47 Selection Review #1 Pages 1-20 1. The table below lists some of the analogies found in this section of poems. For each analogy, state the point of similarity between the two things, people, or situations. Some possible answers are shown. Analogy family dinner compared to prodigal son s return family conversation compared to a just-baked cake C.J. and his dad compared to Old West gunfighters C.J. compared to a prince in his sister Zuri s eyes C.J. and Byron compared to cooking pots Point of Similarity Like the prodigal son, C.J. s dad left his home and later came back; now the family is feasting to celebrate his return. The words are light, airy, and sweet like a cake, but when a knife cuts through, the cake is still wet and not quite finished cooking. Tension is in the air, and a fight of words could break out any time. There s not enough room in the house for both of them. Zuri gave him her loyalty and admiration; but since Daddy s return, Zuri made him king, and C.J. feels he has lost his place. Both of them were angry inside, but Byron took off the lid and let go of his anger, while C.J. is still boiling mad. 2. How does Zuri feel about her dad s return home? Cite evidence from the book to support your answer. Zuri is glad to have her father home, but she does not yet feel sure that he is going to stay around. We can tell that Zuri is glad to have her father home because she asks him to read her a bedtime story. However, we can tell she is still worried that he might go away again because she goes to sleep in front of the door to make sure he won t leave. Also, when she pretends to adopt a dog, she becomes worried that it might run away. The name she gives her pretend dog is Stay. 3. What does Momma think C.J. should do? What does she tell him to encourage him? Momma thinks C.J. needs to talk to Daddy. She recognizes that this is hard, but she tells C.J., What doesn t kill you will make you stronger. continued...
48 4. C.J. describes his dad in seven different metaphors in Seven Ways of Looking at My Father. These metaphors are listed below. For each metaphor shown, explain what it indicates about C.J. s dad according to C.J. Possible answers include: Metaphor for C.J. s dad a shadow a burned-out star a fountain of happiness a wobbly table a broken clock a mirage a messenger How C.J. Explains the Metaphor He blocks the light and cuts C.J. off from view. He doesn t give light out, but the family doesn t realize that yet. He can make other people happy, but C.J. s cup has sprung a leak. He looks okay but could break down at any time. His timing is off and he covers his true face. He looks like a safe tower but when you get there it is just sand. He brings news but all of it is bad.
49 Selection Review #2 Pages 21-38 1. In this section, we see more signs that C.J. s family is still hurting. For each family member listed below, cite evidence that shows how he or she is feeling. Some possible answers are given. Zuri: draws pictures of houses with no doors; her hands are always grasping at Daddy, as if she wants to hold on to him. Momma: says she can hardly recognize C.J. because he s so cold and angry; wears a paintedon smile pretending everything s all right. Daddy: head always bowed as if he knows he s in trouble. Byron: rocks back and forth; says he feels invisible. C.J.: avoids eye contact with Daddy; says he hardly recognizes himself when he looks in the mirror. Grandmomma: tells C.J. that one person refusing to take his place can put the whole family off balance. 2. What is a concrete poem? Describe the concrete poem found in this section. A concrete poem is a poem in which the words on the printed page make a shape or picture. In this section, the poem The Jeweler is in the shape of a diamond. In the poem, C.J. talks about how his father is like a gem that has stopped shining for him. 3. What change in C.J. s attitude do we find in this section of poems? Cite evidence to support your answer. In this section, C.J. is still angry at his father, but he realizes that his anger is hurting both himself and his family. He wants to let go of it but he can t do so yet. We see evidence for this in several poems. In Unidentified Family Member (UFM), C.J. talks about how his anger has made his eyes go dead and his words turn cold. His mother says that something about him isn t right. C.J. concludes, Who knew mad could make/ me/ disappear. Also, in Mountain Climbing, C.J. says he hopes one day his mountain of anger will come down in an avalanche of forgiveness. Finally, in Crazy Glue, C.J. says, I want to stop hating my father/... More than anything/ I want to let go,/ but I can t./ I m stuck. continued...
50 4. How does C.J. s dad try to help the family heal in this section? Explain the extended metaphor he uses to describe his situation in A Talk on the Moon. C.J. s dad keeps trying to talk to the children, including C.J. In A Talk on the Moon, Daddy compares himself to the moon. He says that like the moon, he will always be there. He also says that when he left the family, it was like an eclipse. His problems became too big for him to handle and were like a black cloud covering him. However, he was still there, even though his family did not see him for a while. 5. C.J. also compares his relationship with his father to climbing a snowy mountain in Mountain Climbing. Identify some ways these two things are similar in C.J. s view. According to C.J., the tension between his dad and himself is like a deep chasm on the mountain. Even though his dad tries to talk to him, the words are blown away and have no meaning. C.J. s anger is the huge, ice-cold snowy mountain, and he hopes that one day it will suddenly break down and be carried away by forgiveness, like an avalanche of snow suddenly tumbles down a mountainside. 6. What are some of the things that C.J. s dad tries to communicate in his Man-to-Man talk with C.J.? What change do we see in his position in this poem? In Man-to-Man, C.J. s dad admits he made a big mistake and says he is deeply sorry. However, he also says he is not going to spend any more time trying to win C.J. over. He is ready to take his place as the father and the only man in the house. He does not want to let C.J. keep hanging on to his hate, and he is committed to the family. C.J. s dad has made his apology; now it is C.J. s responsibility to deal with his own anger.
51 Selection Review #3 Pages 43-62 1. Maya takes C.J. s world by storm. How does he feel about her? Cite several examples from the poems to support your answer. C.J. is both thrilled and confused by his feelings for Maya. When she smiles at him, he forgets what to do. He says that her voice is like a fairy s magic wand. When he tries to call her on the phone, he feels confident and ready... until she answers, and suddenly he doesn t know what to say. When he walks her home, he is silent, trying to think of conversation while she chatters away beside him. He decides to shave so that his face will be smooth for her, and he asks for advice on what to give her as a gift. 2. Describe C.J. s friend Preacher. Give evidence to support your answer. Preacher is a confident, intelligent young man. He becomes angry when police officers treat him like a criminal because of his color, but he maintains a straight A average in school and plans to attend Morehouse College. Preacher is also more of a talker than C.J. is. He gives C.J. plenty of advice about shaving and girls, but he does not have have a girlfriend himself. 3. Fill in the blanks in the following: A sonnet is a poetic form that has fourteen lines of ten syllables each with a set pattern of rhymes. A villanelle is a rhymed poem with six stanzas of three lines each. Two of the lines from the first stanza are repeated at intervals over the other five stanzas. Personification is a figure of speech that describes an object, place, or idea as if it were a human being. 4. How does Momma try to make C.J. talk with his dad in this section? What is the result? Momma tries to make C.J. talk with his dad by refusing to sign his permission slip for a field trip. She tells him that he needs to ask his dad to sign it. Even though C.J. wants very much to go on the trip, his pride is too strong.
52 Selection Review #4 Pages 63-73 1. What is Daddy s strategy for sharing his thoughts on women with C.J.? How do you think C.J. feels when he understands this strategy? Daddy s strategy for sharing his thoughts with C.J. is to pretend he is talking to Byron in Byron s room. He knows that C.J. is around and will listen in on the conversation. When C.J. discovers that Byron isn t really in his room at all, he realizes that Daddy was talking to him all along. We can guess that he is surprised that Daddy used this strategy to get through to him. He said earlier that he wished he were Byron so he could have this heart-to-heart talk with Daddy, so he is probably glad and grateful that Daddy found a way to have the conversation with him. 2. What is an acrostic poem? What is happening in Zuri s ABCs? An acrostic poem is one in which the first letters of the lines spell something out, such as a word, a name, or the alphabet. Zuri s ABCs is an alphabet acrostic that describes letters written by Zuri to all of the family members. In them she urges the family to stop being scared and start loving each other again. 3. In Light at the End of the Tunnel, what does C.J. realize about himself? How does this change the way he views his dad? In this poem, C.J. realizes that he is a lot like his dad, both physically and in his character. Like his dad, who left the family for a while, C.J. sometimes feels like just checking out and telling everyone goodbye. Realizing this makes C.J. more forgiving of his dad. Also, he sees how hard his dad is trying to be a good father and bring what he can to the family. 4. The poem Blueprint uses an extended metaphor of a house. Fill in the chart below showing what each part of the metaphor represents. Answers are shown. Metaphor Element House Earthquake Aftershocks Earthquake kit Strong foundations Represents C.J. s family Daddy s leaving home Problems adjusting to Daddy s return Being careful to avoid disappointment Basic principles of love and respect continued...
53 5. In Dance with Me, how does C.J. show that he has finally accepted his father s return? In this poem C.J describes his family members dancing in the living room. His mom and dad are dancing together. C.J. asks to cut in, so his dad offers him his mom s hand. However, instead of dancing with his mom, C.J. takes his dad s hand and starts dancing with him. The silly sight of C.J. dancing with his dad makes the whole family laugh but also cry with tears of relief. 6. Explain the allusion in the following lines:... the water that falls from our eyes flows into one big river but we are not afraid. We are like Peter on the Sea of Glass, only we don t fall in. We keep our eyes on Him. We dance on our tears. This is an allusion to the story in the Bible where Peter walks on the water toward Jesus, but then starts to sink when he looks at the sea and becomes afraid. C.J. says that his family is walking (or dancing) on the water of their tears; but unlike Peter, they will keep their faith strong and not be afraid any more.
54 Name: Literature Test #1 Pages 1-20 1. Fill in the blanks using words from the Word Box at left. C.J. compares the fine dinner Momma makes to celebrate Daddy s return to in the prodigal son story. Word Box cooking pots sticks and stones a knife a prince a gunfighter the fatted calf C.J. compares himself to cutting through the sweet, careful words his family uses when Daddy returns. C.J. compares the hard questions he is afraid to ask his dad to heavy that could hurt them both. C.J. says he is like ready to shoot hard words at his dad: there is not enough room for both of them. C.J. says he was in Zuri s eyes, but then Daddy came back and took over his place as her king. C.J. thinks he and Byron are both like full of anger, except Byron took off the lid and let his anger out. 2. Matching: Match the people listed in the column at left to the things they say. People 1. Daddy 2. Momma 3. Grandmomma 4. Zuri What They Say a. No, this is a family. b. I know... I ll name him Stay. c. Hey, C.J, how about a little hoop? You and Byron against the old man. d. Talk to your daddy... This could be a good thing. continued...
55 3. There is a good side and a bad side to Zuri s feelings about Daddy coming home. Describe each of these, and cite evidence from the book to support your answers. The good side of Zuri s feelings: Evidence: The bad side of Zuri s feelings: Evidence: 4. Choose three of of the metaphors C.J. uses to describe his dad, which are listed below. Tell how he explains each of these metaphors to show his disappointment and distrust. The metaphors are: a shadow * a burned-out star * a fountain of happiness * a wobbly table * a broken clock * a mirage * a messenger Metaphor for C.J. s dad How C.J. Explains the Metaphor
56 Name: Literature Test #2 Pages 21-38 1. Matching: There are many signs in this section that C.J. s family is still hurting. Match the family members listed in the left-hand column to the descriptions found in the right-hand column. Family Members Signs That They Are Hurting 1. Zuri 2. Momma 3. Daddy 4. C.J. 5. Grandmomma a. says she can hardly recognize her son anymore b. says one person out of place knocks everything off balance c. head always bowed as if he knows he s in trouble d. draws pictures of houses with no doors e. wants to stop hating but feels like he s stuck 2. Describe the change in C.J. s attitude in this section of poems. Cite at least two examples from the poems to support your answer. continued...
57 3. The poem Mountain Climbing uses an extended metaphor comparing C.J. s relationship with his dad to climbing a snowy mountain. Fill in the blanks in the following explanation of this metaphor, using words from the Word Box at left. Word Box avalanche chasm mountain echo The tension between C.J. and his dad is like a deep separating them. When his dad tries to speak, his words are lost in an and have no meaning by the time they reach C.J. His anger is like a huge snowy that will not be overcome until there is an of forgiveness. 4. Explain how C.J. s dad tries to reach the children in this section. What comparison does he make in Talk on the Moon? How has his attitude changed in the poem Man-to-Man?
58 Name: Literature Test #3 Pages 43-62 1. Matching: Match the terms listed at left to the descriptions below. Literary Terms 1. villanelle 2. personification 3. sonnet 4. allusion Descriptions a. a description of an object, place, or idea as if it were a human being b. a reference to a song, book, movie, etc. that is not part of the story c. six three-line stanzas, each one ending in one of the rhyming lines from the first stanza d. a fourteen-line poem with a strict pattern of rhymes 2. Which of the following excerpts is NOT an example of personification? Mark an X in the space beside the correct answer. a. Today Preacher s eyes are ablaze and his words are rock hard. b. My words walk with a sure step. They are cocky, strut across the telephone lines. c. Her words are skinny-dipping in the Lake of Conversation. Carefree and easy continued...
59 3. Describe C.J. s feelings about Maya. Give at least two examples from the poems to support your answer. 4. How does Momma try to bring C.J. and his dad together? What happens, and why?
60 Name: Literature Test #4 Pages 63-73 1. Matching: Match the people listed to the things they say. People 1. Daddy 2. Zuri s letter 3. Grandmomma 4. C.J. What They Say a. I d like to cut in. b. Jump back! Let an old lady/ show you how it s really done! c. Time to love each other again./ Until forever. And that means a/ Very long time. d. Bein in love is a beautiful thing./ I don t want you to miss a minute of it. 2. Daddy is in Byron s room giving advice about women and love in Can You Hear Me Now? Who is he really talking to? Why does he make his point this way? continued...
61 3. The poem Blueprint compares C.J. s family to a house. Match each of the elements of the metaphor to what it represents in real life. What conclusion does C.J. draw? Metaphor 1. a house 2. an earthquake 3. aftershocks 4. strong foundations Real Life Meaning a the shock of Daddy s leaving b. the hard adjustments after he returns home c. basic principles of love and respect d. C.J. s family C.J. s conclusion: 4. In Dance with Me, C.J. tells about his family dancing in the living room. Identify the surprise ending that shows that C.J. has finally decided to welcome his father back into his life. Why does the family end up laughing and crying all at the same time?