Little Bee

Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

CHAPTERS 1-3   

Reading Check

1. What does Little Bee wish she could be so that “everyone would be pleased to see [her] coming?” (Chapter 1, Page 1)

2. What destination does Little Bee give the dispatcher at the taxi service, unnerving her friend from Jamaica?

3. What does Sarah’s son insist on dressing as?  

4. Who jumps into Andrew’s grave in a panic?

5. What song is the taxi driver listening to as he pulls up?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How does Little Bee choose to dress while in the detention center, and why?

2. What lie does Little Bee tell the taxi service, and why is such a lie necessary?

3. Why does Sarah have difficulty typing the letters E, D, and C at her work?

4. Who visits Sarah at her office at the women’s magazine, and what news do they deliver?

5. Who does Little Bee call when she leaves the detention center, and what impact does this phone call have?  

Paired Resource

“The ‘Batman Effect’: How Having an Alter Ego Empowers You”

• This article discusses how people—even Beyoncé!—use alter egos to tap into reserves of confidence and greater feelings of self-efficacy.
• This connects to the theme Heroism and One’s Self Image. 
• Why does Charlie use an alter ego? Who else in the novel does this? What are the benefits of people thinking of themselves as separate entities, as discussed in the article?   

CHAPTERS 4-6   

Reading Check

1. Which visitor does Charlie misidentify as Bruce Wayne?

2. Who believes that the confusion on the beach is “a classic Nigeria scam?” (Chapter 4, Page 106)

3. What does Little Bee take from the beach before escaping?

4. What does Little Bee drink for the first time in Sarah’s kitchen?  

5. How long does Little Bee tell Sarah it will take for her to recover from her husband’s death?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What caused Sarah to choose Nigeria as a vacation destination, and what did they find out about the situation when they got there?

2. What excruciating decision does Sarah make on the beach in Nigeria, and what are the effects of her decision on Little Bee and Kindness?

3. How does Little Bee help Sarah after she accidentally tries to phone her dead husband?

4. How does Sarah attempt to emerge from the “chrysalid stage of early motherhood” (Chapter 6, Page 150), and who does she meet in the process?    

5. What arrangement does Little Bee propose to Sarah, and how does Sarah respond?

Paired Resource

“What the Queen’s English Revealed About a Changing World”

• This article from the BBC explains “The Queen’s English” and discusses the importance of accents.
• This connects to the themes British Colonization and Globalization and Heroism and One’s Self-Image. 
• What difficulties is Little Bee likely to face in trying to speak “The Queen’s English,” and how does this language separate her from those around her?

CHAPTERS 7-9   

Reading Check

1. To whom does Little Bee confess that she witnessed Andrew’s death?

2. What does Sarah suggest she write an article on for the July issue of her fashion magazine?  

3. What kind of vehicle does Little Bee remember finding in the jungle when she spent the night in the woods with her sister? 

4. Where does Sarah take Little Bee and Charlie for an “adventure” in Chapter 9?

5. What word does Little Bee use for the passersby she sees in stations and on streets?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What behavior makes Little Bee say that Andrew was “full of evil spirits?” (Chapter 7, Page 191)

2. How has Little Bee’s relationship developed with Lawrence in a way that it has not with Sarah?

3. How many coffee cups does Sarah retrieve from the cupboard, and what significance does this hold for her?

4. What does Charlie believe caused his father’s death, and how does he feel that he was responsible?   

5. What does Sarah discover about the writing project Andrew was working on at the time of his death, and how does this draw her closer to Little Bee?

Paired Resource

“The Making of Nigeria”

• This source from The Republic gives a detailed explanation of how British Imperial rule amalgamated many African ethnic and cultural groups to create modern-day Nigeria.
• This connects to the theme British Colonization and Globalization.
• How are the effects of the British Colonization of Nigeria in the first years of the 20th century still felt in the world today? How do they influence the lives of Little Bee, Sarah, and Andrew?  

CHAPTERS 10-11   

Reading Check

1. What does Sarah pull out of the river, thinking for a moment it was Charlie?

2. While searching for the missing child, what does Lawrence ask Little Bee to do that frightens her?  

3. Where is Little Bee when she realizes “that for a few hours I was not in anyone’s country?” (Chapter 11, Page 249)  

4. What special word does Little Bee tell Charlie?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What is the nature of the brief “frighteningly easy” phone call Sarah places, and how does she feel in its aftermath? 

2. When the first policeman arrives at the scene, what does he ask of Little Bee, and how does she respond? 

3. What do the authorities decide to do with Little Bee, and how does Lawrence respond?  

4. How does Sarah manage to get herself, Little Bee, and Charlie out of the hotel, and where do they spend their time while they are out?  

5. What is Sarah’s plan for survival when she sees the soldiers approaching them on the beach?  

Recommended Next Reads 

The Refugees by Viet Thanh Ngueyn  

• This collection of linked short stories from Pulitzer Prize winner Viet Thanh Ngueyn explores the people caught in between countries and the full lives they live.
• Shared themes include Heroism and One’s Self Image.     
• Shared topics include the refugee experience, culture shock, and the hope for a better life.        
• The Refugees on SuperSummary  

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie  

• This sprawling story follows two young Nigerian lovers as they leave their military-ruled country for new lives in the West, only to find that fate takes them in unexpected directions.
• Shared themes include The Meaning of Womanhood and British Colonization and Globalization.
• Shared topics include British/Nigerian relations, racism, concerns about belonging, and alienation.
• Americanah on SuperSummary