One of the best things a story can do is put a reader somewhere they’ve never been. A tenth grader in Ohio or Ontario may never have walked through a crowded market in Karachi the night before Eid. After reading “Chand Raat,” they’ll have a pretty good idea of what it feels like. This free printable worksheet uses an original short story set in Pakistan to help students analyze how culture shapes characters, and how a narrator’s point of view shapes what readers see.
The story is short, warm, and easy to connect with. A teenage girl and her father disagree about the future of his tailoring shop. Underneath that small family argument is a much bigger question that students everywhere can relate to: what happens when tradition meets change?
Download the Worksheet and Answer Key
The Grade 10 world literature worksheet and its separate answer key are free to download and print. They need no prep and include a glossary, so they work equally well in a classroom, a world literature unit, or a homeschool reading lesson. Hand out the story, step into a Karachi market on the night before Eid, and see what your students notice.
For More grade 10 worksheets, Visit Grade 10 Reading Comprehension Worksheets.
What Happens in the Story
Hira’s father, whom she calls Abbu, runs a tailoring shop in Karachi’s Saddar market. In past years, the week before Eid was his busiest time, with customers lined up to have new clothes made for the holiday. This year, the doorway is quiet. People are buying ready-made clothes from the malls instead.
Hira, who is fifteen and teaching herself to code, has a solution: put the shop online. Her father laughs it off. A tailor’s work, he says, is “measured with a tape, not a telephone.” How else would he know if a customer’s left shoulder sits lower than the right? For a week, they argue. Hira decides he is simply stubborn.
Then comes Chand Raat, the festive night before Eid when the new moon is sighted and markets stay open until dawn. A desperate mother rushes in with her daughter, whose new mall-bought kameez hangs on her “like a sack.” Abbu fixes it by three in the morning. For the first time, Hira truly watches him work: the humming, the chalk-dusted hands, the quiet confidence.
So she photographs his hands. When he asks what she’s doing, she says she’s “showing people what they are missing.” He smiles and tells her to get his good side. The page goes up the next morning, named Haath Ka Kaam, “work of the hands.” By the end of Eid, the shop is busy again.
A short glossary at the end explains Eid, Chand Raat, Abbu, and kameez, so students who are new to these words can follow along easily.
Why World Literature Matters in Grade 10
Tenth grade standards ask students to analyze a point of view or cultural experience reflected in literature from outside the United States. That isn’t just a box to check. Reading across cultures helps students notice their own assumptions, recognize values that differ from theirs, and spot the human experiences that stay the same everywhere.
“Chand Raat” works well for this because its cultural details aren’t decoration. They drive the plot. The Eid tradition of new clothes is why the shop matters. Chand Raat is why the market is open at midnight. A box of sweets is how gratitude is shown. Students can see clearly how setting shapes what characters want and how they behave.
At the same time, the central conflict is universal. Almost every family has had some version of this argument: a parent who trusts the old way, and a child who’s sure the new way is better. That mix of the unfamiliar and the familiar is what makes world literature so powerful in the classroom.
The story also teaches point of view. Because Hira narrates, readers first see her father the way she does: stubborn and out of touch. When her view changes, ours does too. That makes it a clear example of how a narrator’s perspective can shape a reader’s judgment.
What’s Inside the Worksheet
The worksheet follows the same four-part format used across the site.
Part A: Multiple Choice. Four questions check key details: why the shop is quiet, why Abbu rejects the online idea, what Chand Raat is, and what Hira photographs at the end.
Part B: True or False. Three statements test careful reading. One asks whether customers stop coming in person after the page goes live, which checks that students understood the balanced ending.
Part C: Cultural Setting and Point of View. A short note explains both ideas in plain language. Students identify two cultural details and explain how one shapes the story, then analyze how Hira’s changing view of her father affects the way readers see him.
Part D: Think and Explain. The final question asks what both Hira and her father learn and what theme the story suggests about tradition and change. Strong answers notice that neither character “wins.” They meet in the middle.
The separate answer key includes every correct answer, plus sample responses and a list of acceptable cultural details.
How to Use This Worksheet
In a world literature unit, use this story as an accessible opening text before longer works from other countries. It’s a gentle way to introduce the habit of noticing cultural detail.
As a point of view lesson, pause after paragraph four and ask students to describe Abbu in three words. Then finish the story and ask again. The difference in their answers shows exactly how narration shapes judgment.
For personal connections, invite students to share a tradition in their own family that’s changing, whether it’s a holiday, a recipe, or a family business. Keep the discussion focused on the story’s theme rather than turning it into a comparison of cultures.
At home or in homeschool, the worksheet takes about 35 minutes. The glossary means no outside research is needed.
Literary texts reward slower, careful reading. If your class wants to see how speed and understanding connect, try this reading speed and comprehension test as a warm-up.
Tips for Teaching Cultural Setting and Point of View
Separate “different” from “strange.” When students meet unfamiliar customs, encourage them to describe what the custom does in the story rather than judging it. Chand Raat isn’t exotic. It’s simply the night when everyone needs their clothes finished.
Track the narrator’s opinion. Have students mark every sentence where Hira judges her father, then mark where that judgment changes. The shift happens in a single paragraph, which makes it easy to find and discuss.
Look closely at the title of the online page. Haath Ka Kaam combines old and new: an Urdu phrase about handwork used for a modern social media page. Ask students why that choice fits the theme.
Discuss the ending’s balance. Customers still come in person to be measured, but now they find the shop online first. Ask students why the author didn’t let either the old way or the new way completely take over.
Connect it to economics. The quiet doorway is caused by fast, cheap, ready-made clothing. That theme links nicely to nonfiction about the clothing industry, which makes this story a good bridge between literature and real-world issues.
More Grade 10 Reading Practice
This worksheet pairs naturally with the other Grade 10 resources on the site. The quiet doorway in Abbu’s shop is a direct result of mass-produced clothing, which students can explore from a nonfiction angle in the Grade 10 rhetorical analysis worksheet on fast fashion. For another story about a family business passed between generations, read The Orchard. The play The Handoff explores how work and responsibility pass from one person to another, while Remarks to the Graduating Class asks what we choose to carry forward from the past. For poetry, try Harbor at Low Tide, a vivid piece about a working waterfront.
Students who enjoyed Abbu’s patient craftsmanship will also like The Clockwork Challenge, a Grade 9 short story about a clock repairer who wins by slowing down. For a more advanced look at family and legacy, move up to Inheritance, a Grade 11 poem about what one generation leaves the next.