The Girl Who Can

1. Which of these best describes the story’s narrative point of view?

• 1. The narrator is a hyper-intelligent alien from another planet.

• 1. The story is narrated by an adult who writes more clearly than the child she is describing.

• 1. The story takes place in the thoughts of the little girl who narrates it.

• 1. The narrator is an adult trapped in a child’s body.

Tags

CCSS.RL.1.6

CCSS.RL.5.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

1. The narrator’s grandmother criticizes the little girl’s thin legs most likely because .

• 1. she has read too many fashion magazines and has an impossible standard of beauty

• 1. she is an old-fashioned woman concerned with work and child-bearing

• 1. she dislikes her granddaughter and wants to pick on her

• 1. she is trying to start a fight between the little girl and her mother

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.3

CCSS.RL.6.6

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

1. What is most likely the reason Adjoa took so long to mention her athletic achievements at school to her mother and grandmother?

• 1. She was ashamed of them.

• 1. She was waiting to surprise them.

• 1. She didn’t think they were important.

• 1. She was sworn to a vow of silence by her teacher.

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.7.3

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

1. Which of these best describes the condition of Adjoa’s home village?

• 1. It is a wealthy regional market town in a thriving country.

• 1. It is a poor and wretched town in a wealthy country.

• 1. It is a dangerous city surrounded by high mountains.

• 1. It is a village fortunately situated to avoid most of the droughts affecting the country.

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.7.3

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

1. The following passage (paragraphs 14–15) adds to the development of the story mainly by .

   Nana: “As I keep saying, if any woman decides to come into this world with her two legs, then she should select legs that have meat on them: with good calves. Because you are sure such legs would support solid hips. And a woman must have solid hips to be able to have children.”
   
   “Oh, Mother.” That’s how my mother would answer. Very, very quietly. And the discussion would end or they would move on to something else.

• 1. showing that Nana worries that Adjoa’s spindly legs will prevent her from bearing children

• 1. showing that Adjoa’s mother is a naturally quiet person

• 1. demonstrating that Nana and Adjoa’s mother are related

• 1. introducing an important new character into the narrative

Tags

CCSS.RL.2.10

CCSS.RL.2.2

CCSS.RL.2.3

CCSS.RL.4.3

CCSS.RL.4.4

1. Which passage from the text best supports the answer to Question 5?

• 1. “As I keep saying, if any woman decides to come into this world with her two legs, then she should select legs that have meat on them: with good calves.”

• 1. “Because you are sure such legs would support solid hips.”

• 1. “And a woman must have solid hips to be able to have children.”

• 1. “And the discussion would end or they would move on to something else.”

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

1. What can readers most likely infer from the following passage (paragraphs 29–30)?

   When we arrived in our village, she entered our compound to show the cup to my mother before going to give it back to the headmaster.
   
   Oh, grown-ups are so strange. Nana is right now carrying me on her knee, and crying softly. Muttering, muttering, muttering that: “saa, thin legs can also be useful . . . thin legs can also be useful . . .” that “even though some legs don’t have much meat on them, to carry hips . . . they can run. Thin legs can run . . . then who knows? . . .”

• 1. Nana is angry with Adjoa for proving her wrong.

• 1. Nana is planning to steal the cup from the headmaster.

• 1. Nana now sees Adjoa’s legs in a different, more positive light.

• 1. From the beginning, Nana only cared about the race.

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.1

CCSS.RI.11-12.1

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

1. Which passage from the text best supports the correct answer to Question 7?

• 1. “When we arrived in our village, she entered our compound to show the cup to my mother before going to give it back to the headmaster.”

• 1. “Oh, grown-ups are so strange.”

• 1. “Nana is right now carrying me on her knee, and crying softly.”

• 1. “Muttering, muttering, muttering that: ‘saa, thin legs can also be useful . . . thin legs can also be useful . . .’”

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.1

CCSS.RI.11-12.1

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

1. Which synonym of the word sheen best replaces it in the passage below (paragraph 27)?

   Wearing my school uniform this week has been very nice. At the parade, on the first afternoon, its sheen caught the rays of the sun and shone brighter than anybody else’s uniform. I’m sure Nana saw that too, and must have liked it. Yes, she has been coming into town with us every afternoon of this district sports week. Each afternoon, she has pulled one set of fresh old cloth from the big brass bowl to wear. And those old clothes are always so stiffly starched, you can hear the cloth creak when she passes by. But she walks way behind us schoolchildren. As though she was on her own way to some place else.

• 1. polish

• 1. wax

• 1. gleam

• 1. patina

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.4

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4