Lucky Broken Girl

77 pages • 2 hours read

Lucky Broken Girl

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2017

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Quiz

Tools

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Discussion Questions

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 1-6

Reading Check

1. What skill earns Ruthie the nickname “Queen of Queens”?

2. What gifts does Papi bring for Ruthie and Izzie?

3. Describe the family members’ injuries after the car accident.

Multiple Choice

1. Which trait is most strongly implied in Ruthie regarding the way she switches to the “regular” class in Chapter 1?

A) petulance

B) confidence

C) apprehension

D) dedication

2. Which scene in Chapters 1-6 shows most directly how differently Mami and Papi feel about their finances?

A) when Papi comes home with a new haircut

B) when Papi drives the family to Staten Island

C) when Papi brings home the blue Oldsmobile

D) when Papi buys a sofa that pulls out to a bed

3. Which statement best summarizes how Ruthie feels in the hospital after the accident?

A) She is angry because of her misfortune and confused about how the accident happened.

B) She is regretful that her father bought the car and resentful that her mother let him keep it.

C) She is stunned at the changes in her routine and grateful the accident was not worse.

D) She is scared to leave the hospital and tries to convince the staff to keep her there.

Short-Answer ResponseE

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What are 3-4 topics or events that aggravate Papi to the point of anger in Chapters 1-6? What do his reactions in these instances suggest about his character?

2. What occurred in Cuba to prompt people to emigrate elsewhere?

3. Why does Ruthie ask the nurse, Neala, if she hates children? What effect does this question have on Neala?

Chapters 7-12

Reading Check

1. How does Ruthie go from lying on her back to lying on her stomach in the body cast?

2. Who visits Ruthie only because a parent requires them to do so?

3. Describe the character Joy. What is her significance to Ruthie?

Multiple Choice

1. Based on her actions and words, how must Mrs. Sarota feel about Ruthie’s condition?

A) sympathetic and optimistic

B) shocked and appalled

C) confused and worried

D) irritated and apologetic

2. Of these statements, which one offers the best analysis of Mami’s emotions and actions in the early days of Ruthie’s recovery?

A) Mami is eager for Ruthie to heal but is irritable about some everyday tasks.

B) Mami is patient and kind but wishes the extra time with Ruthie resulted from other circumstances.

C) Mami grows angry with Ruthie, then remorseful and penitent, wanting forgiveness.

D) Mami is exhausted and sometimes emotional but tries to find positivity in the situation.

3. In whose friendship does Ruthie find the most support?

A) Danielle’s

B) Zeide’s

C) Izzie’s and Dennis’s

D) Nancy Drew’s

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 Izzie show that he cares about Ruthie in the early days of her recovery at home?

2. What story does Baba tell Ruthie to distract them from unhappiness? What does Ruthie say about patience with regard to Baba’s story?

3. Why does Ruthie feel that some who visit see her like a “piggy in a barn”?

Chapters 13-21

Reading Check

1. Why do the Sharmas return to India?

2. Who is responsible for helping Ruthie achieve a new perspective, literally and figuratively?

3. Whose work does Joy discuss with Ruthie even though she (Joy) is not supposed to share personal views with students?

Multiple Choice

1. What happens to the Halloween candy Izzie collects for Ruthie?

A) Ruthie hides it because she is not allowed to have any.

B) Izzie returns it when he realizes people do not believe him about Ruthie.

C) Mami confiscates it because Ruthie is in danger of gaining weight.

D) Izzie takes it for himself but later gives it to Ruthie’s former classmates.

2. Which of these summary statements regarding Chapters 13-21 best explains how Ruthie feels about the accident and the boys involved?

A) She thinks about them often and eventually feels empathy for them.

B) She dismisses others’ sympathy for them and hopes they are punished.

C) She believes the reports of their activities the day of the accident are incorrect.

D) She tries to avoid the topic and pushes thoughts about them from her mind.

3. Judging from the way Ruthie prays in Chapters 13-21, which of these statements about her faith is a logical inference?

A) Ruthie doubts that God pays any attention to her.

B) Ruthie thinks that once she can attend services again, she will heal.

C) Ruthie believes that a variety of higher powers might exist.

D) Ruthie no longer thinks God exists but pretends for Mami’s sake.

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. When Bobbie and Clay return Ruthie to her bed after the hospital visit, how does she feel about her room compared to the outside world? Why does she feel this way?

2. How is Chicho different from other visitors Ruthie receives? List at least three ways.

3. What does Ruthie notice about Joy’s demeanor when they discuss the second newspaper article?

Chapters 22-26

Reading Check

1. How does Ruthie participate in the family’s New Year’s Eve celebration although she is still bedridden?

2. Why does Chicho return to Mexico?

3. What does Amara think might be causing Ruthie’s fear with learning to navigate stairs?

Multiple Choice

1. In what way is Ruthie’s choice to learn typing ironic?

A) Her teachers at school in America told her she would never be able to type.

B) Baba once had a typewriter when she was a girl but had to leave it behind in Poland.

C) She is eager to tackle a new, difficult skill but resistant to relearning an old one.

D) Joy knows Ruthie is capable of higher-level reading, but now Ruthie is writing stories as well.

2. Why does Ruthie want Mami to bring shoes for her to try on?

A) Ruthie has been eager to try on shoes for six months but the cast prevented it.

B) Ruthie plans to go against Dr. Friendlich’s advice and try to stand up.

C) Ruthie knows everyone is coming for New Year’s Eve and wants to dress up.

D) Ruthie is concerned about Mami’s feelings about her cast and wants to make her happy.

3. Ruthie makes a promise to Chicho. What is implied about how Ruthie feels making this promise?

A) She regrets the promise as soon as she makes it.

B) She thinks she will break the promise.

C) She intends to fulfill the promise.

D) After time passes, she realizes she cannot keep the promise.

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. Discuss the outcomes of Ruthie’s two hospital visits in Chapters 13-21.

2. What characteristics and traits does Amara possess that help Ruthie to walk again?

3. Describe Ruthie’s encounters with Danielle in Chapters 22-26 and explain how Ruthie reacts to seeing her.

Chapters 27-31

Reading Check

1. Who volunteers to help Ruthie get around at school?

2. How does Ruthie convince Danielle that it is all right if Danielle runs and plays without Ruthie?

3. What gift does Papi bring for Ruthie once she is walking again?

Multiple Choice

1. Which of these statements best describes the implied irony in Mami’s behavior once Ruthie starts back to school?

A) Mami cannot help Ruthie with schoolwork now that she is in sixth grade.

B) Mami refuses expensive purchases from Papi now that he has two jobs.

C) Mami misses Ruthie now that she is not always there.

D) Mami prevents Ruthie from participating in activities now that she is walking.

2. What are Amara’s goals in Chapters 27-31?

A) to get Ruthie to use one crutch, then no crutches

B) to get Ruthie to try dancing without any crutches

C) to get Ruthie to strengthen her ankles and knees

D) to get Ruthie to walk to the corner store unaccompanied

3. Which lesson is the likeliest one implied by the contents of Ramu’s letter from India to Ruthie?

A) Those who are truly grateful will be blessed.

B) Sometimes accidents happen that make no sense.

C) Patience is the most-often rewarded virtue.

D) Holding on to hate in one’s heart is dangerous.

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. Describe the scene in which Ruthie regains confidence without crutches.

2. Why does Ruthie initially resist a visit to the eye doctor?

3. What events in the last chapter symbolize the end of Ruthie’s healing journey?

Quizzes – Answer Key

Chapters 1-6

Reading Check

1. hopscotch (Chapter 2)

2. go-go boots for Ruthie and a Matchbox blue Cadillac for Izzie (Chapter 3)

3. Ruthie has a badly broken leg that requires surgery. Mami has scratches and Papi and Izzie have stitches. Baba’s nerves required medication. (Chapter 3)

Multiple Choice

1. B Ruthie boldly asks for a chance to prove herself and for Ramu to do the same. (Chapter 1)

2. C The car is a major purchase that they did not discuss. It gives them a large debt to pay off bit by bit. (Chapter 4)

3. C Immediately after the accident, Ruthie regrets her father’s choice to buy the car, but in the hospital she focuses on what her life will be like in the cast. She thanks God for not being “as broken as some other people.” (Chapter 6)

Short Answer

1. Papi is irritated that there is no white meat in his chicken and rice, mad that Mami says he should not have bought the boots, impatient that Mami invited family for dessert, and angry that Mami speaks out against the purchase of the car. Later he also yells impatiently when Mami takes a long time preparing for their driving trip and when Izzie pushes his feet against the back of the driver’s seat. These all indicate he is short-tempered and easily irritated when he does not get his way. (Chapters 3, 4)

2. The dictator Fidel Castro takes over and installs his Communist government in Cuba. To Ruthie, this means “everything [is] owned by the government,” including Baba and Zeide’s fabric store they used to own. When Papi says about Cuba, “It’s all gone now, anyway,” he refers to individual freedoms and the Cuba he, Mami, their friends, and their family used to know before Communism. (Chapter 5)

3. Neala is obviously angry that Ruthie wet the bed after she told her to ring for the bedpan, and she tells Ruthie that next time she will let Ruthie lie in the wet sheets. Ruthie is shocked at Neala’s attitude and asks if she hates children. Neala then explains about her own daughter she must work to support; Neala is much nicer to Ruthie then. (Chapter 6)

Chapters 7-12

Reading Check

1. Mami or Papi must flip her by using the pole attached to the cast that keeps her legs straight. (Chapter 7)

2. Danielle (Chapter 11)

3. Joy is a young teacher sent by the school to work with Ruthie one-on-one. She dresses in hippie-style clothing and brings Ruthie books to read for leisure. (Chapters 9, 12)

Multiple Choice

1. B Mrs. Sarota seems shocked and horrified when she sees the cast. She talks to Mami like Ruthie cannot see or hear her. (Chapter 8)

2. A Mami wants Ruthie to heal and be well again. She loves her daughter but feels burdened by the level of care she requires. (Chapter 10)

3. D Ruthie’s “relationship” with Nancy Drew is not complicated by reality; Nancy offers companionship and escapism when Ruthie is afraid. (Chapter 12)

Short Answer

1. Izzie serves as a messenger for Ruthie’s letter to Ramu. He brings a samosa from Ramu to Ruthie. He offers chocolate milk to Ruthie though he knows she is not allowed sweets and fetches a straw so she can drink water more easily. (Chapter 8)

2. Baba emigrated from Poland to Cuba in 1925. She loved how she was accepted in Cuba; no one was intolerant of her just because she was Jewish. She and Ruthie have to be patient the way Baba was patient on the long sea crossing to Cuba. (Chapter 11)

3. Some who visit look quickly at Ruthie, speak briefly, then leave, as if they cannot bear to be near her due to their own discomfort or even disgust. (Chapter 11)

Chapters 13-21

Reading Check

1. Ramu’s little brother Avik falls from the window and dies. The family returns to India to place his ashes in the Ganges River. (Chapter 15)

2. Chicho gives Ruthie painting supplies and turns her bed around so that she may see out the window (with Mark’s help). (Chapter 20)

3. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s (Chapter 21)

Multiple Choice

1. D (Chapter 18)

2. A (Chapters 13, 20)

3. C Ruthie prays to God, Shiva, and the spirit of Frida Kahlo. (Chapter 15, 17)

Short Answer

1. Ruthie is happy to get back home where the sights of her room are comforting compared to outside, which she experiences as loud, bright, and uncomfortable. (Chapter 14)

2. Chicho feels sorry for Ruthie but is also genuinely interested in learning about her and helping her spirits improve. He takes his meal into her room, offers her paints and an easel, cares about Avik because Ruthie cares, and helps to turn her bed around. (Chapter 16, 20)

3. Joy and Ruthie discuss how Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. tries to spread the spirit of acceptance and believes in equality between all people. Ruthie notices that Joy hushes her voice when she says she agrees and looks like she needs to be comforted when she tells Ruthie that world can be scary. (Chapter 21)

Chapters 22-26

Reading Check

1. She mixes the eggs and ingredients for the flan; the family members gather around her bed at midnight for the tradition of eating grapes. (Chapter 24)

2. His father died and he must return to his family. (Chapter 25)

3. Amara thinks vertigo (dizziness) might be causing Ruthie’s lack of confidence on stairs. (Chapter 26)

Multiple Choice

1. C (Chapters 23, 26)

2. D (Chapter 22)

3. B Ruthie promises to work on walking again but doubts she can do that. (Chapter 25)

Short Answer

1. On her December 21 visit, Dr. Friendlich removes the body cast and replaces it with a cast on Ruthie’s broken leg. She is to remain in bed but exercise as much as possible for two months. At her next visit in mid-March, the remaining cast is removed and Ruthie receives crutches; she is hesitant to use them. (Chapters 22, 25)

2. Amara is bold, stubborn, confident, and pushy. Her “tough-love” approach works, and soon Ruthie is navigating on crutches. (Chapter 26)

3. Ruthie encounters Danielle when she goes outside in the snow, but she does not want to talk to Danielle. Later, once Ruthie successfully uses her crutches to get down the steps outside, she accepts Danielle’s offer of a flower and her “[w]elcome back to the world.” (Chapters 24, 26)

Chapters 27-31

Reading Check

1. Danielle (Chapter 27)

2. Ruthie says she will draw a picture of Danielle while she plays. (Chapter 28)

3. new go-go boots (Chapter 31)

Multiple Choice

1. C (Chapters 27, 28)

2. A (Chapter 29)

3. B Ramu’s letter to Ruthie indicates that his mother learned that even in her near presence, accidents happen. (Chapter 30)

Short Answer

1. Ruthie struggles in the hallway with Amara, who took away her crutches. Suddenly the door opens and Chicho invites them in. He is newly returned from Mexico. His apartment is colorful and interesting. He starts music and dances the tango with Ruthie. When he steps away, she continues to dance on her own two feet alone and unassisted. (Chapter 29)

2. Ruthie does not want to discover that she needs glasses because she does not want to be a girl who needs both crutches and glasses. On a deeper level, the need for glasses suggests she is still somehow “broken” even though her leg is healing. (Chapter 28)

3. Ruthie has no limp when she wears Danielle’s go-go boots; she breaks the confetti out of the piñata on the first try; she tells Danielle she is “a new Ruthie.” (Chapter 31)