Skip to the content
Peabody TeachFor teachers and grown-ups

Two Dennises, One Pizza Order

8th grade fiction passage about a mix-up over two similar names: 262 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

8th grade fiction a mix-up over two similar names 262 words

Two Dennises, One Pizza Order

On a rainy Friday, two people named Dennis ordered a pizza from Luigi's Pizzeria within the same five minutes. Dennis Park, a quiet bus driver, asked for a large pizza with mushrooms and extra cheese. Dennis Parks, who lived three streets away and wrote songs for a living, requested a medium pizza with pineapple, olives and anchovies, a combination that the cashier wrote down twice because she could not quite believe it. The two names looked nearly the same on the order slips, and by the time the delivery boy picked up the boxes, the ink had smudged.

Dennis Park opened his door and found a pineapple pizza dotted with fish. He stared at it for a long moment, and then he decided that a person who had driven a bus for twenty years could survive one strange supper. Three streets over, Dennis Parks lifted his lid and found plain mushrooms and cheese. "Finally," he sighed, "a pizza that does not argue with me."

The delivery boy, who felt terrible, returned to Luigi's and explained the mix-up. Luigi, who liked solving problems almost as much as baking, offered a plan. He called both customers and asked whether they might meet halfway, at the corner of Elm Street, and swap pizzas. The two Dennises arrived under the same umbrella, laughed about the names, and discovered that each of them secretly preferred the other's order. They traded boxes, ate on a bench in the rain, and agreed to order from Luigi's again next Friday, this time using their last names loudly and clearly.

Questions

  1. What did Dennis Park order? in the text

  2. What did Dennis Parks do for a living? in the text

  3. Why did the order slips cause trouble? in the text

  4. Where did the two Dennises meet to swap pizzas? in the text

  5. Why did the cashier write down the second order twice? think about it

  6. Why did the swap work out well for both men? think about it

Words to know

pizzeria
a restaurant that makes and sells pizza
combination
a mix of different things put together
smudged
blurred or smeared so it is hard to read
preferred
liked better than something else
anchovies
small, salty fish that some people put on pizza
Share

One passage, three levels

The same topic and facts written three ways, so a mixed class can read and talk about one text. Each group’s sheet shows only a shape; the key says which is which.

● Easier · 241 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 4.2

On a rainy Friday, two men named Dennis ordered a pizza from Luigi's Pizzeria within five minutes. Dennis Park was a quiet bus driver. He asked for a large pizza with mushrooms and extra cheese. Dennis Parks lived three streets away and wrote songs for a living. He asked for a medium pizza with pineapple, olives and anchovies. The cashier wrote it down twice, because she could not believe it. The two names looked almost the same on the slips. The ink also smudged.

Dennis Park opened his door and found a pineapple pizza with fish on it. He stared for a long time. Then he thought that a man who had driven a bus for twenty years could survive one odd supper. Three streets away, Dennis Parks opened his box and saw plain mushrooms and cheese. "Finally," he sighed, "a pizza that does not argue with me."

The delivery boy felt terrible. He went back to Luigi's and told what had happened. Luigi liked to solve problems almost as much as he liked to bake. He called both men. He asked them to meet halfway, at the corner of Elm Street, and swap pizzas. They came under the same umbrella. They laughed about the names. Each man secretly liked the other's order better. They traded boxes and ate on a bench in the rain. They agreed to order again next Friday, and this time to say their last names loudly.

▲ This passage · 262 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 9

On a rainy Friday, two people named Dennis ordered a pizza from Luigi's Pizzeria within the same five minutes. Dennis Park, a quiet bus driver, asked for a large pizza with mushrooms and extra cheese. Dennis Parks, who lived three streets away and wrote songs for a living, requested a medium pizza with pineapple, olives and anchovies, a combination that the cashier wrote down twice because she could not quite believe it. The two names looked nearly the same on the order slips, and by the time the delivery boy picked up the boxes, the ink had smudged.

Dennis Park opened his door and found a pineapple pizza dotted with fish. He stared at it for a long moment, and then he decided that a person who had driven a bus for twenty years could survive one strange supper. Three streets over, Dennis Parks lifted his lid and found plain mushrooms and cheese. "Finally," he sighed, "a pizza that does not argue with me."

The delivery boy, who felt terrible, returned to Luigi's and explained the mix-up. Luigi, who liked solving problems almost as much as baking, offered a plan. He called both customers and asked whether they might meet halfway, at the corner of Elm Street, and swap pizzas. The two Dennises arrived under the same umbrella, laughed about the names, and discovered that each of them secretly preferred the other's order. They traded boxes, ate on a bench in the rain, and agreed to order from Luigi's again next Friday, this time using their last names loudly and clearly.

■ Harder · 270 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 10.3

On a rainy Friday, two different men named Dennis ordered a pizza from Luigi's Pizzeria within the very same five minutes. Dennis Park, a soft-spoken bus driver, asked for a large pizza with mushrooms and extra cheese. Dennis Parks, who lived three streets away and composed songs for a living, requested a medium pizza topped with pineapple, olives and anchovies, a combination that the cashier recorded twice because she could scarcely believe what she was hearing. The two names looked nearly identical on the order slips, and by the time the delivery boy collected the boxes, the ink had smudged beyond easy reading.

Dennis Park opened his door and discovered a pineapple pizza dotted with fish. He stared at it for a long moment, and then he decided that a man who had driven a bus for twenty years could survive one peculiar supper. Three streets over, Dennis Parks lifted his lid and found plain mushrooms and cheese. "Finally," he sighed, "a pizza that does not argue with me."

The delivery boy, who felt dreadful, returned to Luigi's and explained the mix-up. Luigi, who enjoyed solving problems almost as much as baking, proposed a plan. He telephoned both customers and invited them to meet halfway, at the corner of Elm Street, and exchange their pizzas. The two Dennises arrived beneath the same umbrella, laughed about the confusing names, and discovered that each of them secretly preferred the other's order. They traded boxes, ate on a bench in the rain, and agreed to order from Luigi's again the following Friday, this time announcing their last names loudly and clearly.

Download as one PDF

How to use it

  1. Press Read it big (or B) to put the text on the projector, or Full screen (F) to fill the whole screen.
  2. Ask the questions one at a time and use Show answer when the class has decided. A shows or hides every answer.
  3. Print student copy for the class, or Print with answers for yourself.

Ideas for class

  • Before reading, put pizzeria, combination, smudged, preferred and anchovies on the board with their meanings from the Words to know section and have students predict what the story will be about.
  • Read it aloud once while students follow along, then have them reread it alone or with a partner. At a calm 100 words a minute it takes about 3 minutes to read aloud.
  • Use the Read it big button (or B) to put the text on the projector, and Show answer on one question at a time so the class commits to an answer first.
  • Question 5 asks the reader to infer. Ask students to point to the words in the passage that led them to their answer.
  • Ask students to retell the story in three sentences: how it began, what the problem was, and how it ended.
  • Print the student copy for independent work and keep the answer-key copy for yourself.

Related

Questions

What reading level is "Two Dennises, One Pizza Order"?

It was written for 8th grade. It has 262 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 9.0. That is a formula's estimate from sentence length and syllables, and it is not a Lexile or a guided reading level, so check it against your students.

What do the questions ask?

There are six. 4 ask for something the text says directly and 2 ask the reader to work something out from clues. Each has an answer in the key, and the answers are written as a teacher would accept them, not as the only possible wording.

How long does it take to read?

About 3 minutes read aloud at 100 words a minute. For a one-minute fluency check, paste it into the fluency timer and use the word count.

Can I print it?

Yes. Print student copy gives the passage, the questions with lines to write on, and the word meanings. Print with answers gives the same page with the answers filled in. Both are made in your browser.

Is this passage from a published book?

No. It was written for Peabody Teach, so there is no book to buy and no login to read it.

Nothing you do here is sent to us. No sign-in, no ads.