JKBOSE Class 3rd English Unit 8 complete textbook solutions, exercise question answers, word meanings, and notes for What’s in the Mailbox? and My Silly Sister are provided below.
📌 Chapter Summary
Unit 8 opens with the poem “What’s in the Mailbox?”, where a child observes the postman delivering letters to their parents and decides to write letters to friends so they receive letters back. The prose chapter “My Silly Sister” by Rabindranath Tagore is a brother’s playful, affectionate complaint to his mother about his baby sister’s childish antics—eating pebbles, tearing book pages, and thinking the moon is a toy.
Part A: Poem – “What’s in the Mailbox?”
New Words & Meanings:
- Mailbox: A secure box into which letters and packages are delivered.
- Postman: A person whose job is to deliver letters and parcels.
- Never: At no time; not ever.
- Though: Despite the fact that; although.
Question 1Who does the postman bring letters for?
Answer: The postman brings letters for the child’s mother and father.
Question 2Does the child ever get a letter?
Answer: No, the child never receives a letter.
Question 3What does the child decide to do?
Answer: The child decides to write letters to friends so that they write back and the postman brings letters for the child too.
Part B: Prose – “My Silly Sister”
New Words & Meanings:
- Childish: Silly and immature, like a small child.
- Pebble: A small, smooth, rounded stone.
- Donkey: A domesticated mammal with long ears, used as a beast of burden.
- Dirty: Not clean; covered with dirt or grime.
- Scold: To speak angrily or critically to someone who has done wrong.
- Naughty: Badly behaved or disobedient.
Question 1What does the baby do with the pebbles?
Answer: The baby tries to put the pebbles into her mouth, thinking they are real food.
Question 2What does the baby do with the book?
Answer: She tears the pages with her hands and roars with joy at her mischief.
Question 3When does the baby laugh and think it is great fun?
Answer: The baby laughs and enjoys herself when her brother shakes his head at her in anger, scolds her, or calls her naughty.
Question 4Why does the brother say the baby sister is silly?
Answer: He calls her silly because she cannot distinguish between actual stars and street lights, tries to eat pebbles, and thinks every serious action is just a game.