"The Leap" by Louise Erdrich

What was the mother's job before the narrator was born?

• nurse

• trapeze artist

• rodeo clown

• writer

Tags

CCSS.RI.1.4

CCSS.RI.2.1

CCSS.RI.3.1

CCSS.RL.2.1

CCSS.RL.3.1

When the narrator says that her mother "has never...bumped into a closet door left carelessly open," the narrator is referring to the fact that --

• her mother is unable to walk.

• the narrator always keeps her closet doors shut.

• the narrator's mother is blind.

• the narrator's father liked to play practical jokes.

Tags

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

CCSS.RL.5.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

Why has the narrator returned to her mother's house?

• Her mother needs someone to read to her.

• The narrator's marriage has recently broken up.

• The narrator has not been able to earn her own living.

• Her mother needs help going up and down the stairs.

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.1

CCSS.RI.11-12.1

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

"I owe my existence three times," the narrator says. Which of the following is NOT one of those times?

• the time her mother survived a circus accident

• the time her mother rescued her from a fire

• the time her mother and father first met

• the fact that the mother's first child died

Tags

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

CCSS.RL.5.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

The narrator's mother deals with the past in an unusual way. She --

• keeps old photographs, posters, and clippings all over her house.

• often tells highly exaggerated stories about her youth.

• hardly talks about it and has kept very few souvenirs.

• still seems to think she is living in the time when she was young.

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.3

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

What does the narrator's mother tell her about the act of falling?

• Once you start, you keep going faster and faster until you hit the bottom.

• You can get up and try again, no matter how often you fall.

• It's amazing how many things you can do while you are falling.

• Whether you fall is not important; what is important is how you fall.

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.2.6

At the time the narrator tells the story, she is living in--

• her mother's New Hampshire house in the woods.

• North Dakota, where she grew up.

• a tent at the Avalon Circus.

• a hospital where she is recovering from the fall.

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.3

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.7.3

How did the narrator's mother and father meet?

• They performed in the circus together.

• The father was the doctor who helped heal her mother.

• They were traveling in the same tour group to Rome, France, and Spain.

• They met when the house caught fire.

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.3

CCSS.RI.6.3

CCSS.RI.7.3

CCSS.RI.8.3

CCSS.RI.9-10.3

The narrator's mother performs a heroic act when she--

• directs the firefighters in putting out the fire.

• puts ou the fire with her own hands, burning them severely.

• gives up her own life to save her daughter.

• does a circus leap up to the window to rescue the narrator.

Tags

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

CCSS.RL.5.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

The narrator's father taught the narrator's mother to--

• read.

• listen.

• fly.

• speak.

Tags

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

CCSS.RL.5.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

CCSS.RL.1.6