1. What does Jing-Mei say Mr. Chong would balance on her wrists as she practiced piano so that she would keep them still?
(a) Quarters
(b) Dimes
(c) Pennies
(d) Apples

2. What does Jing-Mei kick under her feet as her mother drags her to the piano for practice after the talent show?
(a) The cat
(b) Throw rugs
(c) The piano bench
(d) The bedspread

3. What complaint does Jing-Mei’s mother make about the young piano prodigy that she watches on The Ed Sullivan Show?
(a) Play not too good, but has character
(b) Play wrong notes and smiles without meaning to
(c) Play note right, but doesn’t sound good! No singing sound
(d) Play wrong notes. Chords are all off

4. What word from the story means to play music with a vibratory or quavering effect?
(a) Trill
(b) Bass
(c) Treble
(d) Sonata

5. How old is the boy at the talent show that is described as wearing a fake moustache and doing a magic show?
(a) 12
(b) 18
(c) 10
(d) 16

Short Answer Questions

1. Jing-Mei describes the girl playing piano on The Ed Sullivan Show as taking a fancy sweep of a curtsy so that the fluffy skirt of her “dress cascaded slowly to the floor like the petals of” what?

2. Jing-Mei describes the girl playing piano on The Ed Sullivan Show as having the sauciness of whom?

3. What illness did Jing-Mei’s mother contract while trying to flee China?

4. Jing-Mei says in the beginning of “Two Kinds,” “My mother believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America. You could open” what?

5. How does Jing-Mei describe the secondhand piano that her parents bought for her?

(see the answer key)

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