4.4 One Plastic Bag Test

1. In the beginning of the story, what makes Isatou angry?

• a. There is a lot of trash on the ground.
• b. She can’t find her way home.
• c. Her basket broke and her fruit fell out.
• d.Things were flying all around her.

2. .The story One Plastic Bag is a biography. Which of the following is not a characteristic of a biography?

• a. It is the story of a person’s life.
• b. It gives facts about real events.
• c. It is told from the point of view of another person.
• d. It has made up characters and events.

3.Where does Isatou get the idea on what to do with the bags?

• a. She goes to the market and sees what others have done.
• b. She watches her sister crochet.
• c. The women decide that it is the best thing to do.
• d. She thinks of it as she visits the pile of garbage.

4.The author would probably agree that the Recycling Women of Gambia are…

• a. Talented and creative.
• b.Crazy and dirty.
• c. Strong and funny.
• d. Talkative and irresponsible.

5. Which sentence from the story shows that Isatou has probably never seen a plastic bag before?

• a. It moves like a flag, flapping in the wind, and settles under a tamarind tree.
• b. She gathers her fruits in the bag.
• c. Something silky dances past her eyes, softening her anger.
• d. Isatou slides the strange fabric through her fingers and discovers it can carry things inside.

6.Why do you think the people in the village laugh at the women crocheting the plastic bags?

• a. They are mad that they weren’t invited to help.
• b. They think it’s silly that they are using dirty garbage to make something.
• c. They want the plastic bags to stay where they were.
• d.They think a different idea would be better.

7. According to the story, what happens after the handle breaks on Isatou’s plastic bag?

• a. She looks for the basket she had dropped before.
• b.She tells grandmother and they find a new one.
• c. She drops it on the ground and grabs a new one that is floating by.
• d.She uses a paper bag instead.

8.What event causes Isatou to try to solve the problem of the plastic bags?

• a. Three of her and grandmother’s goats died because they ate the plastic bags.
• b. She needs to find a way to make money to support her grandmother and herself.
• c. She needs to find work for the ladies in the village.
• d. Grandmother’s goats are starving and she needs to buy them food.

9. Where does Isatou find the tool to crochet the bags?

• a. She finds it on the ground next to the dirty plastic bags.
• b.Her sister lends her one from her basket.
• c. She borrows it from one of the ladies.
• d. She carves it out of a broomstick.

10. At the end of the story, how is the village different?

• a. It is now clean and the goats look healthy.
• b. It is still messy with bags and the goats are dying.
• c. It is clean but there is still a the plastic bag problem.
• d. It is still messy and the people have learned to live like that.