84 pages • 2 hours read
Prairie Lotus
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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 1-5
Reading Check
1. With whom does Hanna share soup on the way to LaForge?
2. If “trouble” arises at school, who will decide how to handle Hanna’s continued attendance (Chapter 3)?
3. What does Hanna do when she hears the schoolgirls whispering about her?
Multiple Choice
1. Based on Papa’s reaction to the Native women Hanna encounters, what can be inferred about his opinions on American progress?
A) Progress is more important than individual success.
B) Progress is less important than his new business venture.
C) Progress is more important than removing people from their home.
D) Progress is less important than caring for neighbors and new inhabitants.
2. How does Miss Walters show early on that she supports Hanna’s attending the school?
A) She gives Hanna a set of seats all to herself.
B) She calls on Hanna several times the first day.
C) She allows Hanna to keep her bonnet on.
D) She reprimands those who whisper about Hanna.
3. What is implied by Mama’s reference to Korea as a “secret place” (Chapter 5)?
A) Mama was half-Korean, half-Chinese, but no one knew.
B) China is made up of a variety of cultures and regions.
C) Korea was not on any maps of the world until the 2000s.
D) Americans know even less about Korea than China in 1880.
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 three specific ways within the first few chapters that the author shows Mama’s influence on Hanna?
2. How did Hanna’s mother die?
3. Why does Papa initially not support Hanna’s desire to finish her education?
Chapters 6-12
Reading Check
1. What detail about California amazes Hanna’s classmates?
2. Who eavesdrops on the depot meeting along with Hanna?
3. How does Mr. Hart show that he respects Hanna’s opinion?
Multiple Choice
1. Which statement is true about Papa’s speech at the depot meeting?
A) He explains the noble way in which Mama tried to help friends before she died.
B) He emphasizes that Mama shared the religious views of the people of the town.
C) He shares that Mama taught Hanna how to sew and him how to select dress goods.
D) He tells them that Mama had no choice to come to America but lived a pious life.
2. What occurs at school because the townspeople do not approve of Hanna?
A) Fewer students attend each day.
B) Some students arrive with signs of protest.
C) All students ignore Hanna and pretend she is not there.
D) One student avoids the water bucket because Hanna uses it.
3. Why does Hanna feel a “weariness” come over her when she speaks with Dolly (Chapter 11)?
A) She knows Dolly will be reprimanded for walking with Hanna, but Dolly will not listen.
B) Dolly wants to talk about boys and what it might be like to “step out” with some in the class.
C) She is tired from sleeplessness caused by the depot meeting and Dolly’s father’s role there.
D) Dolly doesn’t understand that one’s appearance has nothing to do with skills or intelligence.
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. How does Miss Walters’s lesson on coming from different places both succeed and fail?
2. What adult life does Hanna envision for herself in the best of circumstances?
3. Based on the events in these chapters, what can be surmised about the relationships between parents and children in 1880 LaForge?
Chapters 13-17
Reading Check
1. Why are Hanna’s last two weeks of school so busy?
2. How does Papa surprise Hanna in acknowledging Mama’s memory in the final shop preparations?
3. What is Papa’s initial response when Miss Walters, Mrs. Tanner, and Mrs. Grantham express interest in made-for-purchase dresses?
Multiple Choice
1. Regarding the shop opening, which statement about Hanna’s influence on Papa is accurate?
A) He agrees with expensive fabric for show but disagrees about the mirror.
B) He agrees with several raffle prize ideas but disagrees about the discount.
C) He agrees with the idea of lemonade but disagrees about adding party snacks.
D) He agrees with Hanna’s layout for the workroom but disagrees with her desk placement.
2. In what way does Papa most clearly acknowledge Hanna’s increasing maturity?
A) He says he is proud of her for receiving her diploma.
B) He considers her a worthy opponent in an argument.
C) He suggests she allow a helper to come to the shop.
D) He charges her with duties for the shop opening.
3. Based on context clues, what is the mood of the scene in which Hanna digs for timpsina?
A) exciting, enthusiastic, and exhausting
B) quiet, calm, and companionable
C) anxious, silent, and rushed
D) frustrating, apprehensive, and emotional
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. Miss Walters offers a “compromise” plan for the end of Hanna’s schooling (Chapter 13). Hanna has complex feelings about the idea but ultimately goes along with it. In what way does Hanna both win and lose something with this “compromise”?
2. What does Papa finally reveal as his real reason for prohibiting Hanna from being a dressmaker?
3. Explain the terms of the business deal between Hanna and Papa.
Chapters 18-22
Reading Check
1. What part of dressmaking is Hanna nervous to accomplish?
2. What must Hanna do to avoid arrest, according to Mr. Harris?
3. Why did Papa and Mama go to Arizona Territory to be married?
Multiple Choice
1. Based on the way in which Bess accepts the job as Hanna’s helper, which statement about the Harris family can be most strongly supported?
A) Neither Mr. Harris nor Mrs. Harris expected Bess to want to work at the shop.
B) Mr. Harris loves Bess and would give her anything, even if Mrs. Harris says no.
C) Mr. Harris does not want Mrs. Harris’s qualms to keep Bess from taking the job.
D) Both Mrs. Harris and Mr. Harris are concerned about their reputation in the town.
2. Which adjectives describe the shop atmosphere on Bess’s first day of work before and during Mrs. Harris’s visit?
A) friendly, then tense
B) excited, then mellow
C) stilted, then cozy
D) anxious, then angry
3. Considering the events of Chapters 18-22, what might Hanna’s mistake in sewing the dress, and Bess’s remarks regarding the error, symbolize?
A) trial and error
B) fellowship and harmony
C) hardship and regret
D) perseverance and resiliency
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. To what historical event does Hanna refer when she reacts to Mrs. Harris’s comments in the shop?
2. Describe Bess’s behavior after her mother leaves the dress goods shop on Bess’s first day.
3. Why is Hanna upset with Papa’s reaction to her referencing his marriage to Mama as Hanna and Papa argue?
Chapters 23-Author’s Note
Reading Check
1. Why is no one planning to attend the dress shop opening?
2. What finishing touch does Hanna add to the dress in the middle of the night?
3. What advice does Miss Walters have when Hanna goes to her?
4. Author’s Note: What two events in US history during the 1800s brought thousands of Chinese immigrants to America in “two main waves”?
5. Author’s Note: Why does the author use the words “Sioux” and “Indian” in Prairie Lotus to refer to Wichapiwin, although she knows Native people in that region were members of the Ihanktonwan tribe?
Multiple Choice
1. Why does Hanna ask Bess to speak to the ladies of the town?
A) She asked Miss Walters to talk to them, but she politely refused.
B) Papa would forbid her attending the opening if he found out.
C) Hanna is too traumatized and afraid to try to talk to them herself.
D) They might listen to Bess, whereas they would not believe Hanna.
2. What is implied when Sam asks about doll clothes?
A) His mother sent him with an order as an apology.
B) His sister has requested them as her birthday present.
C) His interest in and kindness toward Hanna will continue.
D) His allowance is not enough for a real dress order.
3. Why does Hanna not see that a resemblance exists between Mama and her until the last chapter?
A) She stops braiding her hair and realizes Mama wore hers unbraided as well.
B) She does not see a full-length reflection of herself until after the opening.
C) She does not think of herself as a dressmaker until the shop is a success.
D) She grows several inches taller in the time after arriving in LaForge.
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. How does Hanna stop Mr. Swenson’s harassment and physical attack?
2. How and when does Hanna realize Bess followed through with her (Hanna’s) requested favor?
3. What actions does Hanna plan to take against Mr. Swenson?
4. Author’s Note: Why does the author, Linda Sue Park, call her writing of Prairie Lotus “an attempt at a painful reconciliation”?
Quizzes – Answer Key
Chapters 1-5
Reading Check
1. a group of Native women whom Hanna thinks of as “Sioux” (Chapter 1)
2. Miss Walters (Chapter 3)
3. She takes her bonnet off so that they can see her face. (Chapter 5)
Multiple Choice
Short-Answer Response
1. Hanna often recalls Mama’s advice, such as when she shares soup with the Native women, when she reminds Papa about the importance of finishing school, and when she summons courage to enter the school on her first morning. Hanna learned to sew from Mama; she neatens Mama’s button box and remembers Mama’s love of sewing. Mama also told Hanna that she (Mama) was “half-half” like Hanna, meaning she was half-Chinese and half-Korean. (Chapters 1-5)
2. She died after trying to help neighbors in the Los Angeles riots against Chinese immigrants. Smoke from the burned shops and homes damaged Mama’s lungs badly, causing her health to deteriorate over the next six years, and she died when Hanna was 11. (Chapter 2)
3. He is concerned that Hanna’s attending the school (as a student who is half-Chinese, half-white) will cause others in the town to reject them outright, preventing his dress goods business from succeeding. (Chapter 3)
Chapters 6-12
Reading Check
1. She ate oranges every day. (Chapter 6)
2. Sam Baxter (Chapter 7)
3. He agrees that the shop door should be widened for hoop skirts. (Chapter 10)
Multiple Choice
Short-Answer Response
1. The students realize that no one is “from” La Forge as it is a new town to which many families moved, so in that regard, they are similar to Hanna. Hanna, therefore, feels more confident and enjoys the school day. The lesson, however, does nothing to prevent bias in students’ parents, and the depot meeting occurs that night. (Chapter 6)
2. She hopes to take over her father’s dress shop eventually, sewing and selling dresses to order. She realizes that she will likely remain unmarried, as laws exist banning interracial marriage and the number of Asians in the area of the Dakota Territory seems to be very few if “any at all.” (Chapter 8)
3. Parents seem to wield a heavy hand with discipline, threats, and control, as seen when Dolly’s father reprimands her and Sam’s mother sends for him to come home. Papa shows little love and tenderness in his treatment toward Hanna. Children, however, still break rules; Hanna and Sam sneak out to listen in on the depot meeting, and Dolly walks with Hanna in public. (Chapters 7, 8, 10, 11, 12)
Chapters 13-17
Reading Check
1. She must “cram” a whole term’s studying in before final exams while helping to order things for the opening of her father’s shop. (Chapter 13)
2. He includes a lotus flower image on the shop sign. (Chapter 15)
3. He says he will investigate the hiring of a dressmaker (never considering that Hanna wants desperately to be the dressmaker). (Chapter 17)
Multiple Choice
Short-Answer Response
1. Hanna gets her diploma after studying diligently and covering the last term’s content in only weeks; she feels slightly cheated, however, out of a complete and fulfilling school experience by graduating early. (Chapter 13)
2. Papa is concerned that others might think he considers Hanna a servant instead of a skilled employee. He says that people in Los Angeles claimed he married Mama for her servitude. (Chapter 17)
3. Hanna convinces Papa to let her attempt the completion of a constructed, finished dress in time for the shop opening. If the dress goes on display and brings in more dress orders, he must allow her to work as the seamstress. If it does not bring orders, or if she cannot finish it in time, she will repay him for the materials (and, it is implied, stop asking to be the dressmaker). (Chapter 17)
Chapters 18-22
Reading Check
1. cutting the fabric (Chapter 19)
2. She must tell the truth about seeing Wichapiwin and the other women on Monday without knowing if they broke the law or not. (Chapter 21)
3. It was against the law in Los Angeles for a white man and Chinese woman to marry; they had to travel far to find a judge who would perform the ceremony. (Chapter 22)
Multiple Choice
Short-Answer Response
1. Hanna refers to the construction of the railroad that joined east and west. Specifically, she mentions how the supervisor Mr. Strobridge claimed the Chinese workers’ camps were cleaner than those of the white men. She brings this up in subtle defiance of Mrs. Harris’s biased, insensitive idea that the dress shop would be messy and dirty. (Chapter 20)
2. Bess works quietly and does not talk about her mother or the incident. Later, she and Hanna talk in a friendly manner again like they were doing before Mrs. Harris arrived. (Chapters 20-21)
3. Hanna attempts to show Papa that he once broke the law for a good reason (marrying Mama), and that the Native women are doing the same (gathering food on land where they lived until forced from it). Papa, however, does not see any similarity in the situations; he thinks he and Mama were justified in their actions, but will not concede that the Native women are at all justified. (Chapter 22)
Chapters 23-Author’s Note
Reading Check
1. The townspeople blame Hanna for the “trouble” outside the hotel with Mr. Swenson. (Chapters 23-24)
2. She sews a lotus flower under the collar. (Chapter 25)
3. She tells Hanna to let the matter go so everyone will forget it more quickly. (Chapter 24)
4. the Gold Rush years (1840s and 1850s) and the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad (1860s)
5. “Sioux” and “Indian” were commonly used terms in the area in that time period; they are the words Hanna would have learned to use.
Multiple Choice
Short-Answer Response
1. She distracts and disorients him by loudly proclaiming she can fix his loose button. He drops his hold on her and she gets away from him. (Chapter 23)
2. On Tuesday morning, Papa hollers for her to wake up and come help because there is a long line of potential customers waiting for the shop’s first opening. She went to bed with low spirits, as she did not hear from Bess all day Monday; when she sees the line, however, she knows Bess followed through with talking to the townswomen. (Chapter 25)
3. She will not go alone through town; she will warn others about him with Bess’s and Miss Walters’ help; she will try to lessen the stress of the assault by not replaying the memory of it. (Chapter 27)
4. Linda Sue Park grew up loving the autobiographical stories in the Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, but as Park got older, she realized the books include actions and opinions that exhibit prejudice and racism—including actions and opinions of main “characters” like Laura’s mother and father, Ma and Pa Ingalls. Park wanted to provide young readers with another historical perspective and a more honest depiction of the struggles of those like Hanna and Wichapiwin who were subjected to discriminatory, unfair treatment in the time period.
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