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BookRags Lesson Plan

The Color of Water by James McBride (writer)


For the online version of BookRags' The Color of Water Lesson Plan, including complete copyright
information, please visit:

http://www.bookrags.com/lessonplan/the-color-of-water/

Copyright Information
(c)2000-2009 BookRags, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Introduction
The The Color of Water lesson plan contains a variety of teaching materials that cater to all
learning styles. Inside you'll find 30 Daily Lessons, 20 Fun Activities, 180 Multiple Choice Questions,
60 Short Essay Questions, 20 Essay Questions, Quizzes/Homework Assignments, Tests, and more.
The lessons and activities will help students gain an intimate understanding of the text; while the
tests and quizzes will help you evaluate how well the students have grasped the material.
Target Grade: 7th-12th (Middle School and High School)
Length of Lesson Plan: Approximately 109 pages. Page count is estimated at 300 words per
page. Length will vary depending on format viewed.

Completely Customizable!
Each lesson plan is downloadable in PDF and Word. The Word file is viewable with any PC or Mac
and can be further adjusted if you want to mix questions around, add your own headers for things
like "Name," "Period," and "Date." The Word file offers unlimited customizing options so that you can
teach in the most efficient manner possible. Once you download the file, it is yours to keep and print
for your classroom.

Lesson Plan Calendars


The Lesson Plan Calendars provide daily suggestions about what to teach. They include detailed descriptions of when to assign reading,
homework, in-class work, fun activities, quizzes, tests and more. Use the entire lesson plan, or supplement it with your own curriculum
ideas. Calendars cover one week, two week, four week and eight week units. Determine how long your The Color of Water unit will be,
then use one of the calendars provided to plan out your entire lesson.

Chapter Abstracts
Chapter abstracts are short descriptions of events that occur in each chapter. They highlight major plot events and detail the important
relationships and characteristics of important characters. The Chapter Abstracts can be used to review what the students have read, or to
prepare the students for what they will read. Hand the abstracts out in class as a study guide, or use them as a "key" for a class
discussion. They are relatively brief, but can serve to be an excellent refresher of the text for either a student or teacher.

Character and Object Descriptions


Character and Object Descriptions provide descriptions of the significant characters and objects/places in the book. These can be printed
out and used as an individual study guide for students, a "key" for leading a class discussion, a summary review prior to exams, or a
refresher for an educator. The character and object descriptions are also used in some of the quizzes and tests in this lesson plan. The
longest descriptions run about 200 words. They become shorter as the importance of the character or object declines.

Multiple Choice Questions


The 180 Multiple Choice Questions in this lesson plan will test a student's recall and understanding of the text. Use these questions for
quizzes, homework assignments or tests. The questions are broken out into sections, so they focus on specific chapters or acts within a
book or play. This allows you to test and review the book as you proceed through the unit. Typically, there are 5-15 questions per chapter,
act or section.

Short Essay Questions


The 60 Short Essay Questions listed in this section require a one to two sentence answer. They ask students to demonstrate a deeper
understanding of the text by describing what they've read, rather than just recalling it .The short essay questions evaluate not only
whether students have read the material, but also how well they understand and can apply it. They require more thought than a multiple
choice question, but are shorter than the essay questions.

Essay Questions/Writing Assignments


These 20 Essay Questions/Writing Assignments can be used as essay questions on a test, or as stand-alone essay topics for a
take-home or in-class writing assignment. Students should have a full understanding of the unit material in order to answer these
questions. They often include multiple parts of the work and ask for a thorough analysis of the overall text. They nearly always require a
substantial response. Essay responses are typically expected to be one (or more) page(s) and consist of multiple paragraphs, although it
is possible to write answers more briefly. These essays are designed to challenge a student's understanding of the broad points in a work,
interactions among the characters, and main points and themes of the text. But, they also cover many of the other issues specific to the
work and to the world today.

Daily Lessons

This section of the lesson plan contains 30 Daily Lessons. Daily Lessons each have a specific objective and offer at least three (often
more) ways to teach that objective. Lessons include classroom discussions, group and partner activities, in-class handouts, individual
writing assignments, at least one homework assignment, class participation exercises and other ways to teach students about the text in
a classroom setting. You can combine daily lessons or use the ideas within them to create your own unique curriculum. They vary greatly
from day to day and offer an array of creative ideas that provide many options for an educator.

Fun Classroom Activites


Fun Classroom Activities differ from Daily Lessons because they make "fun" a priority. The 20 enjoyable, interactive classroom activities
that are included will help students understand the text in fun and entertaining ways. Fun Classroom Activities include group projects,
games, critical thinking activities, brainstorming sessions, writing poems, drawing or sketching, and countless other creative exercises.
Many of the activities encourage students to interact with each other, be creative and think "outside of the box," and ultimately grasp key
concepts from the text by "doing" rather than simply studying. Fun activities are a great way to keep students interested and engaged
while still providing a deeper understanding of the work and its themes.

Quizzes/Homework Assignments
The Quizzes/Homework Assignments are worksheets that can be used in a variety of ways. They pull questions from the multiple choice
and short essay sections, the character and object descriptions, and the chapter abstracts to create worksheets that can be used for pop
quizzes, in-class assignments and homework. Periodic homework assignments and quizzes are a great way to encourage students to
stay on top of their assigned reading. They can also help you determine which concepts and ideas your class grasps and which they need
more guidance on. By pulling from the different sections of the lesson plan, quizzes and homework assignments offer a comprehensive
review of the text in manageable increments that are less substantial than a full blown test.

Tests
Use the Test Summary page to determine which pre-made test is most relevant to your students' learning styles. This lesson plan
provides both full unit tests and mid-unit tests. You can choose from several tests that include differing combinations of multiple choice
questions, vocabulary questions, short answer questions, short essay questions, full essay questions, character and object matching, etc.
Some of the tests are designed to be more difficult than others. Some have essay questions, while others are limited to short-response
questions, like multiple choice, matching and short answer questions. If you don't find the combination of questions that best suits your
class, you can also create your own test.

Create Your Own Quiz or Test


You have the option to Create Your Own Quiz or Test. If you want to integrate questions you've developed for your curriculum with the
questions in this lesson plan, or you simply want to create a unique test or quiz from the questions this lesson plan offers, it's easy to do.
Cut and paste the information from the Create Your Own Quiz or Test page into a Word document to get started. Scroll through the
sections of the lesson plan that most interest you and cut and paste the exact questions you want to use into your new, personalized
lesson plan.

Evaluation Forms
Use the Oral Reading Evaluation Form when students are reading aloud in class. Pass the forms out before you assign reading, so
students will know what to expect. You can use the forms to provide general feedback on audibility, pronunciation, articulation, expression
and rate of speech. You can use this form to grade students, or simply comment on their progress.
Use the Writing Evaluation Form when you're grading student essays. This will help you establish uniform criteria for grading essays even
though students may be writing about different aspects of the material. By following this form you will be able to evaluate the thesis,
organization, supporting arguments, paragraph transitions, grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. of each student's essay.

Lesson Plan Calendar


Lesson plan calendars give you daily suggestions about what to teach. Determine how long your The Color of Water unit will be, then
use one of the following calendars to plan out your entire lesson. In some cases, you may want to assign some of the reading over the
weekend preceding the unit. This will give students some context for the start of the unit.

Definitions:
* Review Chapter Abstracts - Chapter abstracts are synopses of each chapter that you can use to review the reading assignments with
your students.
* Daily Lessons - There are 30 daily lessons detailed in this lesson plan. Select a new daily lesson each day.
* Fun Activities - There are 20 fun activities in this lesson plan. They serve as a way for students to interact with the material in an
enjoyable, educational way.
* Read Aloud in Class - Ask students to take turns reading aloud from where they left off in their most recent reading assignment. Use
the Oral Reading Evaluation Form in this lesson plan to evaluate their reading skills.
* In-Class Handout - An in-class handout can be one of the quizzes/homework assignments, vocabulary games, worksheets, or an
essay/writing assignment. It's something the students can comple and turn in during class, or begin in-class and take home to finish as a
homework assignment.

One Week Lesson Calendar


Before the Unit Begins
Homework: Read through Chapters 7 and 8, Sam, Brothers and Sisters of The Color of Water.

Day 1 - Introduce Unit

Day 2 - Review Unit

Day 3 - Quiz

Day 4 - Review Unit

Day 5 - Final Test

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapters 7 and 8,
Sam, Brothers and Sisters
1 Lesson from Daily
Lessons 1-8
1 Fun Activity from Fun
Activities 1-10
Students Read Aloud in
Class
Homework Assignment:
Read through Chapters 15

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapters 15 and 16,
Graduation, Driving
1 Lesson from Daily
Lessons 7-16
1 In-Class Handout
Homework Assignment:
Read through Chapters 21
and 22, A Bird Who Flies,
A Jew Discovered and
choose a homework

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapters 21 and 22,
A Bird Who Flies, A Jew
Discovered
Quiz
1 Lesson from Daily
Lessons 17-23
1 In-Class Handout
1 Fun Activity from Fun
Activities 2-10
Homework Assignment:

Review Chapter Abstracts Test


up to Epilogue
1 Lesson from Daily
Lessons 24-30
1 In-Class Handout
Homework Assignment:
Study for the test

and 16, Graduation,


Driving

assignment from one of


the Daily Lessons

Read through Epilogue


and assign an essay, due
the week following the test

Two Week Lesson Calendar


Before the Unit Begins
Homework: Read through Chapters 3 and 4, Kosher, Black Power of The Color of Water.

Day 1 - Introduce Unit

Day 2 - Review Unit

Day 3 - Review Unit

Day 4 - Review Unit

Day 5 - Quiz

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapters 3 and 4,
Kosher, Black Power
1 Lesson from Daily
Lessons 1-3
Students Read Aloud in
Class
Homework Assignment:
Read through Chapters 7
and 8, Sam, Brothers and
Sisters

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapters 7 and 8,
Sam, Brothers and Sisters
1 Lesson from Daily
Lessons 4-6
1 Activity from Fun
Activities 1-5
Homework Assignment:
Read through Chapters 11
and 12, Boys, Daddy

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapters 11 and 12,
Boys, Daddy
1 Lesson from Daily
Lessons 7-9
1 In-Class Handout
Homework Assignment:
Read through Chapters 15
and 16, Graduation,
Driving

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapters 15 and 16,
Graduation, Driving
1 Lesson from Daily
Lessons 10-12
1 Activity from Fun
Activities 6-10
Review for Quiz
Homework Assignment:
Read through Chapters 19
and 20, Promise, Old Man
Shilsky and study for quiz

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapters 19 and 20,
Promise, Old Man Shilsky
Quiz
Homework Assignment:
Read through Chapters 21
and 22, A Bird Who Flies,
A Jew Discovered and
assign an Essay, due the
week following the final
test

Day 6 - Review Unit

Day 7 - Review Unit

Day 8 - Review Unit

Day 9 - Review Unit

Day 10 - Final Test

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapters 21 and 22,
A Bird Who Flies, A Jew
Discovered
1 Lesson from Daily
Lessons 13-16
1 Activity from Fun
Activities 11-15
Homework Assignment:
Read through Chapters 23
and 24, Dennis, New
Brown and choose a
homework assignment
from one of the a Daily
Lessons

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapters 23 and 24,
Dennis, New Brown
1 Lesson from Daily
Lessons 17-20
1 In-Class Handout
Read Aloud in Class
Homework Assignment:
Read through Chapter 25,
Finding Ruthie and
choose a homework
assignment from one of
the a Daily Lessons

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapter 25, Finding
Ruthie
1 Lesson from Daily
Lessons 21-25
1 In-Class Handout
1 Activity from Fun
Activities 16-20
Homework Assignment:
Read through Epilogue

Review Chapter Abstracts Test


up to Epilogue
1 Lesson from Daily
Lessons 26-30
1 In-Class Handout
Review for Test
Homework Assignment:
Study for the test

Four Week Lesson Calendar


Before the Unit Begins
Homework: Read through Chapters 1 and 2, Dead, The Bicycle of The Color of Water.

Day 1 - Introduce Unit

Day 2 - Review Unit

Day 3 - Review Unit

Day 4 - Review Unit

Day 5 - Quiz

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapters 1 and 2,
Dead, The Bicycle
Students Read Aloud in
Class

1 Lesson from Daily


Lessons 1-2
In-Class Handout
Homework Assignment:
Read through Chapters 3
and 4, Kosher, Black
Power and choose a
homework assignment
from one of the Daily
Lessons

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapters 3 and 4,
Kosher, Black Power
Review Homework
1 Lesson from Daily
Lessons 3-4
1 Activity from Fun
Activities 1-3
Homework Assignment:
Read through Chapters 5
and 6, The Old
Testament, The New
Testament and choose a
homework assignment
from one of the Daily
Lessons

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapters 5 and 6,
The Old Testament, The
New Testament
Review Homework
Daily Lesson 5
1 Activity from Fun
Activities 4-6
In-Class Handout
Homework Assignment:
Read through Chapters 7
and 8, Sam, Brothers and
Sisters

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapters 7 and 8,
Sam, Brothers and Sisters
Quiz
1 Lesson from Daily
Lessons 6-7
Read Aloud in Class
Homework Assignment:
Choose a homework
assignment from one of
the Daily Lessons

Day 6 - Review Unit

Day 7 - Review Unit

Day 8 - Review Unit

Day 9 - Review Unit

Day 10 - Mid Unit Test

Review Homework
Daily Lesson 8
1 Activity from Fun
Activities 7-8
Homework Assignment:
Read through Chapters 9
and 10, Shul, School and
choose a homework
assignment from one of
the Daily Lessons

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapters 9 and 10,
Shul, School
Review Homework
1 Lesson from Daily
Lessons 9-10
1 In-Class Handout
Read Aloud in Class
Homework Assignment:
Read through Chapters 11
and 12, Boys, Daddy and
choose a homework
assignment from one of
the Daily Lessons

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapters 11 and 12,
Boys, Daddy
Review Homework
Daily Lesson 11
1 Activity from Fun
Activities 9-10
Homework Assignment:
Read through Chapters 13
and 14, New York,
Chicken Man and choose
a homework assignment
from one of the Daily
Lessons

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapters 13 and 14,
New York, Chicken Man
Review Homework
1 Lesson from Daily
Lessons 12-13
1 In-Class Handout
Review for Test
Homework Assignment:
Study for the test

Test
Homework Assignment:
Read through Chapters 15
and 16, Graduation,
Driving and assign an
Essay, due the week
following the final test

Day 11 - Review Unit

Day 12 - Review Unit

Day 13 - Review Unit

Day 14 - Review Unit

Day 15 - Quiz

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapters 15 and 16,
Graduation, Driving
Review Test
1 Daily Lesson from Daily
Lessons 14-15
Students Read Aloud in
Class
Homework Assignment:
Read through Chapters 17
and 18, Lost in Harlem,
Lost in Delaware

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapters 17 and 18,
Lost in Harlem, Lost in
Delaware
1 Lesson from Daily
Lessons 16-17
1 Activity from Fun
Activities 12-13
Homework Assignment:
Read through Chapters 19
and 20, Promise, Old Man
Shilsky and choose a
homework assignment
from one of the Daily
Lessons

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapters 19 and 20,
Promise, Old Man Shilsky
Review Homework
Daily Lesson 18
1 In-Class Handout
Homework Assignment:
Choose a homework
assignment from one of
the Daily Lessons

Review Homework
1 Daily Lesson from Daily
Lessons 19-20
1 Activity from Fun
Activities 13-14
Homework Assignment:
Read through Chapters 21
and 22, A Bird Who Flies,
A Jew Discovered and
choose a homework
assignment from one of
the Daily Lessons

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapters 21 and 22,
A Bird Who Flies, A Jew
Discovered
Quiz
1 Lesson from Daily
Lessons 21-22
Read Aloud in Class
1 Activity from Fun
Activities 15-6
Homework Assignment:
Read through Chapters 23
and 24, Dennis, New
Brown and choose a
homework assignment
from one of the Daily
Lessons

Day 16 - Review Unit

Day 17 - Review Unit

Day 18 - Review Unit

Day 19 - Review Unit

Day 20 - Final Test

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapters 23 and 24,
Dennis, New Brown
Review Homework
1 Lesson from Daily
Lessons 23-24
1 Activity from Fun
Activities 17-18
Homework Assignment:
Read through Chapter 25,
Finding Ruthie and
choose a homework
assignment from one of
the Daily Lessons

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapter 25, Finding
Ruthie
Review Homework
1 Lesson from Daily
Lessons 25-26
1 In-Class Handout
Read Aloud in Class
Homework Assignment:
Read through Epilogue
and choose a homework
assignment from one of
the Daily Lessons

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Epilogue
Review Homework
1 Lesson from Daily
Lessons 27-28
1 In-Class Handout
1 Activity from Fun
Activities 19-20

1 Lesson from Daily


Lessons 29-30
1 In-Class Handout
Review for Test
Homework Assignment:
Study for the test

Test

Eight Week Lesson Calendar


Before the Unit Begins
Homework: Read through Chapters 1 and 2, Dead, The Bicycle of The Color of Water.

Day 1 - Introduce Unit

Day 2 - Review Unit

Day 3 - Review Unit

Day 4 - Review Unit

Day 5 - Quiz

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapters 1 and 2,
Dead, The Bicycle
Students Read Aloud in
Class

Daily Lesson 1
In-Class Handout
Homework Assignment:
Complete the Daily
Lesson

Review Homework
Daily Lessons 2
Fun Activity 1
Homework Assignment:
Read through Chapters 3
and 4, Kosher, Black
Power and complete the
Daily Lesson

Review Chapter Abstracts Quiz


up to Chapters 3 and 4,
Fun Activity 2
Kosher, Black Power
Read Aloud in Class
Review Homework
Daily Lesson 3
In-Class Handout

Day 6 - Review Unit

Day 7 - Review Unit

Day 8 - Quiz

Day 9 - Review Unit

Daily Lesson 4
Fun Activity 3
Homework Assignment:
Read through Chapters 5
and 6, The Old
Testament, The New
Testament and complete
the Daily Lesson

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapters 5 and 6,
The Old Testament, The
New Testament
Review Homework
Daily Lesson 5
1 In-Class Handout
Read Aloud in Class
Homework Assignment:
Complete the Daily
Lesson

Quiz
Review Homework
Daily Lesson 6
Read Aloud in Class
Homework Assignment:
Read through Chapters 7
and 8, Sam, Brothers and
Sisters and complete the
Daily Lesson

Review Chapter Abstracts Fun Activity 5


up to Chapters 7 and 8,
In-Class Handout
Sam, Brothers and Sisters
Review Homework
Daily Lesson 7
Fun Activity 4
1 In-Class Handout

Day 11 - Review Unit

Day 12 - Quiz

Day 13 - Review Unit

Day 14 - Review Unit

Day 15 - Quiz

Daily Lesson 8
Students Read Aloud in
Class
Homework Assignment:

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapters 9 and 10,
Shul, School
Quiz

Review Homework
Daily Lesson 10
1 In-Class Handout
Homework Assignment:

Review Homework
Daily Lesson 11
Fun Activity 7
Homework Assignment:

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapters 11 and 12,
Boys, Daddy
Quiz

Day 10 - Review Unit

Read through Chapters 9 Daily Lesson 9


and 10, Shul, School and Fun Activity 6
study for quiz
Homework Assignment:
Complete the Daily
Lesson

Complete the Daily


Lesson

Read through Chapters 11 Read Aloud in Class


and 12, Boys, Daddy and Fun Activity 8
complete the Daily Lesson Homework Assignment:
Complete the Daily
Lesson

Day 16 - Review Unit

Day 17 - Review Unit

Day 18 - Review Unit

Day 19 - Review Unit

Day 20 - Mid-Unit Test

Daily Lesson 12
Fun Activity 9
Homework Assignment:
Read through Chapters 13
and 14, New York,
Chicken Man and
complete the Daily Lesson

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapters 13 and 14,
New York, Chicken Man
Review Homework
Daily Lesson 13
1 In-Class Handout
Read Aloud in Class

Review Homework
Daily Lesson 14
1 In-Class Handout
Fun Activity 10
Homework Assignment:
Complete the Daily
Lesson

Review Homework
1 In-Class Handout
Review for Test
Homework Assignment:
Study for test

Test on first half of The


Color of Water
Homework Assignment:
Assign an Essay, due on
Day 38

Day 21 - Review Unit

Day 22 - Review Unit

Day 23 - Review Unit

Day 24 - Review Unit

Day 25 - Quiz

Daily Lesson 15
Review the Test
Homework Assignment:
Read through Chapters 15
and 16, Graduation,
Driving

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapters 15 and 16,
Graduation, Driving
Daily Lesson 16
1 In-Class Handout
Homework Assignment:
Complete the Daily
Lesson

Review Homework
Daily Lesson 17
Fun Activity 11
Homework Assignment:
Read through Chapters 17
and 18, Lost in Harlem,
Lost in Delaware and
complete the Daily Lesson

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapters 17 and 18,
Lost in Harlem, Lost in
Delaware
Review Homework
Fun Activity 12

Quiz
Daily Lesson 18
Fun Activity 13
Homework Assignment:
Complete the Daily
Lesson

Day 26 - Review Unit

Day 27 - Review Unit

Day 28 - Review Unit

Day 29 - Review Unit

Day 30 - Mid-Unit Test

Review Homework
Daily Lesson 19
Homework Assignment:
Read through Chapters 19
and 20, Promise, Old Man
Shilsky and complete the
Daily Lesson

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapters 19 and 20,
Promise, Old Man Shilsky
Review Homework
Daily Lesson 20
1 In-Class Handout
Read Aloud in Class
Homework Assignment:
Complete the Daily
Lesson

Review Homework
Daily Lesson 2
Fun Activity 14
Homework Assignment:
Complete the Daily
Lesson

Review Homework
Daily Lesson 22
1 In-Class Handout
Homework Assignment:
Read through Chapters 21
and 22, A Bird Who Flies,
A Jew Discovered and
study for quiz

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapters 21 and 22,
A Bird Who Flies, A Jew
Discovered
Quiz
Fun Activity 15

Day 31 - Review Unit

Day 32 - Review Unit

Day 33 - Review Unit

Day 34 - Review Unit

Day 35 - Quiz

Daily Lesson 23
Read Aloud in Class
Homework Assignment:
Read through Chapters 23
and 24, Dennis, New
Brown

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapters 23 and 24,
Dennis, New Brown
Daily Lesson 24
Fun Activity 16
Homework Assignment:
Complete the Daily
Lesson

Review Homework
Daily Lesson 25
1 In-Class Handout
Homework Assignment:
Complete the Daily
Lesson

Review Homework
Daily Lesson 26
Fun Activity 17
Homework Assignment:
Read through Chapter 25,
Finding Ruthie

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Chapter 25, Finding
Ruthie
Quiz
Read Aloud in Class
Daily Lesson 27
Fun Activity 18
Homework Assignment:
Complete the Daily

Lesson
Day 36 - Review Unit

Day 37 - Review Unit

Day 38 - Review Unit

Day 39 - Review Unit


Day 40 - Final Test

Review Homework
Daily Lesson 28
Fun Activity 19
Homework Assignment:
Read through Epilogue
and complete the Daily
Lesson

Review Chapter Abstracts


up to Epilogue
1 In-Class Handout
Homework Assignment:
Finish Essay assignment

Collect Essay
Assignments Daily Lesson
29
Fun Activity 20
Homework Assignment:
Complete the Daily
Lesson

Review Homework
Daily Lesson 30
1 In-Class Handout
Review for Test

Final Test

Chapter Abstracts
Chapter abstracts are short descriptions of events that occur in each chapter. They highlight major plot events and detail the important
relationships and characteristics of characters and objects. The Chapter Abstracts can be used to review what the students have read, or
to prepare the students for what they will read. Hand the abstracts out in class as a study guide, or use them as a "key" for a class
discussion. They are relatively brief, but can serve to be an excellent refresher of the text for either a student or teacher.

Chapters 1 and 2, Dead, The Bicycle Abstract


* The eighth of twelve children, James McBride grows up in a chaotic, but loving, home.
* His mother is a Polish Jew, raised mostly in Virginia. She married a black man and lived the majority of her adult life in New York City.
* Ruth Shilsky McBride Jordan is being interviewed by her son James. She doesn't understand why he wants to know about her family,
seeing as how her family has considered her dead for fifty years.

Chapters 3 and 4, Kosher, Black Power Abstract


* Born an Orthodox Jew in 1921 in Poland, Ruth's Jewish name was Ruchel Dwajra Zylska.
* Ruth introduces her parents. Her father, Fishel Shilsky, was an Orthodox rabbi who she describes as a fox and hard as a rock. Her
mother, Hudis, was gentle and kind.
*

Chapters 5 and 6, The Old Testament, The New Testament


Abstract
* James describes his stepfather, Hunter Jordan, who unexpectedly died of a stroke at seventy-two. When Hunter Jordan died, the family
struggled to move on.
* As a child James thought his mother was rather strange. She didn't look or behave like their neighbors. She spoke Yiddish and drank
tea out of a glass.

Chapters 7 and 8, Sam, Brothers and Sisters Abstract

* Ruth says that her parents' marriage was arranged and that her mother had the class and money.
* Ruth and her family arrived in America when she was two-years-old.
* When Ruth's family first arrives in the United States, they live with her grandparents in Manhattan. They are strictly Orthodox and do
everything the kosher way.

Chapters 9 and 10, Shul, School Abstract


* As a child, James is curious about his mother's skin color, which he notices is so different from his own.
* When James is nine, he becomes afraid that the people involved in the black power rallies will kill his mother. His mother is
unconcerned about it.
* Ruth works the swing shift at Chase Manhattan Bank as a typist, leaving home at three in the afternoon and returning around two a.m.

Chapters 11 and 12, Boys, Daddy Abstract


* Once, when James and his mother are on their way home from visiting her stepsister, Jacqueline, two black men approach them from
behind and mug them.
* James watches a man and his son do a five-minute handshake before the boy boards his bus. The boy says he learned the handshake
from his father, a black panther. James hits the boy in the jaw, thinking that the boy's father presents a danger to his mother.

Chapters 13 and 14, New York, Chicken Man Abstract


* Ruth's father worked as a traveling preacher. He worked under contracts with Jewish congregations. After a year, the synagogue
wouldn't want him anymore and they would have to move to a new place.
* When Ruth is a teenager they move to Suffolk, Virginia, where her father opens a grocery store. They are generally disliked because
they are Jewish.

Chapters 15 and 16, Graduation, Driving Abstract


* Ruth's father is not only cold but cruel and abusive as well. In contrast, her children know a mother who sacrifices everything for them.
* James remembers asking his mother whether God is black or white. Ruth explains that God isn't any color.

Chapters 17 and 18, Lost in Harlem, Lost in Delaware Abstract


* Ruth remembers the Ku Klux Klan riding into town and their black customers slipping into their houses. Ruth's father keeps a loaded,
polished gun behind the counter of his store, sure that the black folks are always trying to steal from him.
* In the 1930s people get sick and die. The black people in Suffolk live in shacks with no running water, no foundations, or bathrooms.

Chapters 19 and 20, Promise, Old Man Shilsky Abstract


* Every morning, Ruth's brother Sam has to get up early and stock the store shelves, feed the cow, and cut the ice before school. After
school he goes back to work.

* After a couple of years Sam leaves for Chicago and never returns.
* James describes his mother's household as orchestrated chaos. There is never quite enough food, so the kids fight over food and hide it
away.
* James' oldest sibling, Dennis, is the family's role model. Ruth extols Dennis' virtues to them on a regular basis.

Chapters 21 and 22, A Bird Who Flies, A Jew Discovered


Abstract
* Ruth recalls her school years growing up in Suffolk. There is a white school, a black school and a Jewish school. The Jewish school
doesn't meet the state's requirements so she goes to what her father calls the "gentile school."
* When Ruth is in fourth grade she meets a girl at school named Frances. Frances is nice to her and doesn't seem to notice things about
Ruth that other children tease her about.
* Ruth steals money from her father's cash register so she and Frances can go to the movies.

Chapters 23 and 24, Dennis, New Brown Abstract


* Because education is so important to Ruth, she sends her children to the best schools in the New York public school system. They are
usually located in neighborhoods that are predominantly white and Jewish.
* James develops a fascination with music. He says it helps him escape from his problems.

Chapter 25, Finding Ruthie Abstract


* After Sam leaves home, Ruth assumes more responsibility at home. She opens the store in the morning before school and then after
school works in the store until ten o'clock.
* A black boy named Peter comes into the store quite often and tries to talk to Ruth. She falls in love with him and they start to find ways
to see each other outside of the store.
* Loving Peter seems to change Ruth's outlook on life. She feels happy and loved, so she doesn't worry so much about what other people
think of her.

Epilogue Abstract
* Everything begins to unravel when Ruth misses her period. Peter could be killed if the truth came that she was pregnant.
* Ruth's mother suggests that Ruth goes to New York to visit her grandmother for the summer.

Abstract
* Ruth goes to New York after her mother finds out about her pregnancy.
* Ruth confesses to her Aunt Betsy that she's pregnant. Betsy takes Ruth to a Jewish doctor to get an abortion.

* James' grades plummet after Daddy's death. He skips school, drinks malt liquor, and starts smoking marijuana.
* Ruth doesn't know what to do with James, so she sends him to live with his older sister Jack in Louisville, Kentucky.

* James stayed with Jack for three straight summers, running around with Jack's husband "Big Richard" and his friends.
*

* After her abortion, Ruth doesn't want to return to Suffolk, but she has to go back to graduate.
* After finding out Peter has gotten another girl pregnant, Ruth goes back to New York.

* James takes his mother to learn how to drive, but Ruth mistakes the brake for the accelerator almost killing James and her grandson.
Ruth decides never to drive again.
* James later learns that when his mother lived in Suffolk as a teenager she drove all the time. She drove well enough to pull a trailer
behind her father's Ford, delivering groceries and supplies all the way to North Carolina.

* When Ruth returns to New York after high school she works in her Aunt Mary's factory and stays with her grandmother.
* Ruth meets a man called Andrew McBride. Andrew is always kind to Ruth and is always trying to make her laugh.
* Ruth finds a job at a barbershop, working for a man called Rocky. Rocky turns out to be a pimp and Andrew has to persuade her not to
see Rocky again.

* In 1974, with five kids still at home, Ruth decides to move to Delaware. James is anxious to move because he wants to get away from
drugs and graduate from high school.
* In Delaware, James joins the school band and is selected to travel to Europe with the American Youth Jazz Band. To pay for the trip, he
works for a wealthy white couple that often donates money to the school.
* James is accepted to attend Oberlin University.

* Ruth gets a job at a diner and starts dating Andrew. Andrew nearly starved trying to pursue a career in music, so he gets a job at Aunt
Mary's leather factory.
* After a few months Ruth and Andrew think about getting married, but decide to live together instead because they don't think the world
will respond well to their marriage.
* Ruth phones her mother and her father tells her she is ill. He insists that she comes back and helps out at the shop.

* James starts working as a reporter for the Boston Globe. His best friend is a sixty-year-old white man named Ernie Santosuosso, a jazz
critic for the newspaper, and his girlfriend is a black model named Karone.
* James wants to find out about his mother's roots, but whenever he asks for details, she says that nobody from her past would remember
her.
* James goes to Suffolk looking for his mother's old friend, Frances, and meets a man called Eddie. Eddie remembers Ruth as the
kindhearted one of her family.

* Ruth goes back to Andrew and New York. Her father tells her that if she marries a black man she will never be welcome home again.
* Back in New York, Ruth gets a job at a glass factory.
* In early 1942, Ruth gets a message from her Aunt Mary that her mother is in a Bronx hospital but that she can't see her because she is
in a relationship with a black man.

* Ruth is depressed for months. Andrew keeps telling Ruth to forgive herself, that God has forgiven her. It takes her a long time to get
over it, but Andrew sticks with her and helps her work things out.
* In August 1992, James stands in front of the synagogue in Suffolk where Rabbi Shilsky led the congregation during the Jewish holidays.
He feels strange, sure that people will wonder why a black man is loitering in front of a white man's building.
* James wants to see the inside of the synagogue so he can tell his wife and kids about it. He reasons that his history is his children's

history, too.
* James meets a man called Aubrey. Aubrey said he could still remember Mrs. Shilsky going to the temple, lighting candles and standing
up to say her prayers. He said she was a very fine lady.
* That night in a motel room just down the road from the Suffolk McDonald's, James feels the loneliness and agony his grandmother must
have felt as a Jew. He returns to New York happy with the knowledge that his grandmother had not suffered in vain.

* Andrew is an excellent preacher, a deacon in the church and a singer in the choir. Through Andrew, Ruth learns about music and
baseball and converts to Christianity.
* Ruth and Andrew decide to get married. It is not an easy day because many people are against it, but they get they get there license
and have a small reception afterwards.
* Ruth and Andrew live in a one-room kitchenette. Over the next few years they have four children in that one room. Their family grows so
fast that they have to apply to get an apartment in the Red Hooking Housing Projects in Brooklyn.

* Andrew starts a church in their home before expanding into a bigger building. He calls the church the New Brown Memorial.
* In early 1957, Andrew comes home from work with a bad cold. Just before James' death, Andrew passes away.
* James never met his father, but he learned about him through his writings and notebooks. It's clear to James that his father was a deep
thinker, humble, religious and very wise.

* In 1993 James forces his mother to put together her will, but she has no idea where she wants to be buried.
* James ruminates over the issues surrounding mixed-race. He feels that he ran from himself for many years, that he couldn't commit to
one thing or another without knowing who he was.

* Ruth receives her college degree in social work from Temple University at age sixty-five.
* In August of 1993, Ruth finally faces the ghosts of her past and goes to Suffolk, Virginia. After driving through the town with James, Judy
and Billy, she claims that nothing has changed.
* James takes Ruth to see Frances and they renew their friendship.

* James met David at the Wilmington News Journal and David has selected him as an usher for his Jewish wedding.
* Ruth sits in the audience, watching the kind of wedding her parents wanted for her.

* When the wedding is over, James and Ruth walk outside into the rain. She reminisces about the Jewish wedding and how it hasn't
changed since she was a girl.
* Ruth lets go of James' arm and stares up at the synagogue entrance, lost in thought. Then she turns and hurries towards her car.

Character Descriptions
This section provides a short description of all the major characters in the book. This can be printed out as a study guide for students,
used as a "key" for leading a class discussion, or you can jump to the quiz/homework section to find worksheets that incorporate these
descriptions into a variety of question formats.

Characters
Ruth Shilsky McBride Jordan - She moved around a lot as a young child before her family finally settled in Suffolk, Virginia, where her
father ran a grocery store.

James McBride - He played in the school band and found solace in music, stealing away for quiet moments with his clarinet at school
when he needed to think.
Andrew McBride - He played the violin and composed classical and religious music and moved to New York to pursue that love.
Hunter Jordan, Sr. - He lived separately from his family of a wife and eight children.
Rabbi Fishel Shilsky - He escaped from the Russian army and sneaked over the Polish border where he married his wife in an arranged
marriage.
Hudis Shilsky - Polio had left her paralyzed on her left side and in overall poor health.
Frances - She and another character went to movies together and spent as much time together as they could.
Chicken Man - He was almost always drunk, but sought out for advice.
Dee-Dee - She was pretty, small, and well liked but very vulnerable.
Irene - She was a black woman who lived in the housing projects.
Aunt Mary - She was very successful, running a factory of her own.
Aunt Betsy - She lived in New York and arranges for another character to have an abortion.

Object Descriptions
This section provides a short description of all the major objects in the book. This can be printed out as a study guide for students, used
as a "key" for leading a class discussion, or you can jump to the quiz/homework section to find worksheets that incorporate these
descriptions into a variety of question formats.

Objects
Harlem - Ruth loved this place in her young adulthood. She liked to be around the music, clubs and movies.
Suffolk, Virginia - Suffolk, Virginia, was the town where Ruth spent most of her childhood.
Wilmington, Delaware - After Hunter Jordan, Sr., died, Ruth moved her remaining five children here.
Louisville, Kentucky - When James got into trouble in high school, his mother sent him to stay with his sister in this city, to straighten
him out.
Whosoever Baptist Church - Here, the big black ladies James knew and loved would jump around and wail when they "got happy."
Hunter Jordan's '68 Pontiac Catalina - After Hunter Jordan's death, this car sat out in front of their house for seasons, gathering dead
leaves around its wheels.
New Brown Memorial Baptist Church - This is the church started by Ruth and Andrew McBride in their little apartment. They named it
after the man, who married them.
The Shilsky's Store - Ruth spent most of her childhood working here.
Red Hook Housing Projects - When Ruth and Andrew had four children they moved out of their one-bedroom apartment into this area,

where they had two bedrooms and their own bathroom.


New Jersey - Ruth spent her later years here but she refused to be buried here.

Multiple Choice Questions


This section contains 180 multiple choice questions about The Color of Water. Multiple choice questions test a student's recall and
understanding of the text. Use these questions for chapter quizzes, homework assignments or tests. Jump to the quiz/homework section
for the multiple choice worksheets.

Multiple Choice - Chapters 1 and 2, Dead, The Bicycle


1. What is the name of the main character?
a) Philip McBride
b) James McBride
c) John Hurt
d) Gordon Brown

2. What country was James' mother born in?


a) France
b) England
c) Germany
d) Poland

3. Where was James' mother raised?


a) California
b) Virginia
c) Seattle
d) New York

4. Where did James' mother spend most of her adult life?


a) Seattle
b) Los Angeles
c) New York
d) Raleigh

5. What did James' father die of?


a) Measles
b) Brain disease
c) Lung cancer
d) Polio

6. Who does James interview in his book?


a) Himself
b) His brother
c) His sister
d) His mother

7. What was Ruth's maiden name?


a) Shilsky
b) McBride
c) Goldburg
d) Jordan

8. What religion was James' father?


a) Hindu
b) Christian
c) Muslim
d) Jewish

9. What does James' mother embarrass James doing?


a) Playing the piano
b) Riding a bike
c) Hugging him
d) Preaching

10. What was the name of James' stepfather?


a) Andrew McBride
b) Fishel Shilsky
c) Damien Goad
d) Hunter Jordan

11. What did Hunter die of?


a) A stroke
b) Brain disease
c) Cancer
d) A broken heart

12. Who does James say he once robbed as a teenager?


a) His best friend
b) A drug dealer
c) An old lady
d) His mother

13. How did James view his mother as a young boy?


a) Strange
b) Loving
c) Funny
d) Strong

14. What language can Ruth speak as well as English?


a) Polish
b) German
c) French
d) Yiddish

15. What does Ruth drink tea from?


a) A glass
b) A mug
c) A saucer
d) A bowl

16. When does James' stepfather visit them?


a) Every summer
b) In the holidays
c) On the weekends
d) On Mondays

17. Where was James' mother supposed to meet James after kindergarten?
a) The bus stop
b) At home
c) The subway
d) A motel

18. Who comes to meet James when his mother does not show up?
a) A rabbi
b) His step father
c) His father
d) His siblings

Multiple Choice - Chapters 3 and 4, Kosher, Black Power


1. What style of lettering is this chapter written in?
a) Roman numerals
b) Bold
c) Italics
d) Greek letters

2. Why does Ruth think her father married her mother?


a) To move to America
b) For love
c) To have a son
d) To become a rabbi

3. Where did Ruth's family live when they first arrived in America?
a) Los Angeles
b) New York
c) Denver
d) San Francisco

4. Which member of Ruth's family dies while she is in New York?


a) Her brother

b) Her father
c) Her grandfather
d) Her sister

5. What does Ruth says she suffers from because of her grandfather's death?
a) Hay fever
b) Claustrophobia
c) Fear of the dark
d) Fear of death

6. Where do James' siblings say his real mother is?


a) In Germany
b) In a grave
c) In Poland
d) In jail

7. What neighborhood in New York does James live in?


a) Harlem
b) Queens
c) Manhatten
d) Brooklyn

8. Who does James say his older siblings revere?


a) Marin Luther King
b) Tommie Smith
c) Elijah Muhammed
d) Malcolm X

9. Where does James' mother work?


a) The Empire State Building
b) Chase Manhatten Bank
c) Studio 54
d) Warhol's Factory

10. What is Ruth's job at the bank?


a) A typist
b) A clerk
c) A cleaner
d) A manager

11. What is the name of James' stepsister?


a) Doris
b) Lauren
c) Daisy
d) Jacqueline

12. What do the muggers take from Ruth?


a) Her groceries

b) Her life
c) Her blouse
d) Her purse

13. What do the muggers spill on the sidewalk?


a) Their cans of Coke
b) Ruth's loose change
c) Their blood
d) Ruth's groceries

14. Where does James go in this chapter?


a) University
b) Scout camp
c) Junior high
d) Summer camp

15. What kind of hat is the boy's father wearing?


a) A beret
b) A top hat
c) A cowboy hat
d) A bowler hat

16. What material is the boy's father's clothes made from?


a) Leather
b) PCP
c) Foil
d) Cotton

17. What group is the boy's father part of?


a) Nation of Islam
b) Communist party
c) Black Panthers
d) COCP

18. Why does James hit the boy?


a) He is bored
b) For a bet
c) He wants to see him cry
d) He is afraid for his mother

Multiple Choice - Chapters 5 and 6, The Old Testament, The


New Testament
1. What kind of job did Ruth's father have when he first arrived in America?
a) Drug dealer
b) Pimp

c) Store owner
d) Traveling preacher

2. What part of Virginia did Ruth and her family move to?
a) Birmingham
b) Suffolk
c) Charlottesville
d) Durham

3. What did Ruth's father open in Virgina?


a) A grocery store
b) A synagogue
c) A music store
d) A bank

4. Why is Ruth's family disliked?


a) They are Jewish
b) They are too serious
c) They are rude
d) They are poor

5. What religion does Ruth eventually convert to?


a) Christianity
b) Hindism
c) Islam
d) Judaism

6. What does Ruth say God is the color of?


a) Glass
b) Water
c) Chalk
d) Pea soup

7. What does James say he and his siblings are confused by?
a) Who their father is
b) Their nationality
c) Their color
d) The upperclasses

8. What color does the boy in Sunday School say Jesus should be?
a) Black
b) Gray
c) Yellow
d) White

9. What color does one of James' brother's decide he wants to be?


a) Red
b) Yellow

c) Orange
d) Green

10. What does Ruth say God is?


a) A fun guy
b) The almighty
c) A spirit
d) A devil

11. Who does James' brother ask about what color Jesus is?
a) His father
b) A rabbi
c) James
d) The Sunday school teacher

12. What does James say the preacher at church dots his sermons with?
a) Singing
b) Hand claps
c) Amens
d) Laughs

Multiple Choice - Chapters 7 and 8, Sam, Brothers and Sisters


1. Who does Ruth remember riding through town?
a) The black panthers
b) The Ku Klux Klan
c) Orangemen
d) The Nation of Islam

2. What does Ruth's father keep behind the counter in his store?
a) A tomahawk
b) A baseball bat
c) A gun
d) Sweets

3. Who does Ruth's father think is trying to steal from him?


a) School children
b) Orphans
c) Blacks
d) Jews

4. What type of customers does Ruth's father overcharge?


a) Upperclass whites
b) Blacks
c) Jews
d) Politicians

5. What did the blacks come into the store to purchase in the Thirties?
a) Guns
b) Gun powder
c) Paracetemol
d) BC powder

6. What color packets does the BC powder come in?


a) Blue and white
b) Yellow
c) Purple
d) Red and green

7. What kind of houses do the blacks in Suffolk live in?


a) Mud huts
b) Shacks
c) Mansions
d) Apartments

8. What is the name of Ruth's brother?


a) Peter
b) Sam
c) James
d) Davis

9. What kind of animal does Sam have to feed in the mornings?


a) A dog
b) A sheep
c) A cow
d) Chickens

10. What does Sam do after school?


a) Works at the store
b) Cooks dinner
c) Hangs outside the townhall
d) Completes his homework

11. What city does Sam leave for?


a) Chicago
b) Los Angeles
c) San Francisco
d) New York

12. What war does Sam fight in?


a) The Vietnam War
b) World War II
c) World War I
d) The Korean War

Multiple Choice - Chapters 9 and 10, Shul, School


1. What does Ruth's father call the school she attends?
a) A gentile school
b) A special school
c) An abnormal school
d) A Jewish school

2. Which of the following subjects does Ruth not learn at home?


a) Math
b) Knitting
c) Record keeping
d) Sewing

3. What is the name of Ruth's best friend?


a) Frances
b) Daisy
c) Lauren
d) Peter

4. What is Frances' mother good at?


a) Dancing
b) Cooking
c) Singing
d) Sports

5. Why can Ruth not eat Frances' mother's food?


a) It smells bad
b) It is soul food
c) It is cheap
d) It is not kosher

6. How does Frances show her support for Ruth at dinner?


a) She throws away Ruth's food
b) She does not eat
c) She slaps her father
d) She eats Ruth's food

7. Who does Ruth steal money from?


a) Frances
b) Her brother
c) Her mother
d) Her father

8. What does Ruth use the money she steals for?


a) To go to the movies
b) To buy make up

c) To buy good food


d) To travel

9. What kind of water animal does Ruth say Frances' family ate?
a) Turtles
b) Sharks
c) Whales
d) Fish

10. What does Ruth say she was starved of?


a) Food
b) Attention
c) Love
d) Education

11. Where does Ruth take her children shopping?


a) Brooklyn
b) Manhatten's Lower East Side
c) The Bronx
d) Greenwich Village

12. What kind of shops are in Manhattan's Lower East Side?


a) Music shops
b) Gentile shops
c) Jewish shops
d) Muslim shops

Multiple Choice - Chapters 11 and 12, Boys, Daddy


1. What does Ruth have to do in the morning before school?
a) Feed the chickens
b) Cook breakfast
c) Light the fire
d) Open the store

2. What is the name of the boy Ruth meets in this chapter?


a) Peter
b) Davis
c) Frank
d) Edward

3. What happened to black men who dated white women?


a) They were ran out of town
b) They were hanged
c) They were stoned
d) They were imprisoned

4. What does Ruth drop behind the store?


a) Her necklace
b) Her money
c) Her bracelet
d) Her purse

5. Who finds Ruth's bracelet?


a) Her father
b) Her mother
c) Frances
d) Her brother

6. Where does Ruth's mother suggest Ruth go for the summer?


a) Seattle
b) New York
c) Chicago
d) San Francisco

7. What does James call his stepfather?


a) Lithe
b) Sir
c) Boy
d) Daddy

8. What does James say Daddy always has his pockets full with?
a) Sweets
b) Money
c) Presents
d) Soil

9. What day of the week does Hunter always arrive at their house?
a) Thursday
b) Sunday
c) Friday
d) Saturday

10. In what city of Virginia does Hunter's cousin live?


a) Suffolk
b) Richmond
c) Charlottesville
d) Birmingham

11. What do the children eat at Daddy's cousin's house?


a) Pears
b) Watermelons
c) Apples
d) Fried chicken

12. From whose death does James say his mother never recovers?
a) Her grandfather's
b) His father's
c) Her mother's
d) Hunter's

Multiple Choice - Chapters 13 and 14, New York, Chicken Man


1. Who is the first person to find out about Ruth's pregnancy?
a) Frances
b) Her father
c) Her mother
d) Aunt Mary

2. What kind of business does Aunt Mary run?


a) A computer business
b) A loan business
c) A grocery store
d) A factory

3. What does Aunt Mary's factory make leather trimmings for?


a) Chairs
b) Hats
c) Shoes
d) Fur coats

4. Where does Ruth's Aunt Betsy work?


a) A lingerie store
b) A cafe
c) A bank
d) A factory

5. What does Aunt Betsy arrange for Ruth?


a) An abortion
b) A nanny
c) A marriage
d) A job

6. What sits outside of Ruth's apartment after Hunter dies?


a) His body
b) His bike
c) His best suit
d) His car

7. What kind of drugs does James start experimenting with?


a) Heroin
b) Cocaine

c) Marijuana
d) LSD

8. What kind of people do James and friends mug?


a) Politicians
b) Mothers
c) Old ladies
d) School friends

9. What is Jacqueline's nickname?


a) Leaflet
b) Jock
c) Jack
d) Queenie

10. What state does Jacqueline live in?


a) New York
b) Kentucky
c) Colorado
d) Mississippi

11. What is the name of Jack's husband?


a) Big Richard
b) Sour Milk
c) Uppity
d) Little Chicken

12. Where does James find a job in Kentucky?


a) At a factory
b) At a gas station
c) At a music shop
d) At a restaurant

Multiple Choice - Chapters 15 and 16, Graduation, Driving


1. Where does Ruth attend high school?
a) Suffolk
b) Charlottesville
c) New York
d) Kentucky

2. Why does Ruth return to Virginia?


a) To graduate
b) To go to University
c) To marry
d) To find a job

3. Who does Ruth say she missed in this chapter?


a) James
b) Peter
c) Hunter
d) Andrew

4. What kind of church is the Suffolk High School graduation ceremony held in?
a) A Catholic church
b) A Baptist church
c) A Protestant church
d) A Methodist church

5. Who does Ruth meet outside the church?


a) Frances
b) Her mother
c) James
d) Her father

6. Who taught James to drive?


a) Daddy
b) His grandfather
c) Ruth
d) His friends

7. Which of Ruth's friends dies in this chapter?


a) Irene
b) Doris
c) Frances
d) Lauren

8. Why does Ruth not go to Irene's funeral?


a) She is banned from the service
b) She does not like Irene's family
c) She is done with funerals
d) It is not in a Jewish church

9. What does James teach his mother in this chapter?


a) How to sing
b) How to roll a joint
c) How to drive
d) How to play the piano

10. What does Ruth decide she will never do again in this chapter?
a) Drive
b) Play the piano
c) Sing
d) Preach

11. Where did Ruth formerly drive her father's car?


a) Kentucky
b) Texas
c) New York
d) North Carolina

12. Which of the following is Ruth's real name?


a) Ruth McBride Jordan
b) Rachel Deborah Shilsky
c) Jordan Freda McBride
d) Ruth Deborah Shilsky

Multiple Choice - Chapters 17 and 18, Lost in Harlem, Lost in


Delaware
1. Who does Ruth stay with when she goes back to New York?
a) Her Aunt Mary
b) Andrew McBride
c) Her Uncle Theodore
d) Her grandmother

2. What is the name of the new man Aunt Mary hires in this chapter?
a) Andrew McBride
b) Jason Horace
c) Harper Davis
d) Junior Browne

3. What draws Ruth to Harlem?


a) Drugs
b) Food
c) Music
d) Prostitution

4. What do people presume all white girls in Harlem are?


a) Musicians
b) Transvestites
c) Poor
d) Prostitutes

5. What kind of job does Ruth find in this chapter?


a) Preacher
b) Manicurist
c) Organ player
d) Usher

6. What is the name of Ruth's manager?

a) Andy
b) Rocky
c) Hunter
d) Frank

7. What is Rocky's real job?


a) Barber
b) Gigolo
c) Pimp
d) Musician

8. Who is the first person Ruth tells about her new job?
a) Aunt Mary
b) Andrew
c) Her mother
d) Her grandmother

9. What is the name of the theater where Rocky likes to take Ruth?
a) The Apollo
b) The Archa
c) The Lucerna
d) The Lab

10. Who talks Ruth out of seeing Rocky again?


a) Aunt Mary
b) Her grandmother
c) Her father
d) Andrew

11. What does Rocky send Ruth?


a) A pram
b) A voodoo doll
c) Chocolate
d) Flowers

12. Where does Ruth decide to move to in this chapter?


a) Denver
b) Delaware
c) London
d) Birmingham

Multiple Choice - Chapters 19 and 20, Promise, Old Man Shilsky


1. Where does Ruth find a job in this chapter?
a) A restaurant
b) A bank
c) A gym

d) A diner

2. What kind of instrument does Andrew play?


a) Saxophone
b) Violin
c) Clarinet
d) Guitar

3. What state is Andrew originally from?


a) New York
b) South Carolina
c) Colorado
d) North Carolina

4. What kind of career did Andrew want to pursue in New York?


a) Banking
b) Dancing
c) Writing
d) Music

5. Who does Ruth phone in this chapter?


a) Andrew
b) Her mother
c) James
d) Aunt Mary

6. Where does Ruth's father spend his weekends?


a) At his girlfriend's
b) At the beach
c) At the casino
d) In Miami

7. Who needs to dissolve Ruth's parent's marriage?


a) A rabbi
b) A lawyer
c) A priest
d) Their parents

8. Where does Ruth's father go to get divorce papers?


a) Denver
b) Miami
c) New York
d) Nevada

9. What is the name of Ruth's younger sister in this chapter?


a) Freda
b) Dee Dee
c) Lauren

d) Janice

10. What is the name of the newspaper James works at?


a) The Los Angeles Times
b) The Boston Globe
c) The Boston Chronicle
d) The New York Times

11. What is Ernie Santosuosso's job on the newspaper?


a) Film critic
b) Jazz critic
c) Editor
d) Sports reporter

12. What is James' girlfriend's job?


a) Cook
b) Model
c) Pool shark
d) Typist

Multiple Choice - Chapters 21 and 22, A Bird Who Flies, A Jew


Discovered
1. Who dies at the beginning of this chapter?
a) Frances
b) Ruth's grandmother
c) Ruth's mother
d) Ruth's grandfather

2. Who tells Ruth's mother about her own mother's death?


a) Ruth's father
b) Andrew
c) Aunt Mary
d) Ruth

3. Where does Ruth get a job when she returns to New York?
a) A plastic factory
b) A bank
c) A glass factory
d) A cafe

4. What part of New York is Ruth's mother's hospital?


a) Manhattan
b) Brooklyn
c) Queens
d) The Bronx

5. What does Ruth remember her mother waving over her head?
a) A newspaper
b) A flag
c) A chicken
d) A sheep

6. What does Ruth's mother say when she waves the chicken over her head?
a) War
b) You to death, me to life
c) Life has one savior
d) Freedom has to be cooked

7. What did Ruth's mother used to feed the birds?


a) Bread crumbs
b) Chicken meat
c) Worms
d) Fish food

8. What was the the name of the song Ruth's mother sang to the birds?
a) Lovely, lovely come to mummy
b) Birdie, birdie, fly away
c) Blackbirds
d) Free as a Bird

9. What building does James stand in front of in August 1992?


a) An ice cream factory
b) A temple
c) A synagogue
d) A war memorial

10. Whose records did James obtain form the U.S. army?
a) Daddy's
b) His father's
c) His grandfather's
d) Uncle Sam's

11. What is the name of the man whose father took over the Shilski's store?
a) Alan Harper
b) Simon Cornfield
c) Jack Goldburg
d) Aubrey Rubenstain

12. Where does James stay the night in this chapter?


a) In the park
b) A motel
c) At a bar
d) Aubrey's house

Multiple Choice - Chapters 23 and 24, Dennis, New Brown


1. What do Ruth and Andrew decide to do in this chapter?
a) Move to Delaware
b) Have a child
c) Get married
d) Build a house

2. What is the name of the reverend who marries Andrew and Ruth?
a) Reverend White
b) Reverend Lucas
c) Reverend Formby
d) Reverend Brown

3. What do Ruth and Andrew call their first child?


a) Dennis
b) Koby
c) James
d) Jason

4. Where do Ruth and Andrew apply for a new house?


a) Queens
b) Brooklyn
c) Harlem
d) The Bronx

5. What does Andrew call his church?


a) Lightness
b) The Underground
c) Metropolitan
d) New Brown Memorial

6. Who was James named after?


a) James Dean
b) James Brown
c) Jimmy White
d) Andrew's Uncle Jim

7. In what state is Andrew buried?


a) Virginia
b) North Carolina
c) Kentucky
d) Mississippi

8. Which of Ruth's siblings lives in Brooklyn?


a) Sam
b) Jack

c) Janice
d) Dee Dee

9. Who advises Ruth to marry Hunter Jordan?


a) Andrew's parents
b) James
c) Dennis
d) Her father

10. What celebrates its 40th anniversary in 1994?


a) The New Brown Memorial Baptist Church
b) Ruth's father's store
c) Harlem Jazz Club
d) The Jewish religion

11. What state does Ruth live in at the time of the church's 40th anniversary?
a) New Jersey
b) Virginia
c) New York
d) Colorado

12. What does the preacher of the New Brown Memorial call Ruth?
a) One of God's orginal angels
b) A Godly spirit
c) Nutty
d) The original founder of the church

Multiple Choice - Chapter 25, Finding Ruthie


1. What does James force his mother to do in this chapter?
a) Play the piano
b) Buy a car
c) Write her will
d) Go for a run

2. Where is Hunter buried?


a) Kentucky
b) Virginia
c) Colorado
d) Mississippi

3. Why does Ruth not want to be buried in New York?


a) She was not born there
b) It is too noisy
c) It is too crowded
d) It is polluted

4. What type of cancer is Ruth diagnosed with in this chapter?


a) Bowel cancer
b) Skin cancer
c) Nostril cancer
d) Lung cancer

5. What does the doctor remove from Ruth's face?


a) A lump
b) A portion of skin
c) A spot
d) A mole

6. Where does Ruth move to after Delaware?


a) Kentucky
b) Philadephia
c) Virginia
d) New Jersey

7. What does Ruth receive a degree in?


a) Banking
b) Social work
c) Copywriting
d) Mordern art

8. What university does Ruth attend?


a) New York University
b) Princeton
c) Temple University
d) Chicago University

9. Where does Ruth travel to at the end of this chapter?


a) Suffolk
b) Harlem
c) Poland
d) Louisville

10. Which of the following of Ruth's children do not go to Suffolk with her?
a) Billy
b) Judy
c) Dennis
d) James

11. What does Ruth say about Suffolk?


a) It is full of bad memories
b) It is ruined
c) Nothing has changed
d) It is still beautiful

12. Who does James take his mother to see in this chapter?
a) Frances
b) Aubrey
c) Sam
d) Her father

Multiple Choice - Epilogue


1. Whose educations and careers does James list in this chapter?
a) James' children
b) Ruth's children
c) James' school friends
d) Ruth's Polish famiily

2. What is the name of the 21-year-old woman?


a) Jackie Vyborne
b) Janice Rock
c) Fred Formby
d) Halina Wind

3. What religion is Halina Wind?


a) Jewish
b) Hindu
c) Muslim
d) Christian

4. Who was Halina hiding from in 1942?


a) Her parents
b) The British
c) The Nazis
d) The communists

5. Where country is Halina from?


a) Germany
b) Poland
c) Latvia
d) Britain

6. What is the name of Halina's son?


a) John
b) Joe
c) Frank
d) David

7. Where does David work?


a) Chase Bank
b) The Wilmington News Journal

c) The stock exchange


d) The New York Post

8. Who did David become friends with while working on the Wilmington News Journal?
a) Ruth McBride
b) Dennis McBride
c) Andrew McBride
d) James McBride

9. What is James' role at David's wedding?


a) Best man
b) Usher
c) Reverend
d) Page boy

10. What does James wear for the wedding?


a) Shorts and a t-shirt
b) An Italian designer suit
c) Jeans and a jumper
d) A black tuxedo

11. Who does James go out for a walk with at the end of the book?
a) Ruth
b) David's wife
c) Halina
d) David

12. What kind of weather is it on the day on the wedding?


a) Sun
b) Rain
c) Cloudy
d) Snow

Multiple Choice Answer Key

Chapters 1 and 2,

Chapters 3 and 4,

Chapters 5 and 6,

Dead, The Bicycle

Kosher, Black Power The Old Testament,

1. b.

1. c.

2. d.

2. a.

3. b.

3. b.

1. d.

4. c.

4. c.

2. b.

5. c.

5. b.

3. a.

6. d.

6. d.

4. a.

The New Testament

7. a.

7. b.

5. a.

8. b.

8. d.

6. b.

9. b.

9. b.

7. c.

10. d.

10. a.

8. b.

11. c.

11. d.

9. d.

12. b.

12. d.

10. c.

13. a.

13. d.

11. d.

14. d.

14. d.

12. c.

15. a.

15. a.

16. c.

16. a.

17. a.

17. c.

18. d.

18. d.

Chapters 7 and 8,

Chapters 9 and 10,

Chapters 11 and 12,

Sam, Brothers and

Shul, School

Boys, Daddy

Sisters

1. a.

1. d.

2. a.

2. a.

1. b.

3. a.

3. b.

2. c.

4. b.

4. c.

3. c.

5. d.

5. b.

4. b.

6. b.

6. b.

5. d.

7. d.

7. d.

6. a.

8. a.

8. b.

7. b.

9. a.

9. c.

8. b.

10. c.

10. b.

9. c.

11. b.

11. b.

10. a.

12. c.

12. d.

11. a.
12. b.

Chapters 13 and 14, Chapters 15 and 16, Chapters 17 and 18,


New York, Chicken

Graduation, Driving Lost in Harlem, Lost

Man

1. c.

in Delaware

2. a.
1. c.

3. b.

1. d.

2. d.

4. c.

2. a.

3. d.

5. a.

3. c.

4. a.

6. a.

4. d.

5. a.

7. a.

5. b.

6. d.

8. c.

6. b.

7. c.

9. c.

7. c.

8. c.

10. a.

8. d.

9. c.

11. d.

9. a.

10. b.

12. b.

10. d.

11. a.

11. d.

12. b.

12. b.

Chapters 19 and 20, Chapters 21 and 22, Chapters 23 and 24,


Promise, Old Man

A Bird Who Flies, A Dennis, New Brown

Shilsky

Jew Discovered

1. d.

1. b.

3. a.

2. b.

2. d.

4. b.

3. d.

3. c.

5. d.

4. d.

4. d.

6. d.

5. b.

5. c.

7. b.

6. a.

6. b.

8. d.

7. a.

7. a.

9. a.

8. d.

8. b.

10. a.

9. b.

9. c.

11. a.

10. b.

10. d.

12. d.

11. b.

11. d.

12. b.

12. b.

1. c.
2. d.

Chapter 25, Finding Epilogue


Ruthie

1. b.
2. d.

1. c.

3. a.

2. b.

4. c.

3. c.

5. b.

4. b.

6. d.

5. d.

7. b.

6. b.

8. d.

7. b.

9. b.

8. c.

10. d.

9. a.

11. a.

10. c.

12. b.

11. c.
12. a.

Short Answer Questions


Directions: Answer each question with the appropriate short response.

Short Answer Questions - Chapters 1 and 2, Dead, The Bicycle


1. What is the name of the main character?

2. What country was James' mother born in?

3. Where was James' mother raised?

4. Where did James' mother spend most of her adult life?

5. What did James' father die of?

6. Who does James interview in his book?

7. What was Ruth's maiden name?

8. What religion was James' father?

9. What does James' mother embarrass James doing?

10. What was the name of James' stepfather?

11. What did Hunter die of?

12. Who does James say he once robbed as a teenager?

13. How did James view his mother as a young boy?

14. What language can Ruth speak as well as English?

15. What does Ruth drink tea from?

16. When does James' stepfather visit them?

17. Where was James' mother supposed to meet James after kindergarten?

18. Who comes to meet James when his mother does not show up?

Short Answer Questions - Chapters 3 and 4, Kosher, Black


Power

1. What style of lettering is this chapter written in?

2. Why does Ruth think her father married her mother?

3. Where did Ruth's family live when they first arrived in America?

4. Which member of Ruth's family dies while she is in New York?

5. What does Ruth says she suffers from because of her grandfather's death?

6. Where do James' siblings say his real mother is?

7. What neighborhood in New York does James live in?

8. Who does James say his older siblings revere?

9. Where does James' mother work?

10. What is Ruth's job at the bank?

11. What is the name of James' stepsister?

12. What do the muggers take from Ruth?

13. What do the muggers spill on the sidewalk?

14. Where does James go in this chapter?

15. What kind of hat is the boy's father wearing?

16. What material is the boy's father's clothes made from?

17. What group is the boy's father part of?

18. Why does James hit the boy?

Short Answer Questions - Chapters 5 and 6, The Old Testament,


The New Testament
1. What kind of job did Ruth's father have when he first arrived in America?

2. What part of Virginia did Ruth and her family move to?

3. What did Ruth's father open in Virgina?

4. Why is Ruth's family disliked?

5. What religion does Ruth eventually convert to?

6. What does Ruth say God is the color of?

7. What does James say he and his siblings are confused by?

8. What color does the boy in Sunday School say Jesus should be?

9. What color does one of James' brother's decide he wants to be?

10. What does Ruth say God is?

11. Who does James' brother ask about what color Jesus is?

12. What does James say the preacher at church dots his sermons with?

Short Answer Questions - Chapters 7 and 8, Sam, Brothers and


Sisters

1. Who does Ruth remember riding through town?

2. What does Ruth's father keep behind the counter in his store?

3. Who does Ruth's father think is trying to steal from him?

4. What type of customers does Ruth's father overcharge?

5. What did the blacks come into the store to purchase in the Thirties?

6. What color packets does the BC powder come in?

7. What kind of houses do the blacks in Suffolk live in?

8. What is the name of Ruth's brother?

9. What kind of animal does Sam have to feed in the mornings?

10. What does Sam do after school?

11. What city does Sam leave for?

12. What war does Sam fight in?

Short Answer Questions - Chapters 9 and 10, Shul, School


1. What does Ruth's father call the school she attends?

2. Which of the following subjects does Ruth not learn at home?

3. What is the name of Ruth's best friend?

4. What is Frances' mother good at?

5. Why can Ruth not eat Frances' mother's food?

6. How does Frances show her support for Ruth at dinner?

7. Who does Ruth steal money from?

8. What does Ruth use the money she steals for?

9. What kind of water animal does Ruth say Frances' family ate?

10. What does Ruth say she was starved of?

11. Where does Ruth take her children shopping?

12. What kind of shops are in Manhattan's Lower East Side?

Short Answer Questions - Chapters 11 and 12, Boys, Daddy


1. What does Ruth have to do in the morning before school?

2. What is the name of the boy Ruth meets in this chapter?

3. What happened to black men who dated white women?

4. What does Ruth drop behind the store?

5. Who finds Ruth's bracelet?

6. Where does Ruth's mother suggest Ruth go for the summer?

7. What does James call his stepfather?

8. What does James say Daddy always has his pockets full with?

9. What day of the week does Hunter always arrive at their house?

10. In what city of Virginia does Hunter's cousin live?

11. What do the children eat at Daddy's cousin's house?

12. From whose death does James say his mother never recovers?

Short Answer Questions - Chapters 13 and 14, New York,


Chicken Man
1. Who is the first person to find out about Ruth's pregnancy?

2. What kind of business does Aunt Mary run?

3. What does Aunt Mary's factory make leather trimmings for?

4. Where does Ruth's Aunt Betsy work?

5. What does Aunt Betsy arrange for Ruth?

6. What sits outside of Ruth's apartment after Hunter dies?

7. What kind of drugs does James start experimenting with?

8. What kind of people do James and friends mug?

9. What is Jacqueline's nickname?

10. What state does Jacqueline live in?

11. What is the name of Jack's husband?

12. Where does James find a job in Kentucky?

Short Answer Questions - Chapters 15 and 16, Graduation,


Driving
1. Where does Ruth attend high school?

2. Why does Ruth return to Virginia?

3. Who does Ruth say she missed in this chapter?

4. What kind of church is the Suffolk High School graduation ceremony held in?

5. Who does Ruth meet outside the church?

6. Who taught James to drive?

7. Which of Ruth's friends dies in this chapter?

8. Why does Ruth not go to Irene's funeral?

9. What does James teach his mother in this chapter?

10. What does Ruth decide she will never do again in this chapter?

11. Where did Ruth formerly drive her father's car?

12. Which of the following is Ruth's real name?

Short Answer Questions - Chapters 17 and 18, Lost in Harlem,


Lost in Delaware
1. Who does Ruth stay with when she goes back to New York?

2. What is the name of the new man Aunt Mary hires in this chapter?

3. What draws Ruth to Harlem?

4. What do people presume all white girls in Harlem are?

5. What kind of job does Ruth find in this chapter?

6. What is the name of Ruth's manager?

7. What is Rocky's real job?

8. Who is the first person Ruth tells about her new job?

9. What is the name of the theater where Rocky likes to take Ruth?

10. Who talks Ruth out of seeing Rocky again?

11. What does Rocky send Ruth?

12. Where does Ruth decide to move to in this chapter?

Short Answer Questions - Chapters 19 and 20, Promise, Old


Man Shilsky
1. Where does Ruth find a job in this chapter?

2. What kind of instrument does Andrew play?

3. What state is Andrew originally from?

4. What kind of career did Andrew want to pursue in New York?

5. Who does Ruth phone in this chapter?

6. Where does Ruth's father spend his weekends?

7. Who needs to dissolve Ruth's parent's marriage?

8. Where does Ruth's father go to get divorce papers?

9. What is the name of Ruth's younger sister in this chapter?

10. What is the name of the newspaper James works at?

11. What is Ernie Santosuosso's job on the newspaper?

12. What is James' girlfriend's job?

Short Answer Questions - Chapters 21 and 22, A Bird Who


Flies, A Jew Discovered
1. Who dies at the beginning of this chapter?

2. Who tells Ruth's mother about her own mother's death?

3. Where does Ruth get a job when she returns to New York?

4. What part of New York is Ruth's mother's hospital?

5. What does Ruth remember her mother waving over her head?

6. What does Ruth's mother say when she waves the chicken over her head?

7. What did Ruth's mother used to feed the birds?

8. What was the the name of the song Ruth's mother sang to the birds?

9. What building does James stand in front of in August 1992?

10. Whose records did James obtain form the U.S. army?

11. What is the name of the man whose father took over the Shilski's store?

12. Where does James stay the night in this chapter?

Short Answer Questions - Chapters 23 and 24, Dennis, New


Brown
1. What do Ruth and Andrew decide to do in this chapter?

2. What is the name of the reverend who marries Andrew and Ruth?

3. What do Ruth and Andrew call their first child?

4. Where do Ruth and Andrew apply for a new house?

5. What does Andrew call his church?

6. Who was James named after?

7. In what state is Andrew buried?

8. Which of Ruth's siblings lives in Brooklyn?

9. Who advises Ruth to marry Hunter Jordan?

10. What celebrates its 40th anniversary in 1994?

11. What state does Ruth live in at the time of the church's 40th anniversary?

12. What does the preacher of the New Brown Memorial call Ruth?

Short Answer Questions - Chapter 25, Finding Ruthie


1. What does James force his mother to do in this chapter?

2. Where is Hunter buried?

3. Why does Ruth not want to be buried in New York?

4. What type of cancer is Ruth diagnosed with in this chapter?

5. What does the doctor remove from Ruth's face?

6. Where does Ruth move to after Delaware?

7. What does Ruth receive a degree in?

8. What university does Ruth attend?

9. Where does Ruth travel to at the end of this chapter?

10. Which of the following of Ruth's children do not go to Suffolk with her?

11. What does Ruth say about Suffolk?

12. Who does James take his mother to see in this chapter?

Short Answer Questions - Epilogue


1. Whose educations and careers does James list in this chapter?

2. What is the name of the 21-year-old woman?

3. What religion is Halina Wind?

4. Who was Halina hiding from in 1942?

5. Where country is Halina from?

6. What is the name of Halina's son?

7. Where does David work?

8. Who did David become friends with while working on the Wilmington News Journal?

9. What is James' role at David's wedding?

10. What does James wear for the wedding?

11. Who does James go out for a walk with at the end of the book?

12. What kind of weather is it on the day on the wedding?

Short Answer Key


Chapters 1 and 2, Dead, The Bicycle
1. What is the name of the main character?
James McBride
2. What country was James' mother born in?
Poland
3. Where was James' mother raised?
Virginia
4. Where did James' mother spend most of her adult life?
New York
5. What did James' father die of?
Lung cancer
6. Who does James interview in his book?
His mother
7. What was Ruth's maiden name?
Shilsky
8. What religion was James' father?
Christian
9. What does James' mother embarrass James doing?
Riding a bike
10. What was the name of James' stepfather?
Hunter Jordan
11. What did Hunter die of?
Cancer

12. Who does James say he once robbed as a teenager?


A drug dealer
13. How did James view his mother as a young boy?
Strange
14. What language can Ruth speak as well as English?
Yiddish
15. What does Ruth drink tea from?
A glass
16. When does James' stepfather visit them?
On the weekends
17. Where was James' mother supposed to meet James after kindergarten?
The bus stop
18. Who comes to meet James when his mother does not show up?
His siblings

Chapters 3 and 4, Kosher, Black Power


1. What style of lettering is this chapter written in?
Italics
2. Why does Ruth think her father married her mother?
To move to America
3. Where did Ruth's family live when they first arrived in America?
New York
4. Which member of Ruth's family dies while she is in New York?
Her grandfather
5. What does Ruth says she suffers from because of her grandfather's death?
Claustrophobia
6. Where do James' siblings say his real mother is?
In jail
7. What neighborhood in New York does James live in?

Queens
8. Who does James say his older siblings revere?
Malcolm X
9. Where does James' mother work?
Chase Manhatten Bank
10. What is Ruth's job at the bank?
A typist
11. What is the name of James' stepsister?
Jacqueline
12. What do the muggers take from Ruth?
Her purse
13. What do the muggers spill on the sidewalk?
Ruth's groceries
14. Where does James go in this chapter?
Summer camp
15. What kind of hat is the boy's father wearing?
A beret
16. What material is the boy's father's clothes made from?
Leather
17. What group is the boy's father part of?
Black Panthers
18. Why does James hit the boy?
He is afraid for his mother

Chapters 5 and 6, The Old Testament, The New Testament


1. What kind of job did Ruth's father have when he first arrived in America?
Traveling preacher
2. What part of Virginia did Ruth and her family move to?
Suffolk

3. What did Ruth's father open in Virgina?


A grocery store
4. Why is Ruth's family disliked?
They are Jewish
5. What religion does Ruth eventually convert to?
Christianity
6. What does Ruth say God is the color of?
Water
7. What does James say he and his siblings are confused by?
Their color
8. What color does the boy in Sunday School say Jesus should be?
Gray
9. What color does one of James' brother's decide he wants to be?
Green
10. What does Ruth say God is?
A spirit
11. Who does James' brother ask about what color Jesus is?
The Sunday school teacher
12. What does James say the preacher at church dots his sermons with?
Amens

Chapters 7 and 8, Sam, Brothers and Sisters


1. Who does Ruth remember riding through town?
The Ku Klux Klan
2. What does Ruth's father keep behind the counter in his store?
A gun
3. Who does Ruth's father think is trying to steal from him?
Blacks
4. What type of customers does Ruth's father overcharge?

Blacks
5. What did the blacks come into the store to purchase in the Thirties?
BC powder
6. What color packets does the BC powder come in?
Blue and white
7. What kind of houses do the blacks in Suffolk live in?
Shacks
8. What is the name of Ruth's brother?
Sam
9. What kind of animal does Sam have to feed in the mornings?
A cow
10. What does Sam do after school?
Works at the store
11. What city does Sam leave for?
Chicago
12. What war does Sam fight in?
World War II

Chapters 9 and 10, Shul, School


1. What does Ruth's father call the school she attends?
A gentile school
2. Which of the following subjects does Ruth not learn at home?
Math
3. What is the name of Ruth's best friend?
Frances
4. What is Frances' mother good at?
Cooking
5. Why can Ruth not eat Frances' mother's food?
It is not kosher

6. How does Frances show her support for Ruth at dinner?


She does not eat
7. Who does Ruth steal money from?
Her father
8. What does Ruth use the money she steals for?
To go to the movies
9. What kind of water animal does Ruth say Frances' family ate?
Turtles
10. What does Ruth say she was starved of?
Love
11. Where does Ruth take her children shopping?
Manhatten's Lower East Side
12. What kind of shops are in Manhattan's Lower East Side?
Jewish shops

Chapters 11 and 12, Boys, Daddy


1. What does Ruth have to do in the morning before school?
Open the store
2. What is the name of the boy Ruth meets in this chapter?
Peter
3. What happened to black men who dated white women?
They were hanged
4. What does Ruth drop behind the store?
Her bracelet
5. Who finds Ruth's bracelet?
Her mother
6. Where does Ruth's mother suggest Ruth go for the summer?
New York
7. What does James call his stepfather?

Daddy
8. What does James say Daddy always has his pockets full with?
Money
9. What day of the week does Hunter always arrive at their house?
Friday
10. In what city of Virginia does Hunter's cousin live?
Richmond
11. What do the children eat at Daddy's cousin's house?
Watermelons
12. From whose death does James say his mother never recovers?
Hunter's

Chapters 13 and 14, New York, Chicken Man


1. Who is the first person to find out about Ruth's pregnancy?
Her mother
2. What kind of business does Aunt Mary run?
A factory
3. What does Aunt Mary's factory make leather trimmings for?
Fur coats
4. Where does Ruth's Aunt Betsy work?
A lingerie store
5. What does Aunt Betsy arrange for Ruth?
An abortion
6. What sits outside of Ruth's apartment after Hunter dies?
His car
7. What kind of drugs does James start experimenting with?
Marijuana
8. What kind of people do James and friends mug?
Old ladies

9. What is Jacqueline's nickname?


Jack
10. What state does Jacqueline live in?
Kentucky
11. What is the name of Jack's husband?
Big Richard
12. Where does James find a job in Kentucky?
At a gas station

Chapters 15 and 16, Graduation, Driving


1. Where does Ruth attend high school?
New York
2. Why does Ruth return to Virginia?
To graduate
3. Who does Ruth say she missed in this chapter?
Peter
4. What kind of church is the Suffolk High School graduation ceremony held in?
A Protestant church
5. Who does Ruth meet outside the church?
Frances
6. Who taught James to drive?
Daddy
7. Which of Ruth's friends dies in this chapter?
Irene
8. Why does Ruth not go to Irene's funeral?
She is done with funerals
9. What does James teach his mother in this chapter?
How to drive
10. What does Ruth decide she will never do again in this chapter?

Drive
11. Where did Ruth formerly drive her father's car?
North Carolina
12. Which of the following is Ruth's real name?
Rachel Deborah Shilsky

Chapters 17 and 18, Lost in Harlem, Lost in Delaware


1. Who does Ruth stay with when she goes back to New York?
Her grandmother
2. What is the name of the new man Aunt Mary hires in this chapter?
Andrew McBride
3. What draws Ruth to Harlem?
Music
4. What do people presume all white girls in Harlem are?
Prostitutes
5. What kind of job does Ruth find in this chapter?
Manicurist
6. What is the name of Ruth's manager?
Rocky
7. What is Rocky's real job?
Pimp
8. Who is the first person Ruth tells about her new job?
Her grandmother
9. What is the name of the theater where Rocky likes to take Ruth?
The Apollo
10. Who talks Ruth out of seeing Rocky again?
Andrew
11. What does Rocky send Ruth?
Flowers

12. Where does Ruth decide to move to in this chapter?


Delaware

Chapters 19 and 20, Promise, Old Man Shilsky


1. Where does Ruth find a job in this chapter?
A diner
2. What kind of instrument does Andrew play?
Violin
3. What state is Andrew originally from?
North Carolina
4. What kind of career did Andrew want to pursue in New York?
Music
5. Who does Ruth phone in this chapter?
Her mother
6. Where does Ruth's father spend his weekends?
At his girlfriend's
7. Who needs to dissolve Ruth's parent's marriage?
A rabbi
8. Where does Ruth's father go to get divorce papers?
Nevada
9. What is the name of Ruth's younger sister in this chapter?
Dee Dee
10. What is the name of the newspaper James works at?
The Boston Globe
11. What is Ernie Santosuosso's job on the newspaper?
Jazz critic
12. What is James' girlfriend's job?
Model

Chapters 21 and 22, A Bird Who Flies, A Jew Discovered


1. Who dies at the beginning of this chapter?
Ruth's grandmother
2. Who tells Ruth's mother about her own mother's death?
Ruth
3. Where does Ruth get a job when she returns to New York?
A glass factory
4. What part of New York is Ruth's mother's hospital?
The Bronx
5. What does Ruth remember her mother waving over her head?
A chicken
6. What does Ruth's mother say when she waves the chicken over her head?
You to death, me to life
7. What did Ruth's mother used to feed the birds?
Bread crumbs
8. What was the the name of the song Ruth's mother sang to the birds?
Birdie, birdie, fly away
9. What building does James stand in front of in August 1992?
A synagogue
10. Whose records did James obtain form the U.S. army?
Uncle Sam's
11. What is the name of the man whose father took over the Shilski's store?
Aubrey Rubenstain
12. Where does James stay the night in this chapter?
A motel

Chapters 23 and 24, Dennis, New Brown


1. What do Ruth and Andrew decide to do in this chapter?

Get married
2. What is the name of the reverend who marries Andrew and Ruth?
Reverend Brown
3. What do Ruth and Andrew call their first child?
Dennis
4. Where do Ruth and Andrew apply for a new house?
Brooklyn
5. What does Andrew call his church?
New Brown Memorial
6. Who was James named after?
Andrew's Uncle Jim
7. In what state is Andrew buried?
North Carolina
8. Which of Ruth's siblings lives in Brooklyn?
Dee Dee
9. Who advises Ruth to marry Hunter Jordan?
Andrew's parents
10. What celebrates its 40th anniversary in 1994?
The New Brown Memorial Baptist Church
11. What state does Ruth live in at the time of the church's 40th anniversary?
New Jersey
12. What does the preacher of the New Brown Memorial call Ruth?
The original founder of the church

Chapter 25, Finding Ruthie


1. What does James force his mother to do in this chapter?
Write her will
2. Where is Hunter buried?
Virginia

3. Why does Ruth not want to be buried in New York?


It is too crowded
4. What type of cancer is Ruth diagnosed with in this chapter?
Skin cancer
5. What does the doctor remove from Ruth's face?
A mole
6. Where does Ruth move to after Delaware?
Philadephia
7. What does Ruth receive a degree in?
Social work
8. What university does Ruth attend?
Temple University
9. Where does Ruth travel to at the end of this chapter?
Suffolk
10. Which of the following of Ruth's children do not go to Suffolk with her?
Dennis
11. What does Ruth say about Suffolk?
Nothing has changed
12. Who does James take his mother to see in this chapter?
Frances

Epilogue
1. Whose educations and careers does James list in this chapter?
Ruth's children
2. What is the name of the 21-year-old woman?
Halina Wind
3. What religion is Halina Wind?
Jewish
4. Who was Halina hiding from in 1942?

The Nazis
5. Where country is Halina from?
Poland
6. What is the name of Halina's son?
David
7. Where does David work?
The Wilmington News Journal
8. Who did David become friends with while working on the Wilmington News Journal?
James McBride
9. What is James' role at David's wedding?
Usher
10. What does James wear for the wedding?
A black tuxedo
11. Who does James go out for a walk with at the end of the book?
Ruth
12. What kind of weather is it on the day on the wedding?
Rain

Short Essay Questions


The 60 short essay questions listed in this section require a one to two sentence answer. They ask students to demonstrate a deeper
understanding of the text. Students must describe what they've read, rather than just recall it.

Short Essay Question - Chapters 1 and 2, Dead, The Bicycle


1. Describe Jame McBride's family life.

2. Describe Ruth's parents.

3. How do things begin to go downhill for James when Hunter Jordan dies?

4. Why did James think his mother was strange?

5. What happens to James when his mother forgets to pick him up from kindergarten?

6. Why is Chapter 2 written in italics?

Short Essay Question - Chapters 3 and 4, Kosher, Black Power


7. What does Ruth say about her parents' marriage in Chapter 3?

8. How did Ruth and her family live in America when they first arrived?

9. How does the 1960s black power affect James in Chapter 3?

10. What incident confirms to James that the color of his mother's skin puts her in danger?

11. Why does James hit the boy he meets on the bus?

12. Describe the cool father at the end of Chapter 4.

Short Essay Question - Chapters 5 and 6, The Old Testament,


The New Testament
13. Describe Ruth's father's work.

14. How does Ruth's life take a turn for the worse when the family moves to Virginia?

15. In what way was church always a joyous affair for both James and his mother?

16. How does Ruth respond when James asks what color God is?

Short Essay Question - Chapters 7 and 8, Sam, Brothers and


Sisters
17. What is the state of black people's lives in the 1930s?

18. Describe Sam's life.

19. Describe the household James was brought up in.

20. Describe James' brother, Dennis.

Short Essay Question - Chapters 9 and 10, Shul, School


21. Describe Ruth's school years.

22. How does Ruth's friend, Frances, support her?

23. Why is music important to James?

24. Describe what happens when Ruth asks James to take the milk back to the shop.

Short Essay Question - Chapters 11 and 12, Boys, Daddy


25. How does Sam's leaving home affect Ruth?

26. How does Peter change Ruth's life?

27. What are the problems in dating Peter?

28. Describe the character of Daddy.

Short Essay Question - Chapters 13 and 14, New York, Chicken


Man
29. How does Ruth's family react to her pregnancy?

30. How does Betsy react to Ruth's pregnancy?

31. How does Ruth react to Hunter Jordan's death?

32. How does James react to Hunter's death?

Short Essay Question - Chapters 15 and 16, Graduation, Driving


33. How does Ruth cope with her abortion?

34. How does Ruth react to Irene's death?

35. Describe the time James tried to teach his mother how to drive.

36. What does James later learn about his mother's driving skills?

Short Essay Question - Chapters 17 and 18, Lost in Harlem,


Lost in Delaware
37. How does Rocky try to take advantage of Ruth?

38. Why is James anxious to move to Delaware?

39. How is Delaware different from New York?

40. In what way does James' life take a turn for the better in Delaware?

Short Essay Question - Chapters 19 and 20, Promise, Old Man


Shilsky
41. Describe the character of Andrew.

42. Why does Ruth go back to Virginia in Chapter 19?

43. How have Ruth's parents lives changed?

44. Why do Ruth's parents refuse to get a divorce?

Short Essay Question - Chapters 21 and 22, A Bird Who Flies, A


Jew Discovered
45. How does Ruth's relationship with Andrew affect her family life?

46. How does Andrew help Ruth get over her mother's death?

47. Describe the blood sacrifice of a chicken.

48. What does Aubrey Rubenstein tell James in Chapter 22?

Short Essay Question - Chapters 23 and 24, Dennis, New Brown


49. Describe Andrew and Ruth's relationship.

50. What problems do Ruth and Andrew have getting married?

51. In what way do Ruth and Andrew become more involved in religion in Chapter 23?

52. How does James feel about his father?

Short Essay Question - Chapter 25, Finding Ruthie


53. Why does Ruth struggle to find a place she wants to be buried?

54. What problems does James say he had as a child of mixed race?

55. How is Ruth's life getting better at the age of sixty five?

56. In what way does James think his mother is a success?

Short Essay Question - Epilogue


57. Describe Halina's time in an underground prison.

58. Describe the wedding James and Ruth attend in this chapter.

59. Who is David Wind?

60. Summarize the book.

Short Essay Answer Key


1. Describe Jame McBride's family life.
The eighth of twelve children, James McBride grows up in a chaotic but loving home. His mother is a Polish Jew, raised mostly in Virginia.
She marries a black man and lives the majority of her adult life in New York City where people are a little more tolerant of her interracial
marriage and children.
2. Describe Ruth's parents.
Ruth's father, Fishel Shilsky, was an Orthodox rabbi whom she describes as a fox and hard as a rock. Her mother, Hudis, was gentle and
kind. Her left side was paralyzed from polio and she was blind in one eye.
3. How do things begin to go downhill for James when Hunter Jordan dies?
When Hunter Jordan dies, the family struggles to move on. James fails every class in school, starts to shoplift and, on one occasion, robs
a petty drug dealer.
4. Why did James think his mother was strange?
As a young child, James thinks his mother is strange. She doesn't look or behave like their neighbors. She can speak Yiddish and drinks
tea out of a glass. She has twelve children, many more than any other mother on the block. Their stepfather doesn't live with them,
coming to the house only on weekends.
5. What happens to James when his mother forgets to pick him up from kindergarten?
James describes an afternoon in kindergarten when his mother forgets to pick him up. He panics and tries to remember where he lives
but can't. The other parents feel sorry for him, but his mother has specifically instructed him to never tell anyone else his business. Finally,
he sees a group of ragged children walking towards him. At first he is afraid, but then he recognizes them as his siblings.
6. Why is Chapter 2 written in italics?
The italics denote Ruth's voice. It helps the reader to feel as though he or she were sitting in on the interview.
7. What does Ruth say about her parents' marriage in Chapter 3?
Ruth says that her parents' marriage was arranged and that her mother had the class and money. In other words her father married her
mother so he could move to America. Once he got there, he was done with her.

8. How did Ruth and her family live in America when they first arrived?
When Ruth's family first arrives in the United States, they live with her grandparents in Manhattan. They are strictly Orthodox and do
everything the kosher way.
9. How does the 1960s black power affect James in Chapter 3?
In 1966, when James is nine, black power becomes a prominent part of New York life. His older siblings revere Malcolm X who had
recently been killed. James is afraid that the people involved with the black power rallies will kill his mother, but she seems unconcerned
about it.
10. What incident confirms to James that the color of his mother's skin puts her in danger?
One day, James and his mother are walking home when two black men approach, taking James' mother's purse and throwing her grocery
bag and its contents all over the sidewalk. The incident confirms James' fears that his mother is always in danger.
11. Why does James hit the boy he meets on the bus?
James watches a father and son do a magnificent five-minute handshake before the boy boards James' bus. One of the kids on the bus
asks the boy where he learned the handshake. The boy says he learned it from his father who is a Black Panther. Thinking the boy's
father will kill his mother, James hits the boy in the jaw.
12. Describe the cool father at the end of Chapter 4.
While he's waiting on the bus, James sees what he thinks looks like a cool father. He is dressed in leather and wears jewelry and a black
beret.
13. Describe Ruth's father's work.
Ruth's father was a traveling preacher. He worked under contracts with Jewish congregations. After a year, the synagogue wouldn't need
him anymore and they would have to move on.
14. How does Ruth's life take a turn for the worse when the family moves to Virginia?
When Ruth is a teenager, her family moves to Suffolk, Virginia, where her father opens a grocery store. They are generally disliked
because they are Jewish. Ruth's father sexually abuses her, and she is always afraid of him.
15. In what way was church always a joyous affair for both James and his mother?
Ruth converted to Christianity as a young adult, and, as an adult, she loves and looks forward to the Sunday sermon. James describes
church as women "getting happy" and the preacher dotting his sermon with AMENS.
16. How does Ruth respond when James asks what color God is?
Ruth explains that God isn't any color, but He is a spirit. She says, if anything, God is the color of water and water doesn't have a color.
17. What is the state of black people's lives in the 1930s?
In the 1930s people are getting sick and dying and Ill black people come into Ruth's father's store to buy BC Powder. The black people in
Suffolk suffer more than most because they live in shacks with no running water, no foundations and no bathrooms.
18. Describe Sam's life.
Even as a boy, Ruth's brother, Sam, has to do the work of a man. He wakes up early, stocks the store shelves, feeds the cow, and cuts
the ice before going to school. After school he goes back to work. Sam has terrible grades and low self-esteem. After a couple of years he

leaves home and never returns. Later, Ruth hears that he went to Chicago before joining the army during World War II where he died in
combat.
19. Describe the household James was brought up in.
James describes his mother's household as orchestrated chaos. There is never quite enough food, so the kids fight over it and sometimes
hide it from each other. All the boys sleep in one room and all the girls in another.
20. Describe James' brother, Dennis.
Ruth holds Dennis up as the role model for all her children. Dennis is in medical school and one of the most active Civil Rights students in
his college.
21. Describe Ruth's school years.
Ruth recalls her school years growing up in Suffolk. There is a white school, a black school and a Jewish school. The Jewish school
doesn't meet the state's requirements, so she goes to what her father calls the "gentile school" He pays for private tutors to teach Ruth
sewing, knitting, and record keeping.
22. How does Ruth's friend, Frances, support her?
When Ruth is in fourth grade she meets a girl at school named Frances. Frances is nice to her and doesn't seem to notice things about
Ruth that other children tease her about. Frances invites Ruth to her house to play and eat dinner. Frances' mother is a wonderful cook,
but Ruth can't eat it because it isn't kosher. To show her support, Frances refuses to eat as well.
23. Why is music important to James?
In this chapter James enrolls in piano and clarinet lessons at school. One of James' biggest problems is feeling so different from all the
other kids he goes to school with and music helps him escape from his problems.
24. Describe what happens when Ruth asks James to take the milk back to the shop.
One afternoon, Ruth sends James to the store for a bottle of milk and he returns with out of date milk. The store owner refuses to take it
back and offends Ruth by commenting about her having a black child. Livid, Ruth throws the milk bottle at him.
25. How does Sam's leaving home affect Ruth?
After Sam leaves home, Ruth assumes more responsibility at home and around the store. She opens the store in the morning before
school and then after school works there until ten o'clock. She wants to fit in at school and make friends, but in her situation fitting in is
impossible.
26. How does Peter change Ruth's life?
Loving Peter changes Ruth's outlook on life. She feels happy and loved and stops worrying about what other people think of her.
27. What are the problems in dating Peter?
Ruth knows that dating a black man could cause potentially cause major problems. At that time, black men were hanged for even trying to
date a white woman, and the white woman was run out of town.
28. Describe the character of Daddy.
Daddy is a gruff man with an easy sense of humor. He is very kind to all the children, but he is a neat person, and refuses to live in Ruth's
messy house. He stays at his old house during the week and arrives at their place on Fridays with a bag of groceries, pockets full of
money, and an automobile.

29. How does Ruth's family react to her pregnancy?


After Ruth's mother finds out her pregnancy, she goes to New York where six of her siblings live. They all feel sorry for their mother rather
than Ruth, so although they take Ruth in from time to time, they show no love for her.
30. How does Betsy react to Ruth's pregnancy?
Betsy makes a few phone calls and takes Ruth to a Jewish doctor for an abortion. Afterward Ruth is in so much pain she can't walk. She
just cries continuously and apologizes to Betsy for being a bother. Betsy tells Ruth not to get in trouble again.
31. How does Ruth react to Hunter Jordan's death?
After the death of Hunter Jordan, Sr., Ruth mopes through life, barely surviving. Hunter's old car, sitting in front of the apartment, reminds
Ruth of happier times and she refuses to sell it.
32. How does James react to Hunter's death?
After Hunter's death, James' grades plummet and he starts to skip school to drink malt liquor, smoke marijuana, shoplift and break into
cars. His friends become his family, and his mother becomes nothing more than the person he lives with.
33. How does Ruth cope with her abortion?
After her abortion, Ruth doesn't want to return to Suffolk. She goes to high school in New York, sleeping on her grandmother's couch and
struggling with her studies. Finally she realizes, in order to graduate, she must return to the easier pace of Virginia.
34. How does Ruth react to Irene's death?
Ruth's best friend, Irene, dies about a year after Hunter's death. Ruth and Irene had been friends since the Forties when Ruth moved to
New York and lived in Harlem. She refuses to go to Irene's memorial service, saying she is done with funerals.
35. Describe the time James tried to teach his mother how to drive.
James takes his mother to learn how to drive. Ruth slams the car into drive and starts swerving down the road, screaming hysterically and
James has to try and keep her on the right side of the road. She makes it to the A&P but won't park the car. When Ruth returns to the car,
she gets the pedals mixed up and mistakes the brake pedal for the accelerator, almost sending James and her grandchild through the
front window.
36. What does James later learn about his mother's driving skills?
James later learns that his mother drove all the time as a teenager. She drove well enough to pull a trailer behind her father's Ford,
delivering groceries and supplies all the way to North Carolina.
37. How does Rocky try to take advantage of Ruth?
Rocky takes Ruth out to the Apollo and the movies and rents a room for her. She stays only a few days at her apartment because her
grandmother is getting suspicious. Eventually, Rocky asks her when she wants to make money like the other girls. It is only then she
understands Rocky is a pimp.
38. Why is James anxious to move to Delaware?
James feels anxious to move to Delaware because he knows if he stays in New York he won't get away from his drug-and-crime friends
and finish high school.
39. How is Delaware different from New York?

Ruth knows nothing about Delaware, but she manages to buy a cheap house on the bus line. Wilmington doesn't have a subway, and
only the very poor people travel by bus. The racial division is sharp in Delaware, and unlike New York, schools are segregated.
40. In what way does James' life take a turn for the better in Delaware?
James joins the band at school and is selected to travel to Europe with the American Youth Jazz Band. To pay for the trip, he works for a
wealthy white couple that often donates money to the school.
41. Describe the character of Andrew.
Andrew is a thoughtful and serious violinist who left North Carolina to pursue a musical career in New York City. He nearly starved trying
to pursue his music and was forced to get a job at Aunt Mary's leather factory.
42. Why does Ruth go back to Virginia in Chapter 19?
One day Ruth calls her mother. Her father answers the phone and tells her to come home because her mother is sick and he needs help
in the store.
43. How have Ruth's parents lives changed?
Ruth's mother still works very hard, but she is now blind in one eye and often blacks out. Ruth becomes aware that her father has a
girlfriend and spends his weekends with her, returning to open the store on Monday.
44. Why do Ruth's parents refuse to get a divorce?
Ruth's mother refuses to give her husband a divorce because she knows she can't take care of herself. Ruth's father does not want a
divorce because he would have to seek permission from a high Jewish rabbi and that would be too much bother.
45. How does Ruth's relationship with Andrew affect her family life?
Ruth father tells her that if she marries a black man she will never be welcome home again. In early 1942, Ruth gets a message from her
Aunt Mary that her mother is in a Bronx hospital, but she cannot see her because of her relationship with Andrew means she is out of the
family.
46. How does Andrew help Ruth get over her mother's death?
Andrew keeps telling Ruth to forgive herself, that God has forgiven her. It takes her a long time to recover, but Andrew sticks with her and
helps her work things out.
47. Describe the blood sacrifice of a chicken.
Ruth's mother would wave a live chicken over her head and say, "You to death, me to life!" Rabbi Shilsky would then take the chicken
from his wife and kill it as a blood sacrifice.
48. What does Aubrey Rubenstein tell James in Chapter 22?
James talks to Aubrey Rubenstein, the son of the man who took over the Shilsky's store. Aubrey explains to him that there weren't many
Jewish people left in Suffolk because it wasn't an easy place for a Jew to live.
49. Describe Andrew and Ruth's relationship.
Andrew and Ruth are not accepted as a couple by many people around them, but they love each other and they feel that's enough. Ruth's
world expands because of Andrew. She learns about music and baseball and Christianity. She converts to Christianity, her Jewish faith
having died with her mother's death.

50. What problems do Ruth and Andrew have getting married?


The clerks at the marriage license office speak rudely to them and nobody wants to write up their paperwork. After the ceremony they
have their reception at one of their friends' apartments. Only five people attend the reception, including Ruth and Andrew.
51. In what way do Ruth and Andrew become more involved in religion in Chapter 23?
Andrew starts his own church in 1953. They invite their friends to their apartment on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings. Andrew
eventually finds an empty building near Red Hook that is inexpensive to lease. He calls the church New Brown Memorial, after Rev.
Brown.
52. How does James feel about his father?
James never met his father, but he learned about him through his writings and notebooks. It's clear to James that his father was a deep
thinker, humble, religious and very wise. He didn't leave his wife with any insurance, land or money, but he helped establish a caring
environment.
53. Why does Ruth struggle to find a place she wants to be buried?
She doesn't want to be buried in New Jersey because nobody wants to be buried in New Jersey. She doesn't want to be buried in Virginia
next to Hunter because she ran away from Virginia. She doesn't want to be buried in North Carolina next to Andrew because she hates
the South. She doesn't want to be buried in New York because it is too crowded.
54. What problems does James say he had as a child of mixed race?
James describes issues he had with being mixed race. He feels that he ran from himself for many years, that he couldn't commit to one
thing or another without knowing who he was. In the end, he grew tired of running, but he didn't feel he could know who he was without
knowing who his mother was. He couldn't find out who she was because she was so evasive in her replies.
55. How is Ruth's life getting better at the age of sixty five?
Ruth receives her college degree in social work from Temple University at the age of sixty-five. In August of 1993, Ruth finally faces the
ghosts of her past and goes to Suffolk, Virginia. After driving through the town with James, Judy and Billy, she claims that nothing has
changed. James takes Ruth to see Frances and the two women renew their friendship.
56. In what way does James think his mother is a success?
Ruth's children's achievements are her achievements, and they do many great things. James lists their educations and careers to show
how successful they are. An even greater illustration of Ruth's power, however, is the dynamics of their family get-togethers. The entire
family gets together for holidays, dozens and dozens of people. Whatever Ruth says goes. They all want to do what she wants to do.
57. Describe Halina's time in an underground prison.
In 1942, Halina Wind, a twenty-one-year-old Jewish woman, was sent by her parents into hiding after Nazis murdered most of the
inhabitants of her Polish town. For fourteen months Halina lived in a wet underground prison, never seeing the sun.
58. Describe the wedding James and Ruth attend in this chapter.
James is an usher at David's wedding. James wears a black tuxedo and white yarmulke. Ruth sits in the audience, watching the Jewish
wedding, the kind of wedding her parents wanted for her. When the wedding is over, James and Ruth walk outside into the rain. Ruth
reminisces about the Jewish wedding and how it hasn't changed since she was a girl.
59. Who is David Wind?

David is Halina Wind's son. James met him at the Wilmington News Journal.
60. Summarize the book.
In the Color of Water, African American writer James McBride describes his white mother's struggles to raise a family amidst the racial
tensions of 1950s and 1960s America. McBride also talks about his own struggles as a child of mixed race, but as the book continues it
moves towards a message of hope. By the end, James, his mother and his siblings have carved out successful lives for themselves.

Essay Topics/Writing Assignments


These 20 essay questions can be used as essay questions on a test, or as stand-alone essay topics for a take-home or in-class writing
assignment. Students should have a full understanding of the text in order to answer these questions. They ask for a thorough analysis of
the text.
1. Examine McBride's writing style. How would you describe his prose style? What kind of vocabulary does he use? Does he use any
specific writing techniques? What meaning does McBride's style give to his story?

2. Identify the main themes of the story. Why do you think these themes are so important to the story? How does McBride use character
and setting to express his themes?

3. Discuss differences between the novel and autobiography formats. What are the main elements of a novel? What are the main
elements of an autobiography? What can novelists express that an autobiographer cannot? How can autobiographies keep to the facts
while still maintaining a level of entertainment?

4. What major events had a profound affect on McBride's life and how did they change him?

5. Look at the structure of the book.

1) Discuss elements of the narrative structure: exposition, conflict, complication, climax, resolution and conclusion. Do all the elements
make for a logical and linear story? How does the story's structure express the book's ideas?
2) Examine the way McBride uses other people in the story to express his ideas.

6. Discuss the values of the 1960s.

1) Why did Afro American politics come to the fore during this time ?
2) What significant changes do you think occurred during this period?
3) Does today's society share any values with 1960s America?

7. Discuss with the students first person point of view. Why do the students think first person point of view is not necessarily reliable?
What moments in the book do the students think are not so reliable and why? With the students discuss the advantages and
disadvantages of using the first person.

8. Pick a character from the novel and discuss his goals and motives. Does he achieve his motive? Why? Does he share similar goals
and motives with other characters? Do his goals clash with other characters? How do the characters' goals and motives affect their
interaction with each other?

9. Compare McBride's character to his mother's character. What are their similarities and differences? What did James learn from his
mother? How did James' mother's situation and personality motivate her?

10. What events in James' early life influenced him to become a musician? How different do the students think James' life would have
been if she had not grown up in poverty?

11. How does Ruth's Jewish upbringing influence her approach to life? How does Ruth's approach change when she converts to
Christianity? In what way does James suggest his mother struggled with her conversion to Christianity?

12. Examine what the following generations experienced during their time in America:

1) Ruth's grandparents
2) Ruth's parents
3) Ruth and her siblings
4) James and his siblings

13. Compare the characters of Hunter Jordan and Andrew McBride.

1) What attracted both of them to Ruth?


2) How did they both improve Ruth's life?
3) What were their similarities and differences?

14. Examine James' relationship with his mother.

1) How did James' mother help him become a success in life?


2) How does James' relationship with his mother develop throughout the book?
3) Why does it become so important for James to develop a stronger relationship with his mother?

15. Examine James' reasons for writing the book.

1) What does James want to achieve through writing the book?


2) What has James eventually achieved by the end of the book?

16. Examine the following and write how they developed James as a person:

1) His relationship with Hunter


2) His experiments with drugs and crime
3) His time spent in Louisville
4) Moving to Delaware

17. Examine how James' life compares with his mother's.

1) What individual difficulties did both characters endure?


2 How did they use their experiences in life to help one another?

18. What insight does James give about the Great Depression in the Thirties? How does Ruth's parents cope with the Great Depression?
In what way does the Great Depression destroy, or almost destroy, the lives of people close to Ruth? What did American society learn
from the Great Depression in the Thirties?

19. Why does Ruth treat her past with such disregard? How has Ruth's view of the past affected James and his siblings? How has Ruth
harmed herself by disregarding her past?

20. Why do the students think it is important for James to find out about his mother's past? How has his mother hiding her past affected
him?

Daily Lessons
This section contains 30 daily lessons. Each one has a specific objective and offers at least three (often more) ways to teach that
objective. Lessons include classroom discussions, group and partner activities, in-class handouts, individual writing assignments, at least
one homework assignment, class participation exercises and other ways to teach students about the text in a classroom setting. Use
some or all of the suggestions provided to work with your students in the classroom and help them understand the text.

Lesson 1
Objective: The eighth of twelve children, James McBride grows up in a chaotic but loving home. Unlike his friends, he doesn't look like
his mother. His mother is a Polish Jew, raised mostly in Virginia. She marries a black man and lives the majority of her adult life in New
York City where people are a little more tolerant of her interracial marriage and children. The aim of this lesson is to examine James'
upbringing.
1) 1) Class discussion. How did James' upbringing mold him into the person he became? How do the students think it affected James
being a person of mixed race and growing up in a black area? Do the students think James would have achieved what he did without
growing up in relative poverty?

2) Ask the students to write 500 words on how James' upbringing contributed to his success as a musician and writer?

3) Ask the students to write a newspaper article examining James' upbringing.

4) Homework. Write 500 words about how events in your life have molded you into the person you are today.

Lesson 2
Objective: The book is written from two points of view: that of James and that of Ruth. Ruth's words are written in italics, framed as
answers to interview questions posed by her son James. The aim of this lesson is to examine the two different points of view.
1) 1) Class discussion. How do James and Ruth see the world differently? Do the students think that Ruth understands why her son
wants to know her past? What do the students think James expresses by using two points of view in his book? How does he use both
points of view side by side to create a coherent story? Do the two points of view create a more balanced story?

2) Divide the students into two groups and present them with the following statement. Ruth was intelligent and strong enough to find a
better job to support her children. One group should think of arguments that support Ruth's point of view and the other group should think
of arguments that support James' point of view. Conduct a debate between the two sides.

3) Ask the students to rewrite one of Ruth's scenes into their own words. End the lesson by discussing why two points of view give the
book authenticity.

4) Homework. Interview someone in your own family.

Lesson 3
Objective: Ruth introduces her parents. Her father, Fishel Shilsky, was an Orthodox rabbi who she describes as a fox and hard as a rock.
Her mother, Hudis, was the opposite of Fishel, gentle and kind. Her left side was paralyzed from polio and she was blind in one eye. The
aim of this lesson is to examine Ruth's parents.
1) 1) Class discussion. Why do the students think Ruth's father wanted to go to America so much? Why do the students think Ruth's
father never really achieved anything? Do the students think Ruth's parents would have been happier if they stayed in Poland? How did
Ruth's parents' character contribute to her own personality?

2) Ask the students to write 300 words on what Ruth's father expects from America and 300 words on what Ruth's mother expects from
America.

3) Divide the students into groups of three. The first student should be Fishel, the second student should be Hudis and the third student
should be Ruth. The students should develop and perform a 5-minute play examining the relationship between Ruth and her parents. The

situation should be a normal family situation such as sitting down to eat dinner.

4) Homework. Ask the students to write 300 words on what Ruth's parents lives were like in Poland.

Lesson 4
Objective: When Ruth's family first arrives in the United States, they live with her grandparents in Manhattan. They are strictly Orthodox
and do everything in the kosher way. The aim of this lesson is to examine the problems immigrants face coming into America.
1) 1) Class discussion. What problems do the students think Ruth's parents faced when they first came to America? Does it depend your
race and religion about how an immigrant settles in? Which minorities have had the most problems in settling down in America? Which
immigrants have been the most accepted? Do the students think Ruth's parent's immigrated to America with their eyes open?

2) With the students brainstorm all the different groups that have immigrated to America in the last 100 years. Divide the students into
groups of three and ask them to pick one of the groups and develop a 5 minute presentation about how they have settled in America.
What problems did they have initially? How did they get over their problems?

3) Ask the students to write a 500-word essay revolving around the following statement: Ruth's parents were always going to have a
tough time because they were one of the first of their generation to come to America.

4) Homework. Examine how life became easier first for Ruth, and then for James, and now for James' children.

Lesson 5
Objective: When James is nine, in 1966, black power permeates his neighborhood in Queens. His older siblings revere Malcolm X who
had recently been killed. James is afraid that the people involved in the black power rallies will kill his mother, but she seems completely
unconcerned about it. The aim of this lesson is to examine racial relations in 1960s America.
1) 1) Class discussions. Why do the students think that race became such a central issue in the Sixties? What events took place before
the Sixties that led to race becoming such a big issue?
Do the students think that James felt on the outside of it all because he was of mixed race?

2) Divide the students into groups of four and ask half the groups to develop a 3-minute presentation examining African American culture
and the other half to examine American white culture. Finish the lesson by discussing in what way the two cultures clash.

3) Ask the students to write a 500-word essay revolving around the following statement: James being classed as neither white nor black
was on the outside of all his racial troubles in the Sixties.

4) Homework. Interview someone who remembers the Sixties.

Lesson 6
Objective: As a child, James is curious about his mother's skin color, which he notices is so different from his own. His siblings play cruel
tricks on him, telling him that his real mother is in jail or that he was adopted. The aim of this lesson is to examine James' confusion about
his mother's skin color.
1) 1) Class discussion. How does James' mother's different skin color affect his growing up? In what way does James suggest the
problems he had with the color of his mother's skin come almost entirely from himself and no one else? How do the students think the
environment James grew up in affected his confusion about skin color? Do the students think he would have felt the same if he were
brought up in today's society?

2) Ask the students to write a short story that explains to a young James why his mother has different colored skin.

3) Ask the students to write James' monologue as a child, at a moment he is thinking about why his mother is the only mother who has
different colored skin than her children's.

4) Homework. Summarize the chapter in 300 words.

Lesson 7
Objective: When Ruth is a teenager they move to Suffolk, Virginia, where her father opens a grocery store. They are generally disliked
because they are Jewish. Ruth's father sexually abuses her, and she is always afraid of him. The aim of this lesson is to examine Ruth's
upbringing.
1) 1) Class discussion. How did Ruth's upbringing mold her into the person she becomes? Do the students think Ruth would have
become the person she did without such an upbringing? Why do the students think her siblings did not grow up with the same sense of
freedom and strength of character?

2) Ask the students to write 100 words on how each of Ruth's siblings, including Ruth, was affected by their upbringing. Why do the
students think Ruth emerged as the strongest child?

3) Ask the students to write a 500-word essay revolving around the following statement: Ruth emerged as the strongest child because
she was one of two of her parents' children who experienced what it was like to have to move to a new country.

4) Homework. Write a monologue about what Ruth thinks about her upbringing.

Lesson 8
Objective: Ruth explains that her father traveled and worked under contracts with Jewish congregations. After a year, the synagogue
wouldn't want him anymore and they would have to move to a new place. As her family moved from place to place, they carted all of their
belongings on buses. They attracted a lot of attention because they were poor and Jewish and her mother was crippled. The aim of this
lesson is to examine poverty.
1) 1) Classroom discussion. How does Ruth cope with poverty throughout the book? Do the students think that Ruth becomes too used to
having no money? In what way did Ruth and also her parents sacrifice themselves for future generations? Do the students think the
problems Ruth's father caused were directly influenced by their poverty?

2) Divide the students into groups of three. One half of the class should research and conduct a presentation about being poor in 1930s
and 1940s Virginia and the other half should examine poverty in today's Virginia. End the lesson by discussing how immigrant families in
the Thirties and Forties could escape poverty.

3) Divide the students into pairs and ask them to research the value of money in America in the Thirties and Forties and how much things
cost. They then need to make a plan of how they could survive on a few dollars a day.

4) Homework. Research what local and national government try to do to prevent people from falling into poverty.

Lesson 9
Objective: Ruth remembers the Ku Klux Klan riding into town and their black customers slipping into their houses. Ruth's father keeps a
loaded, polished gun behind the counter of his store, sure that the black folks are always trying to steal from him. He charges them a

hundred percent markup on his goods but at the same time he is afraid they're stealing from him. The aim of this lesson is to examine
racial relations in 30s America.
1) 1) Class discussions. In what way were segregation and inequality still an accepted part of culture in America in the Thirties,
particularly in the South? Do the students think the blacks and Jews accepted this inequality? How much do the students think Ruth's
father aggressive attitude towards the blacks has to do with him wanting to feel superior to someone? Have there been problems between
the Jews and the blacks in the past?

2) Divide the students into groups of four and ask half the groups to develop a 3-minute presentation examining African American culture
and the other half to examine Jewish culture. Finish the lesson by discussing how the two cultures clash.

3) Ask the students to write a 500-word essay revolving around the following statement: Ruth father's aggressive attitude toward the
blacks that come into his shop is as much to do with his need to feel above somebody as it is to do with racism.

4) Homework. Interview someone who remembers the Thirties.

Lesson 10
Objective: In the 1930s people get sick and die. Black people come into their store with infections or illnesses to buy BC Powder. It costs
25 cents and comes in blue-and-white packets. The black people in Suffolk live in shacks with no running water, no foundations, or
bathrooms. The aim of this lesson is to examine the Great Depression in the 1930s.
1) 1) Class discussion. What insight does James give about the Great Depression in the Thirties? How do Ruth's parents cope with the
Great Depression? How much do the students think it contributes to Ruth's father's abusive attitude? In what way does the Great
Depression destroy or almost destroy the lives of people close to Ruth? What do the students think people learned from the Depression in
the Thirties? In what way did it make someone like Ruth a stronger person?

2) Ask the students to answer the following questions in essay format: What caused the Great Depression in the Thirties and how did it
affect American society? What insight does James give on the Great Depression in the Thirties? What changes occurred in America
because of the Great Depression?

3) Divide the students into groups of three and ask them to find pictures and articles that relate to the Great Depression in the Thirties.
The students need to use what they collect to make a collage that tells the story of Great Depression.

4) Homework. Write 300 words on how the Great Depression affected Ruth's character.

Lesson 11
Objective: Ruth recalls her school years growing up in Suffolk. There is a white school, a black school and a Jewish school. The Jewish
school doesn't meet the state's requirements for an accredited school, so she goes to the "gentile school," as her father calls it. Still, he
pays for private tutors to teach his daughters the subjects left out by the public school: sewing, knitting, and record keeping. The aim of
this lesson is to examine Ruth's school years.
1) 1) Class discussion. Why do the students think Ruth was so lonely in her school years? Do the students think she would have grown
up a different person if she went to a Jewish school? Why do the students think that the Jewish school did not meet requirements? What
do the students think they taught differently? What does the fact that her father pays for private tuition say about the importance her family
placed on education?

2) Divide the students into three groups. Assign the first group the white school, the second group the black school, and the third group
the Jewish school. Ask the students to research and develop a five-minute presentation about their school's approach to education.

3) Divide the students into two groups and present them with the following statement: By putting Ruth's education first and not sending
her to a Jewish school, her parents neglected the emotional side of her character. Ask one groups to think of arguments to support the
statement and the other group to think of arguments against. Conduct a debate between the two sides.

4) Homework. Research the different types of schools in your area.

Lesson 12
Objective: The New York City Public School System allows open enrollment for a brief period each year. Ruth waits anxiously for this
window of opportunity and jumps on it. Because education is so important to her, she sends her children to the best schools she can find
in the public school system, and they are usually located in neighborhoods that are predominantly white and Jewish. The aim of this
lesson is to examine the importance of education.
1) 1) Class discussion. Why do the students think Ruth puts so much importance on education? Why do the students think Ruth sends
her children to schools where the children may feel out of place? What do the students think Ruth is doing differently to ensure her
children do not suffer loneliness at school like she did? What do the students think would happen to James and his siblings if his mother
did not put so much importance on education?

2) Ask the students to find another famous person from New York that was brought up in the same era as James, but did not attend such
a good school and university. The students should develop a dialogue between James and the other person that examines how their
different educations set them apart from each other.

3) Divide the students into two groups and present them with the following statement: American society puts too much emphasis on
education and not enough on emotional development. Ask one group to think of arguments to support the statement and the other group
to think of arguments against. Conduct a debate between the two sides.

4) Homework. Define what a good education is.

Lesson 13
Objective: Through most of this chapter, Ruth feels very alone. She thinks she finds love with Peter, but at the end she realizes that the
person who loves her through thick and thin is her mother. The aim of this lesson is to examine the character of Ruth's mother.
1) 1) Classroom discussion. How much do the students think that Ruth's mother sacrificed to give her children a better life? What kind of
person do the students think Ruth's mother could have become if she did not have to make those sacrifices? How much do the students
think Ruth's mother had to change when she moved to Poland? Do the students think she would have been a happier and more
successful person in her homeland?

2) Ask the students to write out Ruth's mother's character background. Once they have finished ask them to examine what parts of Ruth's
mother's life contributes to her becoming the person she does.

3) Divide the students into pairs and ask them to think of a difficult scenario that could occur in Ruth's mother's life. Ask the students to
swap their work and then think about how Ruth's mother would react in their new scenario.

4) Homework. Write a character study of Ruth's mother as if she lived in today's world.

Lesson 14
Objective: James' grades plummet immediately after Daddy's death. He skips school, drinks malt liquor, and starts smoking marijuana.

With his new friends he shoplifts and breaks into cars. His friends become his family, and his mother becomes nothing more than the
person he lives with. James and his friends go so far as to mug old ladies for the meager contents of their purses. The aim of this lesson
is to examine how James copes after Daddy's death.
1) 1) Class discussion. Why was Daddy so important to James? How did James cope after Daddy died? Do the students think that James
coped badly because his mother coped badly? Do the students think James would have moved into a life of crime and drugs if Daddy
were alive?

2) Ask the students to write James' monologue when he first hears that Daddy has died.

3) Ask the students to write a speech that James would write as an adult about how Daddy was important to him.

4) Homework. Write 300 words on the importance of a father figure in a boy's life.

Lesson 15
Objective: Ruth goes to New York after her mother finds out about her pregnancy. Ruth's mother has five sisters and a brother in New
York. They all feel sorry for Ruth's mother, so they take Ruth in from time to time, but they aren't loving toward her. The aim of this lesson
is to examine Ruth's time in New York.
1) 1) Class discussion. In what way does Ruth's move to New York change her life? Do the students think Ruth's family would have been
better off staying in New York in the first place? How does Ruth's move to New York show how utterly alone she is with her problems?

2) Ask the students to write a 500-word story about Ruth's time in New York.

3) Divide the students into two groups and present them with the following statement: Ruth's family would have been better off staying in
New York in the first place. Ask one group to think of arguments to support the statement and the other group to think of arguments
against. Conduct a debate between the two sides.

4) Homework. Write Ruth's monologue after she has an abortion.

Lesson 16
Objective: Ruth doesn't know what to do with James, so she sends him to live with his older sister, Jack, in Louisville, Kentucky. James
loved Jack, and she understood him completely, having lived in Harlem for ten years. The aim of this lesson is to examine James' time in
Louisville.
1) 1) Class discussion. What does James' time in Louisville teach him? Why does Ruth want James to get away from New York? Do the
students think he would have learned anything in Louisville if he had not seen Chicken Man die? How much of a different person do the
students think James is when he returns to New York?

2) Ask the students to write a 500-word story about James' time in Louisville.

3) Divide the students into two groups and present them with the following statement: James' family would have been better off staying in
New york in the first place. Ask one groups to think of arguments to support the statement and the other group to think of arguments
against. Conduct a debate between the two sides.

4) Homework. Write James' monologue about how he feels when Chicken Man dies.

Lesson 17

Objective: Ruth has left her past so far behind her that she can't remember how to do things she could do then. The aim of the lesson is
to examine how Ruth views the past.
1) 1) Class discussion. Why do the students think Ruth has treated her past with such disregard? How has Ruth's view of the past
affected James and his siblings? Do they think James would have written this book if his mother had been more open with him? Do the
students think it is harmful for Ruth to disregard the past so much?

2) Divide the students into two groups. Ask one group to think of all the good memories Ruth has of the past and the other group to think
of all the bad memories Ruth has of the past. Each student should then take one of these memories and use it to create a poem.

3) Ask the students to write an essay revolving around the following statement: Ruth's negative view of her past has affected how her
children think about themselves.

4) Homework. Write one good memory from your past and one bad memory.

Lesson 18
Objective: Ruth wants to participate in the Suffolk High School graduation ceremony, but the ceremony is held in a Protestant church, so
her father refuses to let her participate, saying he would never set foot in such a place. The aim of this lesson is to examine the conflicts
between the Christian and Jewish faiths.
1) 1) Class discussion. What have been the conflicts between the Christian and Jewish faiths? Do the students think this conflict has been
entirely down to religion? How has it affected the way the two races have treated each other? How does James reflect the conflicts
between the two faiths in the book? Do the students think that Ruth converts to Christianity to make life easier on herself? How has the
relationship between the two faiths improved over the years?

2) Divide the students into pairs and ask each pair to gather pictures, magazine articles and newspapers that show how the relationship
between Christianity and Judaism has improved since the Thirties.

3) Ask the students to write 500 words about how McBride expresses the conflict between the Jewish and Christian faiths.

4) Homework. Write 300 words on the differences between Christianity and Judaism.

Lesson 19
Objective: In this chapter Andrew has to talk sense into Ruth. He says, "Ruth, your parents haven't done nothing to you that was so bad
as to make you run around with that man. That man's a pimp. He's a pimp and he's leading you around by the nose." Andrew is
disappointed in her. She goes home to her grandmother. The aim of this lesson is to examine how Ruth's relationship with Andrew helped
her.
1) 1) Class discussion. How did Ruth's relationship with Andrew change her life? What does Andrew open Ruth's eyes to in this chapter?
Why do the students think Ruth needed to face some truths at this point in her life? Do the students think Ruth was considering Rocky's
proposal? If so,why? Do the students think Ruth would have fallen into bad ways if it were not for Andrew's interference?

2) Ask the students to write Ruth's life story from the point view that she did not meet Andrew.

3) Divide the students into pairs. One member of the pair should be Andrew and the other member of the pair should be Ruth. The pair
should develop a five-minute dialogue between the pairs that focuses on Andrew trying to convince Ruth to keep away from Rocky.

Lesson 20
Objective: After spinning in crazy circles for a while, though, they all finally settle down in Delaware. James joins the band at school and
loves the music teacher. He is selected to travel to Europe with the American Youth Jazz Band. To pay for the trip, he works for a wealthy
white couple that often donates money to the school. The aim of this lesson is to examine James' love for music.
1) 1) Class discussion. How does music help James get over the problems in his life? How much of James' love for music do the students
think comes from his father, Andrew? Do the students think James is trying to understand his father by following a similar path? What has
James achieved in music during his lifetime?

2) Divide the students into two groups and present them with the following statement: By following a career in music, James is trying to
develop a better understanding of his father. Ask one group to think of arguments to support the statement and the other group to think of
arguments against. Conduct a debate between the two sides.

3) Ask the students to write a 500-word essay revolving around the following statement: Music helps James get over the problems in his
life.

4) Homework. Research James' discography. If you can, listen to some of his songs.

Lesson 21
Objective: Andrew is a thoughtful and serious violinist who left North Carolina for the promise of music in New York City. He nearly
starved trying to pursue a musical career, so he gets a job in Aunt Mary's leather factory. The aim of this lesson is to examine Andrew's
character.
1) 1) Classroom discussion. What kind of person do the students think Andrew was? How did it affect Ruth and her children when Andrew
passed away? How did Andrew change Ruth's life for the better? In what way do the students think James is similar to his father?

2) Ask the students to write out Andrew's character background. Once they have finished ask them to examine what parts of Andrew's life
contributed to his becoming the person he does.

3) Divide the students into pairs and ask them to think of a difficult scenario that could occur in Andrew's life. Ask the students to swap
their work and then think about how Andrew would react in the new scenario.

4) Homework. Write a character study of Andrew as if he lived in today's world.

Lesson 22
Objective: James wants to find out about his mother's roots, but whenever he asks for details, she says that nobody from her past would
remember her and she wanders off to run an errand. Finally, he succeeds in getting her to draw a small map of where she grew up in
Suffolk, Virginia. The only thing she claims to remember about the town is that she had a friend named Frances. The aim of this lesson is
to examine why James needs to find out about his mother's past.
1) 1) Class discussion. Why do the students think it is important for James to find out about his mother's past? How has his mother hiding
her past affected him? What does James think he will achieve by finding out about his mother's past? How do the students think James
can convince his mother that it is important to find out about her past?

2) Divide the students into pairs and ask them to look through the book and plan out how James can find about his mother's past. What
people could he talk to? What people could he visit? Where could he find past records?

3) Ask the the students to write 500 words that examines the following question: How has James' mother affected James' life by hiding
her past from him?

Lesson 23
Objective: They decide to be brave and try to get a marriage license. There are lots of stares and whispering and pointing when they get
to the marriage license office. The clerks speak rudely to them and nobody wants to write up their paperwork, but they get their license
and go to Reverend Brown's private office at the church to be married. The aim of this lesson is to examine the problems people had with
mixed marriages in the past.
1) 1) Class discussion. What problems have mixed marriages caused in the past? Why were people so against mixed marriages? Do the
students think people are still against mixed marriages in some cultures? Are mixed marriages still frowned upon in Western culture?

2) Divide the students into five groups and assign each group one of the following: Ruth's grandparents' generation, Ruth's parents'
generation, Ruth's generation, James' generation, James' children's generation. The aim of each group is to develop a presentation
examining each generation's thoughts on mixed marriage.

3) Divide the students into two groups. One group should think of all the benefits of Andrew and Ruth marrying and the other group
should think of all the disadvantages. End the lesson conducting a debate.

4) Homework. Write 300 words on why mixed marriage has been frowned upon in the past.

Lesson 24
Objective: Ruth and Andrew continue attending church at the Metropolitan for a few years, but Reverend Brown has died and it's difficult
to take all those kids on the bus to church, so Andrew starts his own church in 1953. They invite their friends to their apartment on
Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings. The aim of this lesson is to examine the importance of religion.
1) 1) Class discussion. How important is religion to both James and Ruth? Why do the students think Ruth converts to Christianity? How
did her Jewish upbringing affect her so negatively she felt she had to convert? Do the students think Ruth and her family could have
coped without any religious faith? Do the students think that religion is becoming less important now that life in western countries is
becoming more comfortable?

2) Divide the students into groups of three or four and ask them to research James' opinion on religion. Ask them to develop a 3-minute
presentation, focusing on how James expresses his religious views in the book.

3) Ask the students to write 500 words on how religion both ruined and then saved Ruth's life.

4) Homework. Write about your own views on religion.

Lesson 25
Objective: James never met his father, but he learned about him through his writings and notebooks. It's clear to James that his father
was a deep thinker, humble, religious and very wise. He didn't leave his wife with any insurance, land or money, but he helped establish
the groundwork for the family, and Hunter Jordan helped with the rest. The aim of this lesson is to examine James' thoughts on his real
father.
1) 1) Class discussion. Why is it important for James to understand his real father? How much do the students think James can
understand his father through just his notebooks and diaries? Do the students think James could be in danger of creating a romantic
image of his father? How do the students think James would have viewed his father if he were still alive?

2) Ask the students to write a story about Andrew McBride that they can tell James.

3) Ask the students to write 500 words on why it is important for James to understand his father.

4) Homework. List the similarities between Andrew and James.

Lesson 26
Objective: James ruminates over the distinct issues of being mixed-race. He feels that he ran from himself for many years, that he
couldn't commit to one thing or another without knowing who he was. In the end, he grew tired of running, but he didn't feel he could know
who he was without knowing who his mother was. The aim of this lesson is to examine the problems of growing up as a child of mixed
race.
1) 1) Class discussion. What problems does it cause James growing up as a mixed race child? In what way was he always likely to be the
outsider? Do the students think James considers himself more black than Jewish, if so why? How were mixed race children looked upon
in the Fifties and Sixties?

2) Ask the students to write 500 words about how James finding out about his Jewish origins could help him.

3) Ask the students to find a celebrity who is of mixed race and research the problems they had growing up as a child of mixed race.
Were they similar to James' problems? How did they overcome their problems?

Lesson 27
Objective: Ruth's children's achievements are her achievements, and they do many great things. James lists their educations and
careers to show how successful they are. An even greater illustration of Ruth's power, however, is the dynamics of their family
get-togethers. The entire family gets together for holidays, dozens and dozens of people. Whatever Ruth says goes. They all want to do
what she wants to do. The aim of this lesson is to examine how Ruth has developed into a strong person.
1) 1) Class discussion. How different is Ruth from the person she was at the beginning? What moments in Ruth's life have been important
in developing her character? How much do the students think James idealizes his mother in the book?

2) Divide the students into pairs. One member of the pair should play a young Ruth and the other member of the pair should play an
elderly Ruth. The pair should develop a dialogue examining both Ruth's ideas on a subject such as marriage or religion.

3) Ask the students to write 400 words on a moment or person that they think had the most profound influence on Ruth's life.

Lesson 28
Objective: Autobiographies are a completely different art form from novels. The aim of this lesson is to learn about the differences
between autobiographies and novels.
1) 1) Divide the class into two groups. One group should look at a novel and the other group should look at an autobiography. Ask the
students to look through their book and make notes of its structure, style and point of view. They should then individually take a paragraph
from their novel and rewrite it in the format of an autobiography if its a novel, and a novel if its an autobiography.

2) Discuss differences between the novel and autobiography formats. What do the students think are the main elements of a novel? What
do the students think are the main elements of an autobiography? What can novelists express that an autobiography writer cannot? How
does McBride try to keep to the facts while still maintaining a level of entertainment?

3) For homework, write about the restrictions an autobiography places on a writer. How does an autobiographer get around these
restrictions?

Lesson 29
Objective: The aim of this lesson is to critically examine the novel.
1) 1) Divide the students into pairs and ask them to write a list of what they think are strengths and weaknesses of the novel. After ten
minutes compare the students' lists. Ask them to individually write a critical review of the novel. End the lesson by asking the students to
read their reviews orally.

2) On the board write the following statement: James focuses too much on his mother and fails to really address the problems of growing
up as a mixed race child. Using two examples from the book, ask the students to write a classroom essay either for or against the
statement.

3) For homework, list what you think are the strengths and weaknesses of the novel.

Lesson 30
Objective: The aim of this lesson is to review the book.
1) 1) Divide the students into teams of 4 and assign them each 1 element of the novel from the following choices: characters, themes,
point of view, structure and language. In teams, ask them to devise 15 questions and 15 answers for their categories. Finish the lesson
with the teams taking in turns to ask each other a question. The winner is the team that answers the most questions correctly.

2) Class discussion. Have an overview of what the students have learned from the book. Talk about the language used, the themes, the
genre and characters. Try to get them to think critically. What did they like and dislike about the book? Could they identify with James or
Ruth? Do they think the novel still holds some significance today?

3) For homework, find a negative and positive review of the novel and discuss whether you agree with the author's opinions.

Fun Classroom Activities


The 20 enjoyable, interactive classroom activities that are included will help your students understand the text in amusing ways. Fun
Classroom Activities include group projects, games, critical thinking activities, brainstorming sessions, writing poems, drawing or
sketching, and more that will allow your students to interact with each other, be creative, and ultimately grasp key concepts from the text
by "doing" rather than simply studying.
1. 500 Words
Condense the book into 500 words.
2. Comic Strip
Choose a scene from the book and develop it into a comic strip.
3. Interview
Interview a member of your family about their past.

4. Family Tree
Make your own family tree, trying to go as far back as possible.
5. Biography
Write a family member's biography.
6. Nicknames
Give all your classmates nicknames that relates to a personal trait. Use that nickname for the rest of the day.
7. Generations
Divide into the generations represented in the book; Ruth's grandparent's generation, Ruth's parent's generation, Ruth's generation and
James' generation. In your groups develop a scene that depicts how they lived life in America.
8. Short Story
Write a short story examining how Talina Wind escaped from the Nazis.
9. Menu
Write a food menu for Ruth and the children that is both cheap and healthy.
10. Board Game
Develop the book into a board game.
11. Tourist Brochure
Write a tourist brochure for one of the following destinations: New York City, Louisville, Suffolk or Delaware.
12. Handshakes
Make up an elaborate handshake and teach it to the rest of the class.
13. Music
Choose 5 pieces of music that reflect the five generations that James McBride represents in his book. What does each piece say about
that generation?
14. News Article
Write about James' visit to Suffolk in the form of a news article.
15. Guess the Person
Choose one of the people from the book and think about how he or she would look, walk and act in general. Find some clothes from
home and bring them into class. The task is then to walk around the class dressed up and acting like your character. The only thing you
cannot do is talk. Your classmates then have to guess which person you are.
16. Mastermind
Find a partner and choose a subject from the book to research. It can be a character or location, but the information must come from the
book. One of you then has to learn as much about the subject as possible while the other has to write a list of questions to ask. When you

have finished the person with the questions has to test the other person's knowledge on his chosen subject.
17. Bin Game
Divide into pairs. One member of the pair should answer questions and the other is the bin thrower. The idea is that the teacher asks a
question about the book and the person who gets it right gives their teammate three chances to throw a ball in the bin. For every ball he
gets in he scores 2 points. The winner is the pair with the most points.
18. Word Association
With a partner say a word or name that relates to the book for example a character and see how many words that you associate with that
word. The first person to pause loses the game. When you have finished with one word, start another one.
19. Simon Says
A game of Simon Says, but instead of using Simon use not only a character's name from the book, but what you think he or she would
say and do.
20. James McBride's Life in Pictures
Using magazine and newspaper articles design a collage that examines McBride's life.

Worksheets and Evaluation Forms


The following worksheets may come in handy for grading in-class student performance.
Note: These forms are included as printable Word and PDF files with your purchase.
Oral Reading Evaluation Sheet
Reading Assignment Sheet
Writing Evaluation Form

Oral Reading Evaluation Sheet


Name: ___________________________________________

5 = Above Average

3 = Average

Period: _________________________________________

1 = Below Average

Audibility - Projecting your voice so your audience can hear and understand you.

Pronunciation - Ability to recognize words before you say them and pronounce all the sounds correctly.

Articulation - Using your tongue, mouth and lips to pronounce all the sounds correctly.

Vocal Variety/Expression - Using appropriate pitch, volume and flow.

Rate - Reading a speed, or pace that is easy to follow.

Comments:

Reading Assignment Sheet


Name: ___________________________________________

Period: _________________________________________

Reading Assignment

Date Assigned

Date Due

Date Completed

To Page: _______

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To Page: _______

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To Page: _______

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To Page: _______

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To Page: _______

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Writing Evaluation Form


Name: ___________________________________________

5 = Above Average

3 = Average

1 = Below Average

Clear thesis or position

Relevant supporting arguments

Transitions between paragraphs

Clarity of expression

Strong conclusion

Grammar

Period: _________________________________________

Spelling

Punctuation

Quizzes & Homework Assignments


Use these as possible quizzes for your lesson plans. Alternatively, they can be used as homework assignments. They are designed to
test your students' understanding or the material at different stages throughout the unit. You may easily create your own tests using our
Quiz and Test Generator related to this product.
One Week Lesson Plan Quiz - Chapters 1 and 2, Dead, The Bicycle to Chapters 21 and 22, A Bird Who Flies, A Jew Discovered
Two Week Lesson Plan Quiz - Chapters 1 and 2, Dead, The Bicycle to Chapters 19 and 20, Promise, Old Man Shilsky
Four Week Lesson Plan Quiz - Chapters 1 and 2, Dead, The Bicycle to Chapters 7 and 8, Sam, Brothers and Sisters
Four Week Lesson Plan Quiz - Chapters 15 and 16, Graduation, Driving to Chapters 21 and 22, A Bird Who Flies, A Jew Discovered
Eight Week Lesson Plan Quiz - Chapters 1 and 2, Dead, The Bicycle to Chapters 3 and 4, Kosher, Black Power
Eight Week Lesson Plan Quiz - Chapters 5 and 6, The Old Testament, The New Testament to Chapters 5 and 6, The Old Testament, The
New Testament
Eight Week Lesson Plan Quiz - Chapters 7 and 8, Sam, Brothers and Sisters to Chapters 9 and 10, Shul, School
Eight Week Lesson Plan Quiz - Chapters 11 and 12, Boys, Daddy to Chapters 11 and 12, Boys, Daddy
Eight Week Lesson Plan Quiz - Chapters 15 and 16, Graduation, Driving to Chapters 17 and 18, Lost in Harlem, Lost in Delaware
Eight Week Lesson Plan Quiz - Chapters 19 and 20, Promise, Old Man Shilsky to Chapters 21 and 22, A Bird Who Flies, A Jew
Discovered
Eight Week Lesson Plan Quiz - Chapters 23 and 24, Dennis, New Brown to Chapter 25, Finding Ruthie

Quiz: Chapters 1 and 2, Dead, The Bicycle to Chapters 21 and


22, A Bird Who Flies, A Jew Discovered
Name: ___________________________________________

Period: _________________________________________

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions


Directions: Circle the correct answer.

1. What does James' mother embarrass James doing?


a) Riding a bike
b) Hugging him
c) Preaching
d) Playing the piano

2. Where do James' siblings say his real mother is?


a) In a grave
b) In jail
c) In Poland
d) In Germany

3. Who does Ruth stay with when she goes back to New York?
a) Her Aunt Mary
b) Her grandmother
c) Andrew McBride
d) Her Uncle Theodore

4. Who does James' brother ask about what color Jesus is?
a) His father
b) The Sunday school teacher
c) A rabbi
d) James

5. Where does James' mother work?


a) Chase Manhatten Bank
b) Studio 54
c) Warhol's Factory
d) The Empire State Building

Short Answer Questions


Directions: Answer the question with a short answer.
1. What kind of people do James and friends mug?

2. What is Ruth's job at the bank?

3. What state does Jacqueline live in?

4. Why is Ruth's family disliked?

5. What does James teach his mother in this chapter?

Quiz Answer Key: Chapters 1 and 2, Dead, The Bicycle to


Chapters 21 and 22, A Bird Who Flies, A Jew Discovered
Multiple Choice Answer Key
1. a.
2. b.
3. b.
4. b.
5. a.

Short Answer Key


1. What kind of people do James and friends mug?
Old ladies
2. What is Ruth's job at the bank?
A typist

3. What state does Jacqueline live in?


Kentucky
4. Why is Ruth's family disliked?
They are Jewish
5. What does James teach his mother in this chapter?
How to drive

Quiz: Chapters 1 and 2, Dead, The Bicycle to Chapters 19 and


20, Promise, Old Man Shilsky
Name: ___________________________________________

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions


Directions: Circle the correct answer.

1. What day of the week does Hunter always arrive at their house?
a) Thursday
b) Saturday
c) Friday
d) Sunday

2. What is Rocky's real job?


a) Barber
b) Pimp
c) Gigolo
d) Musician

3. Where did Ruth formerly drive her father's car?


a) New York
b) Kentucky
c) Texas
d) North Carolina

4. What is Jacqueline's nickname?


a) Jack
b) Jock
c) Queenie
d) Leaflet

Period: _________________________________________

5. What country was James' mother born in?


a) France
b) Poland
c) Germany
d) England

Short Answer Questions


Directions: Answer the question with a short answer.
1. What does James' mother embarrass James doing?

2. Where does James find a job in Kentucky?

3. What kind of drugs does James start experimenting with?

4. From whose death does James say his mother never recovers?

5. How does Frances show her support for Ruth at dinner?

Quiz Answer Key: Chapters 1 and 2, Dead, The Bicycle to


Chapters 19 and 20, Promise, Old Man Shilsky

Multiple Choice Answer Key


1. c.
2. b.
3. d.
4. a.
5. b.

Short Answer Key


1. What does James' mother embarrass James doing?
Riding a bike
2. Where does James find a job in Kentucky?
At a gas station
3. What kind of drugs does James start experimenting with?
Marijuana
4. From whose death does James say his mother never recovers?
Hunter's
5. How does Frances show her support for Ruth at dinner?
She does not eat

Quiz: Chapters 1 and 2, Dead, The Bicycle to Chapters 7 and 8,


Sam, Brothers and Sisters
Name: ___________________________________________

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions


Directions: Circle the correct answer.

1. Where do James' siblings say his real mother is?


a) In jail
b) In a grave
c) In Germany
d) In Poland

Period: _________________________________________

2. What part of Virginia did Ruth and her family move to?
a) Birmingham
b) Charlottesville
c) Suffolk
d) Durham

3. Where did James' mother spend most of her adult life?


a) Seattle
b) New York
c) Raleigh
d) Los Angeles

4. Where was James' mother raised?


a) Seattle
b) Virginia
c) California
d) New York

5. What does James say the preacher at church dots his sermons with?
a) Hand claps
b) Singing
c) Amens
d) Laughs

Short Answer Questions


Directions: Answer the question with a short answer.
1. What color packets does the BC powder come in?

2. Which member of Ruth's family dies while she is in New York?

3. What type of customers does Ruth's father overcharge?

4. Where does James go in this chapter?

5. What is Ruth's job at the bank?

Quiz Answer Key: Chapters 1 and 2, Dead, The Bicycle to


Chapters 7 and 8, Sam, Brothers and Sisters
Multiple Choice Answer Key
1. a.
2. c.
3. b.
4. b.
5. c.

Short Answer Key


1. What color packets does the BC powder come in?
Blue and white
2. Which member of Ruth's family dies while she is in New York?
Her grandfather
3. What type of customers does Ruth's father overcharge?
Blacks
4. Where does James go in this chapter?
Summer camp
5. What is Ruth's job at the bank?
A typist

Quiz: Chapters 15 and 16, Graduation, Driving to Chapters 21


and 22, A Bird Who Flies, A Jew Discovered
Name: ___________________________________________

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions


Directions: Circle the correct answer.

1. Which of Ruth's friends dies in this chapter?


a) Irene
b) Frances
c) Doris
d) Lauren

2. Who does Ruth phone in this chapter?


a) Her mother
b) James
c) Andrew
d) Aunt Mary

3. Who does Ruth stay with when she goes back to New York?
a) Her Aunt Mary
b) Her grandmother
c) Andrew McBride
d) Her Uncle Theodore

4. What do people presume all white girls in Harlem are?


a) Musicians
b) Prostitutes
c) Transvestites
d) Poor

5. Where does Ruth decide to move to in this chapter?


a) Denver
b) Birmingham
c) Delaware
d) London

Short Answer Questions


Directions: Answer the question with a short answer.

Period: _________________________________________

1. Where did Ruth formerly drive her father's car?

2. Who needs to dissolve Ruth's parent's marriage?

3. What kind of career did Andrew want to pursue in New York?

4. What does Rocky send Ruth?

5. What is James' girlfriend's job?

Quiz Answer Key: Chapters 15 and 16, Graduation, Driving to


Chapters 21 and 22, A Bird Who Flies, A Jew Discovered
Multiple Choice Answer Key
1. a.
2. a.
3. b.
4. b.
5. c.

Short Answer Key

1. Where did Ruth formerly drive her father's car?


North Carolina
2. Who needs to dissolve Ruth's parent's marriage?
A rabbi
3. What kind of career did Andrew want to pursue in New York?
Music
4. What does Rocky send Ruth?
Flowers
5. What is James' girlfriend's job?
Model

Quiz: Chapters 1 and 2, Dead, The Bicycle to Chapters 3 and 4,


Kosher, Black Power
Name: ___________________________________________

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions


Directions: Circle the correct answer.

1. What neighborhood in New York does James live in?


a) Brooklyn
b) Manhatten
c) Harlem
d) Queens

2. What language can Ruth speak as well as English?


a) Yiddish
b) German
c) Polish
d) French

3. Why does Ruth think her father married her mother?


a) To become a rabbi
b) To have a son
c) To move to America

Period: _________________________________________

d) For love

4. What material is the boy's father's clothes made from?


a) Cotton
b) Foil
c) PCP
d) Leather

5. What did Hunter die of?


a) Cancer
b) A broken heart
c) Brain disease
d) A stroke

Short Answer Questions


Directions: Answer the question with a short answer.
1. What is Ruth's job at the bank?

2. Where do James' siblings say his real mother is?

3. What country was James' mother born in?

4. When does James' stepfather visit them?

5. Why does James hit the boy?

Quiz Answer Key: Chapters 1 and 2, Dead, The Bicycle to


Chapters 3 and 4, Kosher, Black Power
Multiple Choice Answer Key
1. d.
2. a.
3. c.
4. d.
5. a.

Short Answer Key


1. What is Ruth's job at the bank?
A typist
2. Where do James' siblings say his real mother is?
In jail
3. What country was James' mother born in?
Poland
4. When does James' stepfather visit them?
On the weekends
5. Why does James hit the boy?
He is afraid for his mother

Quiz: Chapters 5 and 6, The Old Testament, The New


Testament
Name: ___________________________________________

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions


Directions: Circle the correct answer.

Period: _________________________________________

1. What color does the boy in Sunday School say Jesus should be?
a) Black
b) White
c) Gray
d) Yellow

2. What does James say he and his siblings are confused by?
a) The upperclasses
b) Who their father is
c) Their nationality
d) Their color

3. Why is Ruth's family disliked?


a) They are too serious
b) They are Jewish
c) They are rude
d) They are poor

4. What does Ruth say God is?


a) A fun guy
b) A devil
c) The almighty
d) A spirit

5. What does Ruth say God is the color of?


a) Chalk
b) Water
c) Glass
d) Pea soup

Short Answer Questions


Directions: Answer the question with a short answer.
1. Why is Ruth's family disliked?

2. What kind of job did Ruth's father have when he first arrived in America?

3. What does James say he and his siblings are confused by?

4. What part of Virginia did Ruth and her family move to?

5. What religion does Ruth eventually convert to?

Quiz Answer Key: Chapters 5 and 6, The Old Testament, The


New Testament
Multiple Choice Answer Key
1. c.
2. d.
3. b.
4. d.
5. b.

Short Answer Key


1. Why is Ruth's family disliked?
They are Jewish
2. What kind of job did Ruth's father have when he first arrived in America?
Traveling preacher
3. What does James say he and his siblings are confused by?
Their color
4. What part of Virginia did Ruth and her family move to?
Suffolk

5. What religion does Ruth eventually convert to?


Christianity

Quiz: Chapters 7 and 8, Sam, Brothers and Sisters to Chapters


9 and 10, Shul, School
Name: ___________________________________________

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions


Directions: Circle the correct answer.

1. What city does Sam leave for?


a) San Francisco
b) Los Angeles
c) Chicago
d) New York

2. Who does Ruth's father think is trying to steal from him?


a) Orphans
b) Blacks
c) School children
d) Jews

3. What type of customers does Ruth's father overcharge?


a) Upperclass whites
b) Blacks
c) Jews
d) Politicians

4. What kind of shops are in Manhattan's Lower East Side?


a) Muslim shops
b) Jewish shops
c) Gentile shops
d) Music shops

5. What kind of houses do the blacks in Suffolk live in?


a) Mud huts
b) Shacks
c) Mansions
d) Apartments

Period: _________________________________________

Short Answer Questions


Directions: Answer the question with a short answer.
1. Where does Ruth take her children shopping?

2. What does Sam do after school?

3. What does Ruth's father call the school she attends?

4. Why can Ruth not eat Frances' mother's food?

5. Who does Ruth's father think is trying to steal from him?

Quiz Answer Key: Chapters 7 and 8, Sam, Brothers and Sisters


to Chapters 9 and 10, Shul, School
Multiple Choice Answer Key
1. c.
2. b.
3. b.
4. b.

5. b.

Short Answer Key


1. Where does Ruth take her children shopping?
Manhatten's Lower East Side
2. What does Sam do after school?
Works at the store
3. What does Ruth's father call the school she attends?
A gentile school
4. Why can Ruth not eat Frances' mother's food?
It is not kosher
5. Who does Ruth's father think is trying to steal from him?
Blacks

Quiz: Chapters 11 and 12, Boys, Daddy


Name: ___________________________________________

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions


Directions: Circle the correct answer.

1. From whose death does James say his mother never recovers?
a) Her mother's
b) Hunter's
c) His father's
d) Her grandfather's

2. What does Ruth drop behind the store?


a) Her bracelet
b) Her money
c) Her purse
d) Her necklace

3. What happened to black men who dated white women?

Period: _________________________________________

a) They were stoned


b) They were hanged
c) They were imprisoned
d) They were ran out of town

4. In what city of Virginia does Hunter's cousin live?


a) Suffolk
b) Birmingham
c) Charlottesville
d) Richmond

5. Who finds Ruth's bracelet?


a) Her mother
b) Her brother
c) Frances
d) Her father

Short Answer Questions


Directions: Answer the question with a short answer.
1. What does James say Daddy always has his pockets full with?

2. In what city of Virginia does Hunter's cousin live?

3. What day of the week does Hunter always arrive at their house?

4. What does Ruth have to do in the morning before school?

5. What is the name of the boy Ruth meets in this chapter?

Quiz Answer Key: Chapters 11 and 12, Boys, Daddy


Multiple Choice Answer Key
1. b.
2. a.
3. b.
4. d.
5. a.

Short Answer Key


1. What does James say Daddy always has his pockets full with?
Money
2. In what city of Virginia does Hunter's cousin live?
Richmond
3. What day of the week does Hunter always arrive at their house?
Friday
4. What does Ruth have to do in the morning before school?
Open the store
5. What is the name of the boy Ruth meets in this chapter?
Peter

Quiz: Chapters 15 and 16, Graduation, Driving to Chapters 17


and 18, Lost in Harlem, Lost in Delaware
Name: ___________________________________________

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

Period: _________________________________________

Directions: Circle the correct answer.

1. What is the name of the new man Aunt Mary hires in this chapter?
a) Andrew McBride
b) Junior Browne
c) Jason Horace
d) Harper Davis

2. What does Rocky send Ruth?


a) A voodoo doll
b) Chocolate
c) A pram
d) Flowers

3. What kind of church is the Suffolk High School graduation ceremony held in?
a) A Protestant church
b) A Baptist church
c) A Catholic church
d) A Methodist church

4. Who talks Ruth out of seeing Rocky again?


a) Her father
b) Andrew
c) Aunt Mary
d) Her grandmother

5. Who is the first person Ruth tells about her new job?
a) Andrew
b) Her grandmother
c) Her mother
d) Aunt Mary

Short Answer Questions


Directions: Answer the question with a short answer.
1. Why does Ruth not go to Irene's funeral?

2. Which of Ruth's friends dies in this chapter?

3. Who does Ruth say she missed in this chapter?

4. What do people presume all white girls in Harlem are?

5. What kind of job does Ruth find in this chapter?

Quiz Answer Key: Chapters 15 and 16, Graduation, Driving to


Chapters 17 and 18, Lost in Harlem, Lost in Delaware
Multiple Choice Answer Key
1. a.
2. d.
3. a.
4. b.
5. b.

Short Answer Key


1. Why does Ruth not go to Irene's funeral?
She is done with funerals
2. Which of Ruth's friends dies in this chapter?
Irene
3. Who does Ruth say she missed in this chapter?
Peter
4. What do people presume all white girls in Harlem are?

Prostitutes
5. What kind of job does Ruth find in this chapter?
Manicurist

Quiz: Chapters 19 and 20, Promise, Old Man Shilsky to


Chapters 21 and 22, A Bird Who Flies, A Jew Discovered
Name: ___________________________________________

Period: _________________________________________

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions


Directions: Circle the correct answer.

1. What kind of instrument does Andrew play?


a) Guitar
b) Clarinet
c) Violin
d) Saxophone

2. What is the name of the man whose father took over the Shilski's store?
a) Simon Cornfield
b) Alan Harper
c) Jack Goldburg
d) Aubrey Rubenstain

3. What part of New York is Ruth's mother's hospital?


a) The Bronx
b) Queens
c) Brooklyn
d) Manhattan

4. What does Ruth's mother say when she waves the chicken over her head?
a) Freedom has to be cooked
b) You to death, me to life
c) War
d) Life has one savior

5. What does Ruth remember her mother waving over her head?
a) A newspaper
b) A chicken
c) A sheep

d) A flag

Short Answer Questions


Directions: Answer the question with a short answer.
1. What building does James stand in front of in August 1992?

2. Where does James stay the night in this chapter?

3. Who tells Ruth's mother about her own mother's death?

4. What is the name of the man whose father took over the Shilski's store?

5. What did Ruth's mother used to feed the birds?

Quiz Answer Key: Chapters 19 and 20, Promise, Old Man


Shilsky to Chapters 21 and 22, A Bird Who Flies, A Jew
Discovered
Multiple Choice Answer Key
1. c.

2. d.
3. a.
4. b.
5. b.

Short Answer Key


1. What building does James stand in front of in August 1992?
A synagogue
2. Where does James stay the night in this chapter?
A motel
3. Who tells Ruth's mother about her own mother's death?
Ruth
4. What is the name of the man whose father took over the Shilski's store?
Aubrey Rubenstain
5. What did Ruth's mother used to feed the birds?
Bread crumbs

Quiz: Chapters 23 and 24, Dennis, New Brown to Chapter 25,


Finding Ruthie
Name: ___________________________________________

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions


Directions: Circle the correct answer.

1. Where is Hunter buried?


a) Kentucky
b) Virginia
c) Mississippi
d) Colorado

2. Which of Ruth's siblings lives in Brooklyn?


a) Janice

Period: _________________________________________

b) Sam
c) Dee Dee
d) Jack

3. Where does Ruth travel to at the end of this chapter?


a) Harlem
b) Poland
c) Suffolk
d) Louisville

4. Who advises Ruth to marry Hunter Jordan?


a) James
b) Dennis
c) Andrew's parents
d) Her father

5. What does Ruth say about Suffolk?


a) It is still beautiful
b) Nothing has changed
c) It is ruined
d) It is full of bad memories

Short Answer Questions


Directions: Answer the question with a short answer.
1. What celebrates its 40th anniversary in 1994?

2. Who does James take his mother to see in this chapter?

3. What does James force his mother to do in this chapter?

4. What do Ruth and Andrew call their first child?

5. Where do Ruth and Andrew apply for a new house?

Quiz Answer Key: Chapters 23 and 24, Dennis, New Brown to


Chapter 25, Finding Ruthie
Multiple Choice Answer Key
1. b.
2. c.
3. c.
4. c.
5. b.

Short Answer Key


1. What celebrates its 40th anniversary in 1994?
The New Brown Memorial Baptist Church
2. Who does James take his mother to see in this chapter?
Frances
3. What does James force his mother to do in this chapter?
Write her will
4. What do Ruth and Andrew call their first child?
Dennis
5. Where do Ruth and Andrew apply for a new house?
Brooklyn

Tests
Six pre-generated tests are included for your convenience. There is a mid-book test and a final test produced with three distinct levels of
difficulty. You may easily create your own tests using our Quiz and Test Generator related to this product.

Easy Mid-Book Test - Chapters 1 and 2, Dead, The Bicycle - Chapters 13 and 14, New York, Chicken Man
Easy Final Test - Complete Book
Medium Mid-Book Test - Chapters 1 and 2, Dead, The Bicycle - Chapters 13 and 14, New York, Chicken Man
Medium Final Test - Complete Book
Hard Mid-Book Test - Chapters 1 and 2, Dead, The Bicycle - Chapters 13 and 14, New York, Chicken Man
Hard Final Test - Complete Book

Mid-Book Test (up to Chapters 13 and 14, New York, Chicken


Man)
Name: ___________________________________________

This test consists of 15 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions


Directions: Circle the correct answer.

1. What was Ruth's maiden name?


a) Shilsky
b) McBride
c) Goldburg
d) Jordan

2. Where did Ruth's family live when they first arrived in America?
a) Denver
b) New York
c) San Francisco
d) Los Angeles

3. Who does Ruth remember riding through town?


a) The Ku Klux Klan
b) Orangemen
c) The black panthers
d) The Nation of Islam

4. Which of the following subjects does Ruth not learn at home?


a) Sewing
b) Math
c) Knitting

Period: _________________________________________

d) Record keeping

5. What does Ruth say she was starved of?


a) Education
b) Food
c) Love
d) Attention

6. What is the name of Ruth's best friend?


a) Peter
b) Frances
c) Daisy
d) Lauren

7. Where does Ruth's Aunt Betsy work?


a) A factory
b) A cafe
c) A bank
d) A lingerie store

8. What does Ruth say God is the color of?


a) Pea soup
b) Glass
c) Chalk
d) Water

9. What language can Ruth speak as well as English?


a) Yiddish
b) Polish
c) German
d) French

10. What does Ruth's father keep behind the counter in his store?
a) A gun
b) A tomahawk
c) Sweets
d) A baseball bat

11. What does Sam do after school?


a) Hangs outside the townhall
b) Cooks dinner
c) Completes his homework
d) Works at the store

12. What kind of shops are in Manhattan's Lower East Side?


a) Muslim shops
b) Music shops
c) Gentile shops

d) Jewish shops

13. What does Ruth say God is?


a) The almighty
b) A devil
c) A spirit
d) A fun guy

14. What does Aunt Mary's factory make leather trimmings for?
a) Fur coats
b) Hats
c) Shoes
d) Chairs

15. Who finds Ruth's bracelet?


a) Her father
b) Frances
c) Her mother
d) Her brother

Short Answer Questions


Directions: Answer the question with a short answer.
1. What kind of job did Ruth's father have when he first arrived in America?

2. What does Ruth says she suffers from because of her grandfather's death?

3. Where did James' mother spend most of her adult life?

4. What does Aunt Betsy arrange for Ruth?

5. What style of lettering is this chapter written in?

Easy Mid-Book Test - Answer Key


Multiple Choice Answer Key
1. a.
2. b.
3. a.
4. b.
5. c.
6. b.
7. d.
8. d.
9. a.
10. a.
11. d.
12. d.
13. c.
14. a.
15. c.

Short Answer Key


1. What kind of job did Ruth's father have when he first arrived in America?
Traveling preacher
2. What does Ruth says she suffers from because of her grandfather's death?
Claustrophobia
3. Where did James' mother spend most of her adult life?
New York
4. What does Aunt Betsy arrange for Ruth?
An abortion
5. What style of lettering is this chapter written in?
Italics

Final Test
Name: ___________________________________________

Period: _________________________________________

This test consists of 15 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions


Directions: Circle the correct answer.

1. What do people presume all white girls in Harlem are?


a) Poor
b) Musicians
c) Transvestites
d) Prostitutes

2. What building does James stand in front of in August 1992?


a) A war memorial
b) A temple
c) A synagogue
d) An ice cream factory

3. What is the name of the 21-year-old woman?


a) Jackie Vyborne
b) Janice Rock
c) Fred Formby
d) Halina Wind

4. What part of Virginia did Ruth and her family move to?
a) Durham
b) Suffolk
c) Charlottesville
d) Birmingham

5. Who did David become friends with while working on the Wilmington News Journal?
a) Ruth McBride
b) James McBride
c) Dennis McBride
d) Andrew McBride

6. What does James say he and his siblings are confused by?
a) Their nationality
b) Who their father is
c) Their color
d) The upperclasses

7. How did James view his mother as a young boy?


a) Funny
b) Strong
c) Loving
d) Strange

8. How does Frances show her support for Ruth at dinner?


a) She does not eat
b) She throws away Ruth's food
c) She slaps her father
d) She eats Ruth's food

9. What sits outside of Ruth's apartment after Hunter dies?


a) His bike
b) His best suit
c) His body
d) His car

10. What does Aunt Mary's factory make leather trimmings for?
a) Shoes
b) Fur coats
c) Chairs
d) Hats

11. Why does James hit the boy?


a) He is afraid for his mother
b) He wants to see him cry
c) For a bet
d) He is bored

12. What group is the boy's father part of?


a) COCP
b) Nation of Islam
c) Black Panthers
d) Communist party

13. What is the name of Ruth's best friend?


a) Peter
b) Lauren
c) Daisy
d) Frances

14. What kind of drugs does James start experimenting with?


a) Cocaine
b) Marijuana
c) Heroin
d) LSD

15. What do Ruth and Andrew decide to do in this chapter?


a) Have a child
b) Build a house
c) Get married
d) Move to Delaware

Short Answer Questions


Directions: Answer the question with a short answer.
1. Who tells Ruth's mother about her own mother's death?

2. What was the the name of the song Ruth's mother sang to the birds?

3. Where did Ruth's family live when they first arrived in America?

4. What part of Virginia did Ruth and her family move to?

5. What does Ruth's mother say when she waves the chicken over her head?

Easy Final Test - Answer Key


Multiple Choice Answer Key
1. d.
2. c.

3. d.
4. b.
5. b.
6. c.
7. d.
8. a.
9. d.
10. b.
11. a.
12. c.
13. d.
14. b.
15. c.

Short Answer Key


1. Who tells Ruth's mother about her own mother's death?
Ruth
2. What was the the name of the song Ruth's mother sang to the birds?
Birdie, birdie, fly away
3. Where did Ruth's family live when they first arrived in America?
New York
4. What part of Virginia did Ruth and her family move to?
Suffolk
5. What does Ruth's mother say when she waves the chicken over her head?
You to death, me to life

Mid-Book Test (up to Chapters 13 and 14, New York, Chicken


Man)
Name: ___________________________________________

Period: _________________________________________

This test consists of 5 multiple choice, 5 short answer, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions


Directions: Circle the correct answer.

1. What do the muggers take from Ruth?


a) Her purse
b) Her blouse
c) Her life
d) Her groceries

2. How does Frances show her support for Ruth at dinner?


a) She throws away Ruth's food
b) She slaps her father
c) She does not eat
d) She eats Ruth's food

3. What part of Virginia did Ruth and her family move to?
a) Durham
b) Charlottesville
c) Suffolk
d) Birmingham

4. What does Sam do after school?


a) Works at the store
b) Completes his homework
c) Cooks dinner
d) Hangs outside the townhall

5. What material is the boy's father's clothes made from?


a) PCP
b) Leather
c) Foil
d) Cotton

Short Answer Questions


Directions: Answer the question with a short answer.
1. What is the name of Jack's husband?

2. Where did James' mother spend most of her adult life?

3. What group is the boy's father part of?

4. What did Ruth's father open in Virgina?

5. What part of Virginia did Ruth and her family move to?

Short Essay Questions


Directions: Answer the questions with a short paragraph.
1. Describe the character of Daddy.

2. Why is Chapter 2 written in italics?

3. How does Betsy react to Ruth's pregnancy?

4. How did Ruth and her family live in America when they first arrived?

5. How does James react to Hunter's death?

6. How does the 1960s black power affect James in Chapter 3?

7. What does Ruth say about her parents' marriage in Chapter 3?

8. Describe James' brother, Dennis.

9. What is the state of black people's lives in the 1930s?

10. What incident confirms to James that the color of his mother's skin puts her in danger?

Medium Mid-Book Test - Answer Key


Multiple Choice Answer Key
1. a.
2. c.
3. c.
4. a.
5. b.

Short Answer Key


1. What is the name of Jack's husband?
Big Richard
2. Where did James' mother spend most of her adult life?
New York
3. What group is the boy's father part of?
Black Panthers
4. What did Ruth's father open in Virgina?
A grocery store
5. What part of Virginia did Ruth and her family move to?
Suffolk

Short Essay Answer Key


1. Describe the character of Daddy.
Daddy is a gruff man with an easy sense of humor. He is very kind to all the children, but he is a neat person, and refuses to live in Ruth's messy house.
He stays at his old house during the week and arrives at their place on Fridays with a bag of groceries, pockets full of money, and an automobile.
2. Why is Chapter 2 written in italics?
The italics denote Ruth's voice. It helps the reader to feel as though he or she were sitting in on the interview.
3. How does Betsy react to Ruth's pregnancy?
Betsy makes a few phone calls and takes Ruth to a Jewish doctor for an abortion. Afterward Ruth is in so much pain she can't walk. She just cries
continuously and apologizes to Betsy for being a bother. Betsy tells Ruth not to get in trouble again.
4. How did Ruth and her family live in America when they first arrived?
When Ruth's family first arrives in the United States, they live with her grandparents in Manhattan. They are strictly Orthodox and do everything the
kosher way.
5. How does James react to Hunter's death?
After Hunter's death, James' grades plummet and he starts to skip school to drink malt liquor, smoke marijuana, shoplift and break into cars. His
friends become his family, and his mother becomes nothing more than the person he lives with.
6. How does the 1960s black power affect James in Chapter 3?
In 1966, when James is nine, black power becomes a prominent part of New York life. His older siblings revere Malcolm X who had recently been
killed. James is afraid that the people involved with the black power rallies will kill his mother, but she seems unconcerned about it.
7. What does Ruth say about her parents' marriage in Chapter 3?

Ruth says that her parents' marriage was arranged and that her mother had the class and money. In other words her father married her mother so he
could move to America. Once he got there, he was done with her.
8. Describe James' brother, Dennis.
Ruth holds Dennis up as the role model for all her children. Dennis is in medical school and one of the most active Civil Rights students in his college.
9. What is the state of black people's lives in the 1930s?
In the 1930s people are getting sick and dying and Ill black people come into Ruth's father's store to buy BC Powder. The black people in Suffolk suffer
more than most because they live in shacks with no running water, no foundations and no bathrooms.
10. What incident confirms to James that the color of his mother's skin puts her in danger?
One day, James and his mother are walking home when two black men approach, taking James' mother's purse and throwing her grocery bag and its
contents all over the sidewalk. The incident confirms James' fears that his mother is always in danger.

Final Test
Name: ___________________________________________

Period: _________________________________________

This test consists of 5 multiple choice, 5 short answer, and 0 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions


Directions: Circle the correct answer.

1. How did James view his mother as a young boy?


a) Funny
b) Strange
c) Loving
d) Strong

2. What does Ruth drink tea from?


a) A glass
b) A mug
c) A bowl
d) A saucer

3. What building does James stand in front of in August 1992?


a) A war memorial
b) A temple
c) An ice cream factory
d) A synagogue

4. What kind of houses do the blacks in Suffolk live in?


a) Mansions

b) Apartments
c) Mud huts
d) Shacks

5. Who comes to meet James when his mother does not show up?
a) His step father
b) His siblings
c) His father
d) A rabbi

Short Answer Questions


Directions: Answer the question with a short answer.
1. What color does the boy in Sunday School say Jesus should be?

2. What kind of weather is it on the day on the wedding?

3. Who advises Ruth to marry Hunter Jordan?

4. What is James' girlfriend's job?

5. What religion does Ruth eventually convert to?

Short Essay Questions

Directions: Answer the questions with a short paragraph.


1. Describe the wedding James and Ruth attend in this chapter.

2. What is the state of black people's lives in the 1930s?

3. What problems does James say he had as a child of mixed race?

4. Describe Sam's life.

5. How does Betsy react to Ruth's pregnancy?

6. Describe Andrew and Ruth's relationship.

7. Why is Chapter 2 written in italics?

8. Describe Halina's time in an underground prison.

9. Describe the time James tried to teach his mother how to drive.

10. How does Andrew help Ruth get over her mother's death?

Medium Final Test - Answer Key


Multiple Choice Answer Key
1. b.
2. a.
3. d.
4. d.
5. b.

Short Answer Key


1. What color does the boy in Sunday School say Jesus should be?
Gray
2. What kind of weather is it on the day on the wedding?
Rain
3. Who advises Ruth to marry Hunter Jordan?
Andrew's parents
4. What is James' girlfriend's job?
Model
5. What religion does Ruth eventually convert to?
Christianity

Short Essay Answer Key


1. Describe the wedding James and Ruth attend in this chapter.
James is an usher at David's wedding. James wears a black tuxedo and white yarmulke. Ruth sits in the audience, watching the Jewish wedding, the
kind of wedding her parents wanted for her. When the wedding is over, James and Ruth walk outside into the rain. Ruth reminisces about the Jewish
wedding and how it hasn't changed since she was a girl.
2. What is the state of black people's lives in the 1930s?
In the 1930s people are getting sick and dying and Ill black people come into Ruth's father's store to buy BC Powder. The black people in Suffolk suffer
more than most because they live in shacks with no running water, no foundations and no bathrooms.
3. What problems does James say he had as a child of mixed race?
James describes issues he had with being mixed race. He feels that he ran from himself for many years, that he couldn't commit to one thing or another
without knowing who he was. In the end, he grew tired of running, but he didn't feel he could know who he was without knowing who his mother was.
He couldn't find out who she was because she was so evasive in her replies.
4. Describe Sam's life.
Even as a boy, Ruth's brother, Sam, has to do the work of a man. He wakes up early, stocks the store shelves, feeds the cow, and cuts the ice before
going to school. After school he goes back to work. Sam has terrible grades and low self-esteem. After a couple of years he leaves home and never
returns. Later, Ruth hears that he went to Chicago before joining the army during World War II where he died in combat.
5. How does Betsy react to Ruth's pregnancy?
Betsy makes a few phone calls and takes Ruth to a Jewish doctor for an abortion. Afterward Ruth is in so much pain she can't walk. She just cries
continuously and apologizes to Betsy for being a bother. Betsy tells Ruth not to get in trouble again.
6. Describe Andrew and Ruth's relationship.
Andrew and Ruth are not accepted as a couple by many people around them, but they love each other and they feel that's enough. Ruth's world expands
because of Andrew. She learns about music and baseball and Christianity. She converts to Christianity, her Jewish faith having died with her mother's
death.
7. Why is Chapter 2 written in italics?
The italics denote Ruth's voice. It helps the reader to feel as though he or she were sitting in on the interview.
8. Describe Halina's time in an underground prison.
In 1942, Halina Wind, a twenty-one-year-old Jewish woman, was sent by her parents into hiding after Nazis murdered most of the inhabitants of her
Polish town. For fourteen months Halina lived in a wet underground prison, never seeing the sun.
9. Describe the time James tried to teach his mother how to drive.
James takes his mother to learn how to drive. Ruth slams the car into drive and starts swerving down the road, screaming hysterically and James has to
try and keep her on the right side of the road. She makes it to the A&P but won't park the car. When Ruth returns to the car, she gets the pedals mixed
up and mistakes the brake pedal for the accelerator, almost sending James and her grandchild through the front window.
10. How does Andrew help Ruth get over her mother's death?
Andrew keeps telling Ruth to forgive herself, that God has forgiven her. It takes her a long time to recover, but Andrew sticks with her and helps her

work things out.

Mid-Book Test (up to Chapters 13 and 14, New York, Chicken


Man)
Name: ___________________________________________

Period: _________________________________________

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions


Directions: Answer the question with a short answer.
1. What was the name of James' stepfather?

2. What is Ruth's job at the bank?

3. What kind of shops are in Manhattan's Lower East Side?

4. What war does Sam fight in?

5. What does Aunt Betsy arrange for Ruth?

Short Essay Questions


Directions: Answer the questions with a short paragraph.
1. Why does James hit the boy he meets on the bus?

2. How does Ruth's life take a turn for the worse when the family moves to Virginia?

3. Describe the household James was brought up in.

4. Describe Ruth's parents.

5. Describe the cool father at the end of Chapter 4.

6. In what way was church always a joyous affair for both James and his mother?

7. Why is music important to James?

8. How does James react to Hunter's death?

9. What are the problems in dating Peter?

10. Describe Jame McBride's family life.

Essay Topics
Directions: Select JUST 1 of the 3 essay topics and write a few paragraphs of response.
1. Examine James' reasons for writing the book.

1) What does James want to achieve through writing the book?


2) What has James eventually achieved by the end of the book?
2. Examine the following and write how they developed James as a person:

1) His relationship with Hunter


2) His experiments with drugs and crime
3) His time spent in Louisville
4) Moving to Delaware
3. Why do the students think it is important for James to find out about his mother's past? How has his mother hiding her past affected him?

Hard Mid-Book Test - Answer Key


Short Answer Key
1. What was the name of James' stepfather?
Hunter Jordan
2. What is Ruth's job at the bank?
A typist

3. What kind of shops are in Manhattan's Lower East Side?


Jewish shops
4. What war does Sam fight in?
World War II
5. What does Aunt Betsy arrange for Ruth?
An abortion

Short Essay Answer Key


1. Why does James hit the boy he meets on the bus?
James watches a father and son do a magnificent five-minute handshake before the boy boards James' bus. One of the kids on the bus asks the boy
where he learned the handshake. The boy says he learned it from his father who is a Black Panther. Thinking the boy's father will kill his mother, James
hits the boy in the jaw.
2. How does Ruth's life take a turn for the worse when the family moves to Virginia?
When Ruth is a teenager, her family moves to Suffolk, Virginia, where her father opens a grocery store. They are generally disliked because they are
Jewish. Ruth's father sexually abuses her, and she is always afraid of him.
3. Describe the household James was brought up in.
James describes his mother's household as orchestrated chaos. There is never quite enough food, so the kids fight over it and sometimes hide it from
each other. All the boys sleep in one room and all the girls in another.
4. Describe Ruth's parents.
Ruth's father, Fishel Shilsky, was an Orthodox rabbi whom she describes as a fox and hard as a rock. Her mother, Hudis, was gentle and kind. Her left
side was paralyzed from polio and she was blind in one eye.
5. Describe the cool father at the end of Chapter 4.
While he's waiting on the bus, James sees what he thinks looks like a cool father. He is dressed in leather and wears jewelry and a black beret.
6. In what way was church always a joyous affair for both James and his mother?
Ruth converted to Christianity as a young adult, and, as an adult, she loves and looks forward to the Sunday sermon. James describes church as women
"getting happy" and the preacher dotting his sermon with AMENS.
7. Why is music important to James?
In this chapter James enrolls in piano and clarinet lessons at school. One of James' biggest problems is feeling so different from all the other kids he
goes to school with and music helps him escape from his problems.
8. How does James react to Hunter's death?
After Hunter's death, James' grades plummet and he starts to skip school to drink malt liquor, smoke marijuana, shoplift and break into cars. His
friends become his family, and his mother becomes nothing more than the person he lives with.
9. What are the problems in dating Peter?

Ruth knows that dating a black man could cause potentially cause major problems. At that time, black men were hanged for even trying to date a white
woman, and the white woman was run out of town.
10. Describe Jame McBride's family life.
The eighth of twelve children, James McBride grows up in a chaotic but loving home. His mother is a Polish Jew, raised mostly in Virginia. She
marries a black man and lives the majority of her adult life in New York City where people are a little more tolerant of her interracial marriage and
children.

Essay Topics Answer Key


Answers for Essay Topics are not included as there are an unlimited number of possible responses.

Final Test
Name: ___________________________________________

Period: _________________________________________

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions


Directions: Answer the question with a short answer.
1. What does Ruth use the money she steals for?

2. Where does Ruth's father spend his weekends?

3. What is the name of the newspaper James works at?

4. Which member of Ruth's family dies while she is in New York?

5. What is the name of Ruth's best friend?

Short Essay Questions


Directions: Answer the questions with a short paragraph.
1. Why did James think his mother was strange?

2. What incident confirms to James that the color of his mother's skin puts her in danger?

3. What are the problems in dating Peter?

4. How do things begin to go downhill for James when Hunter Jordan dies?

5. Describe Jame McBride's family life.

6. Who is David Wind?

7. Describe the time James tried to teach his mother how to drive.

8. Describe the character of Daddy.

9. Describe Halina's time in an underground prison.

10. What problems do Ruth and Andrew have getting married?

Essay Topics
Directions: Select JUST 1 of the 3 essay topics and write a few paragraphs of response.
1. Examine James' relationship with his mother.

1) How did James' mother help him become a success in life?


2) How does James' relationship with his mother develop throughout the book?
3) Why does it become so important for James to develop a stronger relationship with his mother?
2. What insight does James give about the Great Depression in the Thirties? How does Ruth's parents cope with the Great Depression? In what way
does the Great Depression destroy, or almost destroy, the lives of people close to Ruth? What did American society learn from the Great Depression in
the Thirties?
3. Discuss with the students first person point of view. Why do the students think first person point of view is not necessarily reliable? What moments
in the book do the students think are not so reliable and why? With the students discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using the first person.

Hard Final Test - Answer Key


Short Answer Key

1. What does Ruth use the money she steals for?


To go to the movies
2. Where does Ruth's father spend his weekends?
At his girlfriend's
3. What is the name of the newspaper James works at?
The Boston Globe
4. Which member of Ruth's family dies while she is in New York?
Her grandfather
5. What is the name of Ruth's best friend?
Frances

Short Essay Answer Key


1. Why did James think his mother was strange?
As a young child, James thinks his mother is strange. She doesn't look or behave like their neighbors. She can speak Yiddish and drinks tea out of a
glass. She has twelve children, many more than any other mother on the block. Their stepfather doesn't live with them, coming to the house only on
weekends.
2. What incident confirms to James that the color of his mother's skin puts her in danger?
One day, James and his mother are walking home when two black men approach, taking James' mother's purse and throwing her grocery bag and its
contents all over the sidewalk. The incident confirms James' fears that his mother is always in danger.
3. What are the problems in dating Peter?
Ruth knows that dating a black man could cause potentially cause major problems. At that time, black men were hanged for even trying to date a white
woman, and the white woman was run out of town.
4. How do things begin to go downhill for James when Hunter Jordan dies?
When Hunter Jordan dies, the family struggles to move on. James fails every class in school, starts to shoplift and, on one occasion, robs a petty drug
dealer.
5. Describe Jame McBride's family life.
The eighth of twelve children, James McBride grows up in a chaotic but loving home. His mother is a Polish Jew, raised mostly in Virginia. She
marries a black man and lives the majority of her adult life in New York City where people are a little more tolerant of her interracial marriage and
children.
6. Who is David Wind?
David is Halina Wind's son. James met him at the Wilmington News Journal.
7. Describe the time James tried to teach his mother how to drive.

James takes his mother to learn how to drive. Ruth slams the car into drive and starts swerving down the road, screaming hysterically and James has to
try and keep her on the right side of the road. She makes it to the A&P but won't park the car. When Ruth returns to the car, she gets the pedals mixed
up and mistakes the brake pedal for the accelerator, almost sending James and her grandchild through the front window.
8. Describe the character of Daddy.
Daddy is a gruff man with an easy sense of humor. He is very kind to all the children, but he is a neat person, and refuses to live in Ruth's messy house.
He stays at his old house during the week and arrives at their place on Fridays with a bag of groceries, pockets full of money, and an automobile.
9. Describe Halina's time in an underground prison.
In 1942, Halina Wind, a twenty-one-year-old Jewish woman, was sent by her parents into hiding after Nazis murdered most of the inhabitants of her
Polish town. For fourteen months Halina lived in a wet underground prison, never seeing the sun.
10. What problems do Ruth and Andrew have getting married?
The clerks at the marriage license office speak rudely to them and nobody wants to write up their paperwork. After the ceremony they have their
reception at one of their friends' apartments. Only five people attend the reception, including Ruth and Andrew.

Essay Topics Answer Key


Answers for Essay Topics are not included as there are an unlimited number of possible responses.

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