interested in the television shows or video games her brothers seemed so captivated by."
"She gathered up her books and stacked them in a tower on the curb, all the while reprimanding herself for being so preoccupied."
"She gathered up her books and stacked them in a tower on the curb, all the while reprimanding herself for being so preoccupied."
"Her gratification came from turning pages in a book to delve further and lose herself inside the story, and her pleasure wasn’t even diminished by ferrying stacks of tomes back and forth to the library."
"Her gratification came from turning pages in a book to delve further and lose herself inside the story, and her pleasure wasn’t even diminished by ferrying stacks of tomes back and forth to the library."