Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Chapters 1-4

Reading Check

1. What is one of the nicknames that the girls at school call Genesis?

2. What fruit does Grandma believe has healing powers?

3. After Genesis and her family are evicted, what city do they move to?

4. In Chapter 4, what falls out of Emory’s pocket and tips Mama off that he has been gambling again?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. As shown in Chapters 1-4, what are the negative effects of Emory’s alcoholism on Genesis and his family?

Paired Resource

 “Gambling Disorder”

• Emory suffers from a gambling addiction, which controls the direction of his family’s life. In this factsheet, Yale Medicine describes how gambling addiction can wreak havoc on someone’s life, while also speculating on the origins of a gambling addiction.
• This connects to the theme of The Effects of Poverty and Addiction.
• What symptoms of a gambling disorder, as described in this article, do you see in the character of Emory?

Chapters 5-9

Reading Check

1. What is the name of Genesis’s strict, rule-driven English and homeroom teacher at her new middle school?

2.