Assess students' ability to analyze how an author's use of setting and characters' choices develops theme in middle-grade short stories; tasks include identifying thematic statements, citing specific setting details and character decisions as evidence, explaining the cause-and-effect relationship between those elements and the theme, and comparing how different settings or choices would alter meaning. Suitable for grades 6–8, medium difficulty, uses short passages or excerpts and requires concise, evidence-based written responses.