1. How many hours a day does Jing-Mei have access to the piano at Mr. Chong’s for practice when she first begins taking lessons?
(a) 4
(b) 2
(c) 1
(d) 3

2. What answer does Jing-Mei give when her mother asks her early in the story, “What’s the capital of Finland?”
(a) Rockland
(b) Omaha
(c) Lexington
(d) Nairobi

3. Who does Jing-Mei tell her mother she wishes she were like as they argue about piano practice after the talent show?
(a) Her “dead” daughters
(b) Her first husband
(c) Her great-grandmother
(d) Her distant cousins

4. Jing-Mei describes her childhood ambitions in the beginning of the story by comparing herself to “Cinderella stepping from her pumpkin carriage with” what type of music “filling the air”?
(a) Sparkly cartoon music
(b) Black-and-white movie music
(c) Whispering music
(d) Old-timey piano music

5. Examine the following sentence from the narrative: “I kept thinking my fingers would adjust themselves back, like a train switching to the right track.” What literary device is used in this example?
(a) Jargon
(b) Simile
(c) Metaphor
(d) Onomatopoeia

Short Answer Questions

1. When Jing-Mei and her mother get into an argument about Jing-Mei beginning piano lessons, Jing-Mei’s mother exclaims, “If she had as much talent as she has temper, she would be” what?

2. Where does Jing-Mei find her exercise notes and secondhand music books at the end of the story?

3. What color dress does Jing-Mei wear for her piano debut at the talent show?

4. Jing-Mei says of Mr. Chong when she began piano lessons that “he must have been younger than I thought, since he” what?

5. What word from the story means coolly unconcerned, indifferent, or unexcited?

(see the answer key)

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