78 pages • 2 hours read
Christopher Paul CurtisThe Mighty Miss Malone
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2012A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
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 1-9
Reading Check
1. Why is Deza planning to reject oatmeal from this point forward?
2. Who is the victim in Jimmie’s murder plot?
3. Why does Jimmie get so many compliments at the baseball game?
Multiple Choice
1. Why does Mrs. Needham say the A- essay “will be the most important” one that Deza “has ever written?”
A) Mrs. Needham hopes Deza will take the time to proofread in the future.
B) Mrs. Needham plans to submit Deza’s essay for publication over the summer.
C) Mrs. Needham wants Deza to take writing more seriously in the future.
D) Mrs. Needham thinks Deza will improve as a writer with her feedback.
2. Of these, what part of fighting Dolly Peaches does Deza love best?
A) controlling the crowd
B) proving her intelligence
C) humiliating Jimmie
D) making Dolly apologize
3. In what way does Father suggest the librarian, Mrs. Ashton, is like a growling dog?
A) Mrs. Ashton is grumpy toward young and teenaged library patrons.
B) Mrs. Ashton guards the books protectively during summer vacation.
C) Mrs. Ashton is showing her true feelings with what she thinks is a compliment.
D) Mrs. Ashton reprimands those who bring up the upcoming boxing match too often.
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 are Dr. Bracy’s punishments for Jimmie’s theft of her apple pie?
2. What clues suggest that the upcoming boxing match is important to many people?
3. What is Deza worried about after she fights Dolly Peaches? What is the outcome of her worry?
Chapters 10-21
Reading Check
1. What physical effect does Father’s mouth injury have on him?
2. When Deza reads Mrs. Carsdale’s letter aloud, what part does she leave out?
3. When does Deza discover that she no longer has the dress and shoes from Mrs. Needham?
Multiple Choice
1. Why does Father try to get Deza interested in the upcoming boxing match?
A) He wants her to be polite and attentive when they gather at the barber shop.
B) He believes the outcome of the fight will be historically significant and telling.
C) He thinks that boxing carries heavy symbolism regarding sportsmanship and fairness.
D) He cannot imagine any school-aged person treating Joe Louis with disregard.
2. Which of these can be inferred as Father’s strongest rationale for leaving the family?
A) He cannot stand the way Deza’s breath smells due to her rotten teeth.
B) Mother is so thin she cannot wear her wedding ring on her finger.
C) Jimmie is hanging with the wrong crowd and might be in trouble with the law.
D) Poverty and its consequences will leave a lasting impact on Deza’s spirit.
3. What does Mother most likely mean by “any port in a storm”?
A) You cannot be too picky when in need of help.
B) Bad decisions sometimes result from too many options.
C) Repay someone who helped you by helping someone else.
D) Threatening situations prompt poorly-made choices.
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. According to Father before he leaves home, what are at least three details regarding the accident on Lake Michigan?
2. How are Deza’s reactions to Marvin’s car and the girlfriend’s sister’s bedroom similar?
3. Summarize Mother’s reaction when Jimmie calls Marvin’s help and Marvin’s girlfriend’s house “Pretty cool.”
Chapters 22-26
Reading Check
1. What does Deza see after riding the rails that reminds her of the dress she left behind in Gary?
2. What event prompts Jimmie to leave Deza and Mother?
3. In what way do Mother and Deza defy the Flint police?
Multiple Choice
1. What quality seems to be the most important to Stew regarding the shantytown?
A) privacy
B) kindness
C) cleanliness
D) promptness
2. Why doesn’t Mother go after Jimmie when he leaves the note?
A) She suspected he was ready to try his luck on his own.
B) She is angry and hurt, and she sends Deza to find him instead.
C) She refuses to believe that he is leaving and waits for him to return.
D) She wants Jimmie to realize his mistake and come back freely.
3. Based on the Flint math teacher’s interactions with Deza after her first test, what must the math teacher think?
A) that Deza has natural talent
B) that Deza can help others
C) that Deza is tutored
D) that Deza cheated
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. Name three actions taken by the police at the shantytown.
2. What is significant to Deza about the books she receives from Mr. Alums?
3. Give at least two points of description about the Flint school based on what Deza and others say.
Chapters 27-32
Reading Check
1. How does Deza suddenly acquire $10?
2. Why does Deza hit a man in the New Turned Leaf?
3. What role does Dr. Mitwally play in Deza’s story?
Multiple Choice
1. According to his letters, what is Father doing?
A) working at the train yards in Chicago
B) repairing ovens at a steel mill in Indiana
C) traveling state to state as a carpenter
D) recovering in a hospital from his hand injury
2. Which statement best explains why Deza goes to the New Turned Leaf alone?
A) She asks Loretta to go with her, but Loretta says no.
B) She wants to ask Mother to go, but Mother is angry.
C) She must confront Jimmie alone about Father’s accident.
D) She thinks if Mother knows she will be difficult about going.
3. As of the end of Chapter 32 (after a letter arrives with keys), which statement best summarizes Deza’s and Mother’s current situation?
A) They are planning to move back to Gary.
B) They are planning to get a home of their own in Flint.
C) They are planning to stay in a building in Detroit.
D) They are planning to relocate to Chicago.
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. Why does Mr. Zee call Deza “Miss Jones”?
2. What are at least three details that prove Jimmie’s success to Deza?
3. Summarize what really happened on Lake Michigan, according to Jimmie.
Chapter 33
Reading Check
1. Why does Mr. Jackson call Father by the name of Jonah Blackbeard?
2. Why did Father’s letters never reach Mother and the children?
3. What is Deza’s task as Mother helps Father clean up?
Multiple Choice
1. What is the best explanation for Deza’s actions on the first full day in the new house?
A) She is too weepy that Clarice is gone to continue on to Dr. Bracy’s.
B) She wants to know if Dr. Bracy is still in Gary but decides to limit her own disappointment.
C) She assumes that if Mrs. Needham is gone, Dr. Bracy will be gone as well.
D) She wants to track down Clarice’s neighbors for information and runs out of time to see Dr. Bracy.
2. How does Deza know that Jimmie was the one who sent the letters and money?
A) She sees his erased initial.
B) Mother tells her.
C) Jimmie admits it.
D) She deduces it.
3. What is the best statement of theme for the poem Father recites on the way to Gary?
A) hope for a more successful future
B) aspirations that cure loneliness
C) reliance on the love of family
D) self-respect heals heartbreak
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 are two points that Mother makes to convince Deza that the letters are not really from Father?
2. Why does Mother reprimand Mr. Jackson?
3. What do Father’s “sly smile” and shout of “Burma-shave!” indicate?
Quizzes – Answer Key
Chapters 1-9
Reading Check
1. She discovered bugs in it. (Chapter 7)
2. Dolly Peaches (Chapter 6)
3. He gives a great performance of the National Anthem and a Joe Louis fight song. (Chapter 9)
Multiple Choice
1. D (Chapters 4, 5)
2. A (Of the options listed, Deza “loves” the feeling of power when she raises her hand to quiet the crowd.) (Chapter 8)
3. C (Chapter 9)
Short Answer
1. Jimmie must clear her back field and report for spelling and writing tutoring. She also refuses to give him any pie. (Chapter 3)
2. There are posters and cut-outs in the library, and everyone cheers Jimmie’s fight song at the baseball game. Dolly Peaches also references it as he insults Deza. (Chapters 8, 9)
3. Deza is worried that Jimmie is angry at her for humiliating him. He forgives her by that afternoon. (Students might instead mention that Deza scares herself with her behavior and can only hope she won’t be considered a bully.) (Chapter 8)
Chapters 10-21
Reading Check
1. He lisps. (Chapters 12, 13)
2. Jimmie’s poor rate of growth (Chapter 17)
3. when they decide to ride the rails in Chicago (Chapter 20)
Multiple Choice
Short Answer
1. The anchor broke away from the rowboat and they drifted; a large ship swamped their boat; the boat flipping over hurt Father’s face; the others did not survive; Father went to a Chicago hospital before coming home. (Chapter 14)
2. Deza is thrilled to ride in a fancy car and enamored by the lovely furnishings and details in the girlfriend’s house, like the perfume atomizers in the sister’s bedroom. (Chapters 19, 21)
3. Mother slaps Jimmie and lectures him for associating with Marvelous Marvin. She says Jimmie will be indebted to Marvin now and that their dealings will lead to trouble. (Chapter 20)
Chapters 22-26
Reading Check
1. The shelter in the shantytown has gingham curtains. (Chapter 22)
2. Jimmie stays up singing with other entertainers. (Chapter 23)
3. They circle Flint through the woods and go to a friend’s house. (Chapter 25)
Multiple Choice
Short Answer
1. The police tear down and burn the huts and tents, they ruin the kettle by shooting it, and they forbid anyone from walking to Flint. Men with billy clubs whom Deza assumes are police also try to prevent traveling migrants from getting on the train (though they quickly give up this goal). (Chapter 25)
2. Deza is thrilled to discover that the books feature Black characters depicted clearly and realistically. (Chapter 26)
3. The school is not challenging; the Smalls girls tell Deza the teachers are prejudiced; she has multiple teachers, not one; the teachers do not call on her; she stops caring about school but reads more and more. (Chapter 26)
Chapters 27-32
Reading Check
1. She receives a letter from Father and it includes $10 in cash. (Chapter 27)
2. The man is a bouncer (a security guard) in the nightclub and tries to get Deza out. (Chapter 29)
3. He is the dentist to whom Jimmie brings Deza. (Chapter 31)
Multiple Choice
Short Answer
1. Mr. Zee forgets that Jimmie’s last name is Malone and not “Jones” (his new stage name). (Chapter 27)
2. The crowd loves his performance; folks recognize him on the street; a man asks for a favor; he has a manager; he is making plenty of money ($15 a week). (Chapters 29, 30)
3. Mr. Coulter accused Mr. Williams of planning to kill them; Mr. Coulter’s angry attack swamps the boat; Mr. Henderson later attacked Father; Father hit Mr. Henderson in self-defense. (Chapter 30)
Chapters 33
Reading Check
1. Father talked about fighting “off a ship on the ocean.” (Chapter 33)
2. He used the wrong address. (Chapter 33)
3. She holds the cab. (Chapter 33)
Multiple Choice
Short Answer
1. Answers might include two of these: The letters never mentioned nor were addressed to Jimmie; a successful carpenter can’t have an injured hand; there is no such thing as a traveling carpenter; the letters lacked Father’s tone, spirit, and humor. (Chapter 33)
2. Father is in terrible shape: thin, dirty, unkempt. Mother demands to know how Mr. Jackson can let anyone “wallow in their own filth” that way. Mr. Jackson tells her they barely can afford to feed the men there. (Chapter 33)
3. He pretended, jokingly, to see an imaginary sign; he is eager to get back to his joking, light-hearted self. (Chapter 33)
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