"Unusual Normality"

"It was a chance at living again, because all I had come to know, since I was eleven, was how to survive. I didn’t know how to live." (paragraph 9) The irony of the sentences emphasize that the author

• had been forced to become a soldier as a child 

• had been able to take advantage of certain stereotypes 

• had been forced to grow up quickly in Sierra Leone

• had been able to succeed as an immigrant to the United States 

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.8.4

What is the best inference that can be made about the author’s message or central idea in paragraph 17? " ...What do these school principals think?... and you're running for your life ..."You know I must take my report card and put it in the back of pocket."

• Americans can scarcely comprehend the horrors endured in war-torn places like Sierra Leone. 

• Significant cultural differences exist between Sierra Leone and the United States.

• Bureaucracies sometimes enforce regulations at the expense of those in need. 

• War inflicts psychic scars that time may be slow to heal. 

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.8.2

Which of the following quotes best establishes Beah’s voice?

• “But I needed to be silent about my background, because I also felt like I was being watched.”

• “It was a chance at living again, because all I had come to know, since I was eleven, was how to survive.”

• “Thus began my two years of high school and making other teenagers confused about who I was.”

• “... and you’re running for your life, you’re thinking to yourself, ‘You know, I must take my report card and put it in the back of my pocket.’”

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.8.4

Read the following quote from Ishmael to his classmates in paragraph 26.

“I’m not weird. Weird has a negative connotation. I prefer the word unusual. It has a certain sophistication and gravitas to it that suits my character.”

What tone is best represented in the quote above? 

• Confused

• Self-assured

• Scornful

• Exasperated

Tags

CCSS.L.8.5C

CCSS.RL.8.4

Which of the following quotes best supports Beah’s belief that his classmates are naive?

• “These kids had a sort of idea of violence that they’d never really live.” (Paragraph 40)

• “They were like, ‘no worries, our African brother. Anytime, anytime.’” (Paragraph 38)

• “They had been to the Bronx. They had been to Bed-Stuy.” (Paragraph 34)

• “I would come up with a watered-down version of another guerrilla tactic just to play with them.” (Paragraph 80)

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.W.8.9A

Which of the following quotations from the text best reveals the author’s reason for staying silent about his life in Africa? 

• “to live with a mother who was willing to take me into her life when most people at the time were afraid of somebody like me” (Paragraph 8) 

• “Thus began my two years of high school and making other teenagers confused about who I was.” (Paragraph 21) 

• “The reason I spoke like this was because of my British-African English that I’d learned, which was the only formal English that I knew.” (Paragraph 28) 

• “I wanted to explain certain things, but I felt that if they knew about my background, they would no longer allow me to be a child.” (Paragraph 91) 

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.W.8.1B

The author’s traumatic past shaped his response to his new environment. Which of Beah’s following experiences in New York show that he still occasionally carried himself like a soldier?

1.When strangers walked by (Paragraph 41)

2.When the boys went rollerblading (Paragraph 45)

3.On a paintballing trip upstate (Paragraph 47-56)

4. In his meetings with school principals (Paragraph 12-18)

• 1 only

• 2,3,4 only

• 1 and 3 only

• 3 and 4 only

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CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.W.8.9A

Which of these best describes the purpose of the selection?

• To show the importance of being accepting towards new students

• To show how people who think they are tough are actually weak

• To explain how the past made the author appreciate his new life

• To describe how it was impossible for the author to escape his past

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.8.2