Eleven-Short Story by Sandra Cisneros

Read the following passage: “What they don’t understand about birthdays and what they never tell you is that when you’re eleven, you’re also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one.” Why does the author describe birthdays in this way?

• A. To emphasize that birthdays are important

• B. To explain how people sometimes feel younger than they are

• C. To show readers why people celebrate birthdays

• D. To tell readers how to figure out a person’s age

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Which of the following similes is not used in the story to describe the way you grow old?

• A. Growing old is like an onion.

• B. Growing old is like the little wooden dolls that fit inside the other.

• C. Growing old is like the rings inside a tree trunk.

• D. Growing old is like the rings of an archery target

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How does Rachel end up with the red sweater on her desk?

• A. Sylvia Saldivar says that the red sweater belongs to Rachel.

• B. Rachel says that the red sweater is hers.

• C. The red sweater, along with a crown, is always worn by the birthday boy or girl to celebrate the special day.

• D. Mrs. Price reads the identification tag on the collar, which has Rachel’s initials.

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What does Rachel do with the red sweater on her desk?

• A. She folds it up neatly and pushes it to the corner of her desk.

• B. She moves it with a ruler to the corner of her desk because she doesn’t want to touch it.

• C. She pushes it off the desk and onto the floor.

• D. She puts it over the back of her desk chair.

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What is Rachel’s reaction to wearing the red sweater?

• A. She takes off the red sweater and throws it on the floor.

• B. She approaches the teacher’s desk and tells Mrs. Price that the red sweater does not belong to her.

• C. She pulls her arms out of the red sweater and turns it inside out over her head to amuse her classmates.

• D. She cries uncontrollably at her desk

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Why does Mrs. Price pretend as if everything is okay after Rachel gives Phyllis Lopez the sweater?

• A. She likes the sweater.

• B. She does not want to admit her mistake.

• C. She is too tired to say anything.

• D. She needs to get to the cafeteria for lunch.

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After the incident at school, what does Rachel wish that she could become?

• A. A kite flying far away from its owner

• B. A runaway balloon traveling high in the sky

• C. A tumbleweed blowing across a wide-open space

• D. A feather drifting through the air

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What question cannot be answered in paragraph 11?

• A. How will Rachel’s family celebrate her birthday?

• B. What subject is Mrs. Price teaching to the class?

• C. What ages does Rachel feel when Mrs. Price says the sweater is hers?

• D. What does Rachel do with the red sweater?

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In paragraph 18, which sense does the author not appeal to?

• A. Touch

• B. Sound

• C. Smell

• D. Sight

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What question can be answered in paragraph 21?

• A. Why does Mrs. Price yell at Rachel?

• B. To whom does the sweater belong?

• C. How old does the narrator wish she were?

• D. Where does Mrs. Price find the red sweater?

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