My Librarian Poem

The poem's subtitle adds to the development of the entire poem mainly by...

• suggesting that she prefers hardcover books to paperbacks

• setting up how important Mrs. Long would be to the speaker

• pointing out how difficult it was for the speaker to access books when she was a child

• explaining that no one had any idea of what the speaker was going through

What information mainly does the poem’s first stanza convey?

• It shows how important television was at the speaker’s grandmother’s house.

• It establishes the setting in which the rest of the poem takes place.

• It reveals how deeply religious the speaker was growing up.

• It describes the library and bookstore that the speaker held dear to her as a child.

Which statement is best supported by the passage below (lines 26-28)?

Mrs. Long always glad to see you

The stereoscope always ready to show you faraway

Places to dream about

• The library had all sorts of toys and devices for children to try out.

• Mrs. Long regularly held excellent story readings for the local children.

• The books at the library provided a portal to places the speaker had never imagined before.

• The speaker was fixated on what the big library uptown was like.

The speaker most likely includes the following passage in the poem (lines 33-34) to __________.

Probably they said something humiliating since southern

Whites like to humiliate southern blacks

• suggest this racism still exists in the South

• show how far people have come since the racism she witnessed growing up

• show that Mrs. Long was far from perfect

• reveal that racial tensions affected whites and blacks

With which of the following statements would the speaker of the poem most likely agree?

• One small gesture or sacrifice can have a great impact on a young person.

• Fantasy is necessary in order to survive an abusive childhood.

• The speaker never wished for her grandmother and Mrs. Long to meet.

• Children today have no appreciation for the small pleasures of life.

Which of the following synonyms would BEST replace the word "humiliating" in stanza 4?

• confusing

• dishonoring

• depressing

• shameful

What line from the poem best supports the following statement?

There were some books that could only be found at a "white" library.

• "(The main black corridor) sat our carnegie library"

• "She would go to the big library uptown and I now know"

• "I heard nat king cole and matt dennis, june christy and ella Fitzgerald."

• "When I wanted Leaves of Grass or Alfred North Whitehead"

Which of the following selections most closely explains why Francisco is sad in the following passage (paragraph 3)?

“When the sun had tired and sunk behind the mountains, Ito signaled us that it was time to go home. ‘Ya esora,’ he yelled in his broken Spanish. Those were the words I waited for twelve hours a day, every day, seven days a week, week after week. And the thought of not hearing them again saddened me.”

• Picking strawberries is his favorite thing to do.

• He is not looking forward to moving again.

• He does not enjoy the nighttime.

• He is closer with Ito than he is with his father.

What is most likely the author’s reason for including the following detail in Paragraph 27?

“I was so nervous and scared at that moment when everyone’s eyes were on me that I wished I were with Papá and Roberto picking cotton.”

• To reveal that Francisco’s true passion was to work in the fields

• To demonstrate that Francisco was not cut out for school

• To show that Francisco had mixed feelings about school

• To point out how unfair it was for Mr. Lema to force Francisco to introduce himself

Which of the following statements would the author of this text most likely agree with?

• Exposing a child to music is even more important than teaching them to read.

• Even though families of migrant workers have been forced into chaotic lives, their children are generally unaffected by the frequent changes.

• Education provides stability and hope, even for children with unstable lives.

• The experience that children of migrant workers gain in the fields sets them up for wealthy futures.