Everything Sad Is Untrue

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

PAGES 1-104

Reading Check

1. Where does Khosrou’s father live?

2. How old is Khosrou?

3. Name something that Daniel has forgotten.

4. What happened to Aziz’s father?

Short Answer

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

1. Why did Daniel and his family move to Oklahoma?

2. According to Daniel’s father, how did their family get their land?

3. Why does Daniel think he will one day have to fight Ray?

4. Why did Daniel’s mother get him a Miami Dolphins hat?

Paired Resource

“The Importance of Storytelling”

• This presentation by Emmanuel Dzotsi is a TEDx talk at Ohio State University that describes his experience of learning stories in filmmaking.
• This video connects to the theme of Storytelling as a Way of Remembering and Surviving.
• How is Dzotsi’s talk similar to how Daniel talks about wanting to relate to his classmates? How is his argument about storytelling being important connected to Daniel’s use of stories so far?

“A Thousand and One Nights: Arabian Story-telling in World Literature”

• This blog post from the Library of Congress introduces One Thousand and One Nights, providing useful context about the story and its structure as a frame narrative.
• This post connects to the theme of Storytelling as a Way of Remembering and Surviving.
• How might understanding the structure of One Thousand and One Nights help us understand Daniel’s approach to storytelling as we read this novel?

PAGES 105-214

Reading Check

1. Where does Ellie live?

2. What does Daniel’s father buy when they go to Sanaz’s wedding?

3. What is Daniel’s sister’s name?

4. What does Daniel’s mother keep in the rearview mirror?

Short Answer

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

1. Why did Daniel’s mother remarry Ray?

2. Why does Daniel purposely oversleep?

3. Why does the Komiteh come for Daniel’s mother?

PAGES 215-278

Reading Check

1. To Daniel, which parent is like the “god who speaks”? (216)

2. Name something that Daniel thinks can be used to learn about someone.

3. During their flight from Iran, when does it sink in for Daniel’s family that they have no home?

4. How much did Daniel and Dina make from selling mug rugs?

Short Answer

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

1. How were Daniel, his mother, and his sister able to get on the plane?

2. Why does Sima change Daniel’s name?

3. What does Daniel learn about his parents when his father comes to visit in Dubai?

4. What status do Daniel and his family try to claim at the embassy?

Paired Resource

“Meet Young Immigrants”

• This resource from Scholastic details the experiences of real-life immigrant students who came to the United States.
• The videos connect to the theme of The Experience of Children and Attempts to Connect.
• What do you notice about the similarities between these students and Daniel? How are their experiences different based on what is included here?

PAGES 279-352 AND AUTHOR’S NOTE

Reading Check

1. Where does Daniel meet Ali Shekari?

2. What does Sima erase each night for Daniel and Dina to use?

3. How long has it been since Daniel last saw his father?

4. Who vouches for Daniel’s family so that they are granted asylum?

Short Answer

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

1. What does it mean that Ali Shekari was Kurdish?

2. What does Daniel think is important about 1,001 Nights?

3. Why does Daniel give Mrs. Miller the best piece of baklava?

4. What do Daniel and Dina do when Ray gets angry and Sima tells them to leave the room?

5. How does Daniel see himself as different from his father at the end of Massoud’s visit?

Paired Resource

“Remember”

• This poem by Joy Harjo encourages its readers to think about connections to their world and their traditions.
• The lines in this poem connect to the themes of Storytelling as a Way of Remembering and Surviving and Hope and Anticipation in Trying Times.
• What might Daniel remember as a result of reading this poem? How is he shaped by his stories?

Recommended Next Reads 

The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen

This graphic novel is the semiautobiographical story of a young boy immigrating from Vietnam to the United States.

• Shared themes include The Experience of Immigrant Children and Attempts to Connect and Storytelling as a Way of Remembering and Surviving.
• Shared topics include relationships between parents and their children and immigration.
• The Magic Fish on SuperSummary

Efrén Divided by Ernesto Cisneros

The story of a young boy after his mother is deported back to Mexico and his experience being in the United States as an immigrant.

• Shared themes include The Experience of Immigrant Children and Attempts to Connect.
• Shared topics include relationships with parents and immigration.
• Efrén Divided on SuperSummary