SeedfolksFinal Test Study Guide

Name ______Period ______

Multiple Choice: Choose the best answer for each question below.

1._____Read the sentence and answer the question that follows:

He would only buy food at thebodegadown the block.

What is the meaning of the word bodega in this sentence?

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  1. food and wine shop
  2. Wal-Mart
  1. Mexican restaurant
  2. Hospital

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2. _____ Why does Kim plant lima beans?

A. She wants to show her father, who passed away, that she can be a hard worker.

B. She wants to make something in memory of her father.

C. She likes to eat lima beans.

D. She doesn’t like the dump and wants to fix it up by planting a garden.

3. _____ Why does Ana talk in detail about what the neighborhood is like?

A. She enjoys the company of her neighbors

B. She thinks all the different cultures are wonderful.

C. She wants the reader to understand what the neighborhood was like before and how it has become so divided.

D. She wants to tell the reader that she likes to spy on people, like a detective.

4. _____ What does Ana think Kim is doing in the garden?

A. Planting vegetables

B. Planting a harmful vegetable or fruit

C. Hiding drugs, money, or a gun

D. Digging up a stolen treasure

5. _____ Why does Ana call Wendell to help?

A. They are cousins.

B. Wendell is a janitor and can clean up her mess.

C. They are the only white people left.

D. Ana twisted her ankle and can’t go downstairs to water the beans.

6. _____ Read the sentence and answer the question that follows:

I’d forgotten that tremolo of expectation produced by a tiny forest of sprouts.

What is the meaning of the word expectation in this sentence?

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  1. perfect
  2. hope for the future
  3. sadness
  4. a stalk of beans

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7. _____Why does Wendell take his time filling up the water pitcher?

A. He was busy staring at Ana.

B. He didn’t want to scare anyone.

C. He is getting really old and it takes him awhile to do things.

D. He is tired of people telling him what to do.

8. _____ What does Wendell mean by the saying, “and a little child shall lead them”?

A. Ana led children to play in the junkyard that is becoming a garden.

B. The little child was Ana and she helped Wendell see that he could change something too.

C. Ana led Wendell to a place where he could plant his own garden.

D. Little children do a good job of leading adults places.

9. _____ What does Gonzalo refer to by saying, “the older you are, the younger you get when you move to the United States”?

A. Everyone is older in the United States than in other countries.

B. He feels younger than anyone else in the neighborhood because he is really short.

C. When people don’t know English and they move to the United States, they feel like children who need to learn all over again.

D. His uncle, Tio Juan, is only 5 years old.

10. _____ What helps Tio Juan change from a baby back into a man?

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  1. He is able to plant something familiar in the garden.
  2. He learns to speak English very well.
  3. He moves back to Guatemala.
  4. Gonzalo introduces him to another adult who knows Spanish.

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11. _____ What does Leona plant and why does she plant it?

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  1. Nutmeg—to help heal people who are sick.
  2. Goldenrod—in memory of her granny.
  3. Grain—it has a lot of nutrients in it.
  4. Sunflowers—she thought they were beautiful.

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12. _____ Read the sentence and answer the question that follows:

What if all my plants started wilting? Or caught blight and died?

What is the meaning of the word blight in this sentence?

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  1. sunshine
  2. water
  3. disease
  4. dry wind

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13. _____ Why does Sam say, “People say I’m friendly, no matter what they’ve heard about whites or Jews”?

A. There are other white and Jews that he has not gotten along with in the past.

B. Sam is the only white and Jewish person in the neighborhood, but he is friendly and people don’t generalize Sam like the do other people in the garden.

C. Sam wasn’t friendly to people who weren’t a part of the garden.

D. People like the name “Sam.”

14. _____ Why does Sam compare the garden to Paradise and then to the Tower of Babel?

  1. There were many beautiful flowers in the garden but then they died.
  2. It looked nice except for the trash that towered above everything in the center of the garden.
  3. People were brought together by the garden, but eventually began dividing it with fences and signs in different sections of the garden.
  4. He wants to build a McDonald’s in the center of the garden.

15. _____ What is the importance of the locket Virgil finds?

  1. The picture of the little girl reminds Virgil of a friend she had in Haiti.
  2. The locket belonged to her mother, who passed away a few years earlier.
  3. She thinks it is beautiful and wears it.
  4. She sees a similarity to the goddess of crops and thinks that perhaps the little girl could help with her father’s lettuce.

16. _____ Why does Virgil’s father lie to Miss Fleck about the plots he has for the lettuce?

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  1. He doesn’t trust Miss Fleck.
  2. He is greedy and planted more than he should and doesn’t want to give it back.
  3. He wants Virgil to see that it is okay to lie to make money.
  4. He smiles and thinks it is funny.

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17. _____ Why doesn’t Sae Young leave her apartment for two monthes?

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  1. She doesn’t trust people after what happened to her at the dry cleaning shop.
  2. She feels very sick and weak after her husband’s death.
  3. She can’t remember anything after the robbery.
  4. She doesn’t like the cold weather in Ohio.

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18. _____ Read the sentence and answer the question that follows:

I’d stop before a store window to let him see himself—he has the dignified head of an African chief—only to find that he’d fallen asleep.

What is the meaning of the word dignified in this sentence?

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A. sloppy and big

B. distinct and proud

C. calm and sad

D. long and skinny

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19. _____Why does Sae Young feel safe in the garden?

  1. Sam helps her plant peppers.
  2. People are coming together and have friendly conversations and are having fun with the water contest.
  3. It is not as dangerous as her apartment.
  4. She sees people sleeping on old couches and wants to take a nap.

20. _____ What is Curtis trying to show Lateesha about his values and principles?

  1. He can plant and grow tomatoes.
  2. He has stopped thinking about himself and thinks about other people—he is becoming mature and responsible.
  3. Looks are very important to him.
  4. He wants to help get people, like Royce, off the streets.

21. _____ Why is it most important to Nora that people begin asking about Mr. Myles?

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  1. He was a very mean old man that people didn’t usually like.
  2. He was getting ready to die.
  3. She felt people cared about him and that they belonged to the community now.
  4. The garden of full of the most important and popular people in the neighborhood.

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22. _____ Why does Penny think working in the garden will be good for Maricela?

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  1. She thinks it will help Maricela grow food for her baby.
  2. She wants Maricela to understand that life is valuable.
  3. She wants others in the community to help Maricela with her pregnancy.
  4. She thinks Maricela will meet someone to adopt her baby.

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23. _____ Read the sentence and answer the question that follows:

I don’t know why they called the lot vacant;there was so much garbage in the lot that it went up to my waist.

What is the meaning of the word vacant in this sentence?

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A. full

B. smelly

C. clean

D. empty

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24. _____ What does Amir mean by “the garden’s greatest benefit, I feel, was not relief to the eyes, but to make the eyes see our neighbors”?

  1. Looking at the garden was difficult because the colors were so bright.
  2. The garden had eyes to see what was going on in the neighborhood.
  3. The community garden helped people in the neighborhood see what others were truly like.
  4. The problems in the garden were not as bad as problems in the city.

25. _____ Read the sentence and answer the question that follows:

We finally compromised on pumpkins, after I explained how much he could probably get for them at Halloween, not to mention the advantages of staying out of jail.

What is the meaning of the word compromised in this sentence?

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  1. planted
  2. fought
  3. agreed
  4. jumped

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Extended Response: Please answer, in detail, one of the following questions. Use a separate sheet of paper. For each of the options below, you may choose to write your response in paragraph form or to illustrate your response.

  1. Written Responses
  2. Respond to the question in no less than 2 paragraphs.
  3. Be sure to use textual evidence in your response.
  4. Illustrated Responses
  5. Create an illustration that represents your response.
  6. Illustrations should be detailed. Part of your grade will be based on your ability to express your ideas through your art.
  7. Include 4-5 sentences explaining how your illustration answers the question you’ve selected.

Choose one of the following questions to respond to.

  1. Chose two characters and decide how their actions were important to the development of the garden. Explain what you think would have happened if they had made a different choice. Give specific examples from the book to support your answer.
  2. Compare and contrast two characters. Give specific examples to support how they impacted the garden, where they were from and how that affected their actions, what their relationship was like with other people in the garden and how that influenced the garden.
  3. Identify the relationship between the young and old generations as they work together in the garden. Find at least 3 specific passages about their attitudes, and compare and contrast them.
  4. Identify some of the reasons the vacant lot became a junkyard in the first place. List at least two reasons and tell why you think it affected the lot. Then give at least three or four examples of how the lot changed.

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