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Quiz
Reading Check, Multiple Choice & Short Answer Quizzes
Reading Check questions are designed for in-class review on key plot points or for quick verbal or written assessments. Multiple Choice and Short Answer Quizzes create ideal summative assessments, and collectively function to convey a sense of the work’s tone and themes.
Chapters 1-17
Reading Check
1. What instrument does Izzy play?
2. What does Izzy call the “Great Exchange”?
Multiple Choice
1. Over what topic do Izzy’s parents have one of their most emotional arguments?
A) They argue over where Izzy will go to school.
B) They cannot agree if Izzy should retake her yearbook picture.
C) They fight over the color of Kool-Aid.
D) They battle about adopting a dog.
2. What does Izzy’s father do?
A) He is a minister of a non-denominational congregation.
B) He is a high school history teacher and an assistant football coach.
C) He works as a high-profile corporate lawyer.
D) He works as a cook at a truck stop outside Cincinnati.
3. Which statement best describes Darren, Anastasia’s son?
A) He has been a difficult teenager to raise, given to long periods of not talking.
B) He is a promising athlete and a stellar student who volunteers to help out in his community.
C) Although painfully shy, he keeps a cheerful attitude and masters social skills.
D) He is a proficient video gamer who plays games as a way to cope with his parents’ divorce.
4. To what does Izzy compare her parents’ custody agreement?
A) She says it is like getting whiplash at the amusement park ride.
B) She says she feels like a used car that no one wants.
C) She says it is similar to a menu item at her mother’s Waffle House.
D) She says it is like being launched into deep space.
5. What is the subject of the essay Mr. Kazilly assigns Izzy’s class?
A) “My Favorite Poem”
B) “If I Could Put Anybody on Mount Rushmore It Would Be…”
C) “The Real Me”
D) “My Spirit Animal”
6. What kind of vehicle does Izzy’s father drive?
A) a black Mercedes
B) a beat-up Honda
C) a Harley motorcycle
D) a snazzy Italian sportscar
7. What is the occupation of Izzy’s mother’s boyfriend, John Mark?
A) He is a security guard at Izzy’s favorite mall.
B) He cooks at the Waffle House where Izzy’s mother works.
C) He owns a bowling alley.
D) He is a mechanic at a Mercedes dealership.
8. What does Anastasia reveal to Izzy when Izzy sits down at the Steinway piano?
A) When she was a child, she also played piano.
B) She is tone deaf and only bought the piano as an investment.
C) She once met Duke Ellington but thought he was a taxi driver.
D) Her mother was a concert pianist in Boston.
9. What does Izzy decide about herself when she looks in the mirror after a shower?
A) Despite her earlier insecurities, she is pretty, really pretty.
B) She brings together physical aspects of both her parents—like her parents were put in a blender.
C) She looks like her mother, except her skin is a shade or two darker.
D) Actually, she has had her father remove the mirrors from her bathroom—she does not like looking at herself.
Short-Answer Response
Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What does Izzy’s approach to her upcoming recital reveal about her character?
2. What is the central concern of Izzy’s essay?
3. What do you learn about Izzy’s parents based on her descriptions of taking showers at each place?
Chapters 18-29
Reading Check
1. When Mr. Kazilly discusses race in America, what word does Izzy not recognize?
2. What does Imani, Izzy’s Black friend, find in her locker during gym class?
Multiple Choice
1. Izzy calls herself “the triple backpack kid.” One is the knapsack her mother gave her; the second is a Vera Bradley bag her father gave her. What is the third bag?
A) It is a small backpack for her piano music.
B) It is a vintage lunchbox with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme.
C) It is her new make-up bag her soon-to-be stepmother gave her.
D) It is a garish pencil bag that she decorated with rhinestones.
2. According to Madame Rubenstein, Izzy’s piano instructor, what should music be like?
A) dancing: fun, spontaneous, and from the heart
B) cooking: everything geared to pleasing others
C) water: flowing all around the audience
D) math: everything carefully planned, counted, and played
3. When Izzy asks her father whether she is black or white, what is his response?
A) He says it does not matter; what matters is who she is as a person.
B) He responds with a simple and plain word: Yes.
C) He says she is blended, the first time she hears that expression.
D) He says nothing and only smiles.
4. When the class talks about the locker incident, what does Izzy suggest is the only way to get rid of hate?
A) music, with a school-wide concert
B) love, with hearts all over the school
C) activism, with a class petition for the mayor’s office
D) punishment, with expulsion for whomever pulled the prank
5. How does Izzy identify herself on standardized tests?
A) She checks “Black.”
B) She marks “white.”
C) She checks “unknown.”
D) She always leaves the question blank.
6. What topic does Izzy select for a research project?
A) the poetry of Langston Hughes
B) the speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
C) the sci-fi epic Dune
D) the music of Wolfgang Mozart
7. What poem does Izzy find particularly striking?
A) “Ego Tripping,” Nikki Giovanni
B) “Still I Rise,” Maya Angelou
C) “Dawn,” Paul Laurence Dunbar
D) “Cross,” Langston Hughes
8. In a poem she writes called “Criss Cross,” to what does Izzy compare herself?
A) a multicolored flower
B) a lost dog
C) a rainbow
D) a wounded bird
9. What piece of music does Izzy practice for her recital?
A) a classic Duke Ellington piece called “Take the A-Train”
B) a Chopin etude that makes her think of falling in love
C) Muzio Clementi’s notoriously difficult Sonatina in C Major
D) a little-known Scott Joplin rag called “Solace”
10. For what song does Izzy find sheet music in Anastasia’s piano bench?
A) a Stevie Wonder classic, “Uptight”
B) a boogie-woogie gem, “Bumble Boogie”
C) a Chopin nocturne
D) a little-known Chuck Berry song, ”You Never Can Tell”
Short-Answer Response
Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What does Logan’s comment about lynching and subsequent behavior demonstrate about his character?
2. What does John Mark’s confession to Izzy reveal about his character?
3. What does Izzy’s original poem reveal about herself?
4. What does Izzy discover about herself when she plays boogie-woogie music on the piano?
Chapters 30-44
Reading Check
1. What image does Imani see on the television that frightens her?
2. Why does the security guard at the upscale dress store ask Imani and Izzy to leave?
Multiple Choice
1. When Izzy spends the night at Imani’s house, she notices the home’s decorations. What are they?
A) There are none; the walls are strangely bare.
B) She finds African paintings and decorative masks.
C) The walls are lined with vintage movie posters.
D) She sees family photographs dating back two generations.
2. How do the two blended families react when they all get together for Izzy’s Open House?
A) They ignore each other entirely; they do not even stand in the same rooms.
B) They end up fighting when Izzy’s mother criticizes her father.
C) They get along easily and even happily share cookies and punch.
D) They are awkwardly quiet and just smile and pretend to be friendly.
3. When Darren drops Izzy off at the mall, what is Izzy’s reaction?
A) She is scared; it is the first time she is on her own.
B) She is excited to be with neither her mother nor father; this will be her own time.
C) She is sad, overwhelmed by being alone, and sits by the water fountain.
D) She worries and heads to the food court for ice cream.
Short-Answer Response
Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What does the conversation in the garden between Izzy and Darren reveal about the novel’s themes?
2. Why does Izzy find the Joyce Kilmer poem about the beauty of trees suspect?
Chapters 45-59;
Chapters 60-77
Reading Check
1. What does Izzy’s mindset the afternoon of the recital reveal about her character?
2. Why is Darren pulled over by the Cincinnati police?
Multiple Choice
1. What is the problem when both of Izzy’s parents decide to get remarried?
A) They schedule their weddings for the same day.
B) They both file papers to get full custody of Izzy.
C) They try to book the same minister.
D) They do not want Izzy in the ceremony, and Izzy feels left out.
2. Why does Izzy’s father call the police on Izzy’s mother?
A) He suspects she and her fiancé are smoking marijuana in front of Izzy.
B) He wants her charged with slapping Izzy after Izzy questioned her.
C) He wants to scare Izzy for making a scene in the dress shop.
D) He wants to make a point about Izzy’s mom’s lateness at the mall.
3. The afternoon of the recital, why does Darren take Izzy to the ice cream shop?
A) He wants to help her relax a bit.
B) They need to kill some time.
C) Darren wants to say hi to one of the counter girls.
D) They go in the store for directions.
4. Why is Izzy shot?
A) She tries to run for help.
B) She gets in the face of the female officer.
C) She refuses to lie down on the street.
D) She reaches for her cell phone.
5. How does Darren react to the encounter with the police?
A) He is bitter and refuses to return to school.
B) He assures Izzy that he will not let negativity ruin his life.
C) He goes to social media and raises a firestorm of protest.
D) He writes a poem about racism, which he compares to a housefire.
Short-Answer Response
Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. How does the parents’ showdown at the mall impact Izzy?
2. What is the importance of the hospital scene after Izzy has been shot?
3. What does the closing scene in which Izzy listens to Beethoven suggest thematically?
Quizzes – Answer Key
Chapters 1-17
Reading Check
1. piano (Chapter 1)
2. It is what Izzy calls the custody exchange when one of her parents hands her off to the other, usually in the mall. (Chapter 14)
Multiple Choice
1. C (Chapter 2)
2. C (Chapter 11)
3. B (Chapter 7)
4. A (Chapter 8)
5. C (Chapter 9)
6. A (Chapter 11)
7. C (Chapter 13)
8. A (Chapter 14)
9. B (Chapter 16)
Short Answer Response
1. Izzy is diligent, practicing every day. She realizes the upcoming recital is important to parents and piano teachers even though it is supposed to be “low-stress.” It’s very important to her to perform well because the venue is impressive—a recital hall at the University of Cincinnati where she once heard a famous pianist play. She wants to hit every note because in a space like that, “every mistake echoes like thunder.” (Chapter 12)
2. Izzy cannot define the real her, the subject of the assignment, because she says there are two of her. She discusses how even her name represents two different parts: Isabella, a name that suggests fairy tales and blue-eyed princesses, and Badia, a middle name with its roots in African culture. (Chapter 10)
3. The shower at Izzy’s father’s townhouse has a pulsing delivery system and several degrees of temperature and strength. It is one sign of his upper-class lifestyle, his affluent home, and his wealth. Her mother’s shower, by contrast, loses the hot water after only a few minutes. Importantly, Izzy does not judge her mother’s middle-class shower; it occurs to her how her mother would love the fancy shower at her father’s. (Chapter 16)
Chapters 18-29
Reading Check
1. lynching (Chapter 20)
2. a rope tied in a noose (Chapter 21)
Multiple Choice
1. A (Chapter 18)
2. C (Chapter 19)
3. B (Chapter 23)
4. B (Chapter 25)
5. A (Chapter 28)
6. A (Chapter 28)
7. D (Chapter 28)
8. A (Chapter 28)
9. C (Chapter 29)
10. B (Chapter 29)
Short Answer Response
1. For Logan, a noose is associated with Hollywood Westerns and hence has no larger significance. His snide remark and his pretending to choke himself, done largely for laughs from his equally insensitive friends, reflects a lack of race education. (Chapter 20)
2. In telling Izzy about his father who drank too much and agitated against Blacks and Jews, John Mark wants to make sure that Izzy understands he is not like that, and that after witnessing his father’s anger and ignorance, he has tried in every way to be different and accepting. His tears as he explains this to Izzy show his sincerity. (Chapter 24)
3. The poem is a heartfelt admission that Izzy sees herself as hopelessly complicated. Like the Hughes poem she reads in which the poet acknowledges his biracial background, Izzy confesses her confusion over her identity. She is part her Black father—she compares that to the earth; she is part her white mother—she compares that to the heavens. She sees herself as an original blend, a mix of different shades and different nuances. (Chapter 28)
4. Unlike her work with the Clementi sonatina, here Izzy feels emotionally liberated. She forgets the careful counting and fingering of the sonatina and finds herself playing with unexpected gusto and power; her two hands play different lines together. (Chapter 29)
Chapters 30-44
Reading Check
1. She sees a noose, part of a hanging scene in an old Western. (Chapter 31)
2. The guard sees the two Black girls as potential shoplifting risks. In addition, because they are Black, the guard assumes they don’t have the financial resources to purchase anything in the store.. (Chapter 40)
Multiple Choice
Short Answer Response
1. Izzy is concerned over how early the daffodils are blooming and how they might be killed by a return of late winter. Darren, older and wiser, assures her that the daffodils are blooming at exactly the right time—their time. Thematically, this wisdom foreshadows Izzy’s own emotional and psychological growth when she must learn at an early age the reality of racism. (Chapter 32)
2. She understands that despite the pretty words and the happy images of beautiful trees, the poem ignores the reality of bugs and how bugs can destroy trees. (Chapter 35)
Chapters 45-59;
Chapters 60-77
Reading Check
1. She is nervous and excited; she practices many times. She tells herself she has practiced, she knows the music, she is in control—she believes preparation will ensure success. (Chapter 64-66)
2. They suspect he held up a bank at a strip mall near the ice cream shop. (Chapter 67, 68)
Multiple Choice
Short Answer Response
1. After Izzy runs from the police, the parents realize how much their petty quarreling is hurting their daughter. They embrace in the parking lot. For Izzy it is the first time she can remember being hugged at the same time by both her parents. (The scene foreshadows the later reconciliation scene in the hospital.) (Chapter 54)
2. As the nurse says, “Tragedy often brings togetherness.” Izzy sees both sides of her family coming together in the hospital. Both her parents worry about her recovery. They hold hands, and they pray together. They agree to hold their upcoming weddings on different days. (Chapter 70-76)
3. Recovering from the gunshot wound and refusing to give in to anger, Izzy listens to the music and realizes how the delightful melody is the result of the harmony of opposites: faster and then slower; louder and then softer; black keys and white keys; left hand and right hand. Music thus becomes a symbol of the powerful result of blending opposite elements perfectly, which suggests her new mindset about her own identity. She is no longer Black or white, but Black/white, a blended harmony. (Chapter 77)
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