Worksheets and No Prep Teaching Resources Reading Comprehension Worksheets History of Books and Writing

Slips of Salvation and Other Printed Miracles History of Books and Writing

---

Slips of Salvation and Other Printed Miracles
Print Slips of Salvation and Other Printed Miracles Reading Comprehension


Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 9 to 12
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	8.01

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		antimony, gem-polisher, hand-decorated, jujube, page-size, printing, absolve, transcribe, scribes, solidify, revolutionary, varnish, hand-copied, manuscript, linseed, salvation
	content words:		Johannes Gutenberg, Maybe Johannes, Catholic Church, Gutenberg Bible, Middle Ages

---

Slips of Salvation and Other Printed Miracles By Colleen Messina

---

¹     For centuries, books were copied by hand, which was tedious and tiring. The poor, cold monks had sore backs and headaches, and they couldn't keep up with the demand for their beautiful manuscripts. After all, it took one monk twenty years to transcribe a single Bible! The monks sometimes encased the precious books in metal covers and chained them to church walls to keep them safe. Everyone wanted more books, but no one could figure out how to do it. Then a creative German named Johannes Gutenberg said to himself, "There has to be a better way," and invented the printing press.
 
²     Before Gutenberg invented his press, Chinese scribes printed books with wooden blocks that had whole pages of characters carved into them. Scribes made the blocks out of pear or jujube wood and wrote the text by hand on the top of the block. They carved out the characters, carefully spread black ink all over the block, and gently pressed a sheet of paper on the top. This process left an impression of the characters on the paper. The Japanese also refined block printing, and often used a mallet and chisel to carve their characters into the wood. However, slow, messy, block printing had its problems.
 
³     Gutenberg's invention brilliantly solved those problems, but he had to work hard to figure out the printing process. He was a goldsmith and gem-polisher by trade, and he had an innovative mind. His original family name was Gansfleisch, which was German for "goose flesh." Maybe Johannes knew he would someday be famous, but in any case, he decided to take the name Gutenberg because the word meant "good mountain." Gutenberg was certainly a better choice for the history books.

Paragraphs 4 to 10:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable

---

Weekly Reading Books

Create Weekly Reading Books Prepare for an entire week at once!

---

Feedback on Slips of Salvation and Other Printed Miracles

Leave your feedback on Slips of Salvation and Other Printed Miracles   (use this link if you found an error in the story)

---

History of Books and Writing

History of Books and Writing

---

More Lessons

High School Reading Comprehensions and High School Reading Lessons

---

Social Studies

Social Studies

United States History and Theme Units         American Government         Ancient America         Ancient China         Ancient Egypt         Ancient Greece         Ancient India         Ancient Mesopotamia         Ancient Rome         Biographies         Canadian Theme Unit         Country Theme Units         Crime and Terrorism         Economics         European History: 1600s-1800s

Explorers         Famous Educators         Geography         Grades 2-3 Social Studies Wendy's World Series         History of Books and Writing         History of Mathematics         How Can I Help?         Inventors and Inventions         Middle Ages         Renaissance         World Religion         World War I         World War II         World Wonders

Copyright © 2018 edHelper