Living Up The Street

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.

Stories 1-5

Reading Check

1. What does Soto’s mother do for a living the summer he and his siblings set small fires in the living room?

2. How does Soto’s father die?

3. How do Soto’s eyes become infected one summer when he is a child?

4. Why do Soto’s pinto beans never grow in the planter he made for the art contest?

5. What does Soto tell adults he wants to be when he grows up?

6. Where does Soto go while his mother believes he is attending church on Sundays?

Multiple Choice

1. Which word best describes the scene in Story 2 (“Father”), in which Soto’s family moves into a new home the weekend before his father died?

A) serene

B) hopeful

C) irritable

D) gloomy

2. What effect does watching TV have on how Soto sees himself and his family?

A) He decides to become a hobo rather than work hard for little money and very little free time.

B) He compares himself and his family to the white families he sees on TV and feels inadequate.

C) He grows jealous of neighbor kids who have moms who bakes cookies and stashes of new, shiny toys in bedrooms.

D) He steals money from his mom and spends it on magazines and comic books.

3. Which of the following is the strongest examples of young Soto learning about money?

A) losing fights to bigger, meaner kids who take his pocket money

B) growing beans in a can for a craft contest

C) eating beans and tortillas every night at dinner

D) receiving money just for saying he wants to be a priest when he grows up

4. In Story 5 (“Deceit”), Soto writes, “Her hands were pressed into a chapel as she stared vacantly over our heads in some yearning for the past.”

Which type of figurative language is exemplified in this description?

A) simile

B) allusion

C) synecdoche

D) imagery

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 details does Soto include to show readers that he lives in a community of people who don’t have a lot of money?

2. What details does Soto include to show readers that he lives in a community of people who look out for each other?

3. How does Soto paint a portrait of the serenity his family had before his father died?

4. Describe Soto’s relationship with his brother Rick.

5. Recall the interaction Soto has with the Okie kid Ronnie in Story 3 (“1, 2, 3”). What does Soto’s depiction suggest about his own understanding of wealth and poverty at a young age?

Stories 6-12

Reading Check

1. Why does Soto believe he would outlive all the other children in the event of famine?

2. Who enters a beauty contest?

3. What does Soto and his brother do upon failing to make the Little League team for a third year in a row?

4. Who helps the bully Frankie T. when the teacher Mr. Koligan beats him up?

5. Why do Soto and his sister attend summer school the summer before he goes to sixth grade?

6. Why doesn’t Little John enter the talent show with Soto?

7. What do Soto and his friend Jackie do with the mannequins they find in an abandoned store?

Multiple Choice

1. In Story 6 (“Catholics”), Soto writes: “She puckered her mouth into a clot of lines and something vicious raged in her eyes like she was getting ready to throw a softball.” Which of these types of figurative language appears in the sentence?

A) imagery and anaphora

B) simile and imagery

C) synecdoche and simile

D) simile and onomatopoeia

2. In Story 9 (“Fear”), Soto writes: “We knew the house he lived in: the empty refrigerator, the father gone, the mother in a sad bathrobe, the beatings, the yearnings for something to love.”

In this sentence, Soto uses a list of images as ________ for a broken or abusive family home.

A) hyperbole

B) allusions

C) symbols

D) ironies

3. In Story 11 (“Desire”), Soto writes:

“My eyes followed her about campus, observing her every detail. She swung a brown lunch bag twice a week; she ate in the cafeteria the rest of the days. She wore a knee-length coat, a furry blue one with a belt that was attached in the back with two brass buttons pressed with anchors. Her hair was styled in a Sassoon cut: Twiggy was big that year, with the English invasion of wide-wale cords, wide belts and cruelly pale lipstick from Yardley. Paisley was “the thing” in fall, and she wore paisley. Madras was hot in spring, and she wore madras.” 

Which details does Soto rely on most to make this image come alive?

A) seasons, time, and patterns

B) colors, cuts, seasons

C) shapes, colors, and patterns

D) symbols, recall, and ironies

4. In Story 12 (“Saturday with Jackie”), Soto writes:

“A shaft of sunlight, with its orbiting dust, shone from the roof and ended in a seizure of light far on the other side, where we made out desks, chairs, counters, an open elevator, and a broken mirror on the wall, its crack running like the border between Mexico and the United States.” 

Which type of figurative language appears in two examples in this sentence?

A) simile

B) sequence

C) allusion

D) metaphor

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 impact does TV have on Soto as he comes of age and begins to notice girls?

2. How does Story 8 (“Baseball in April”) suggest a commentary on Soto losing his father? What details show that he might miss having a father figure?

3. Soto makes his observations about family life apply to all kids in his neighborhood—not just himself. What effect does this choice have on the text? Use examples from Story 8 (“Baseball in April”) and Story 9 (“Fear”) to support your answer.

4. Describe the tone of Story 10 (“Summer School”). How does it compare to the tone in Story 9 (“Fear”)?

Stories 13-17

Reading Check

1. What reason does Soto give for joining the wrestling team?

2. What kind of work does Soto’s grandmother do?

3. What job does Soto take up after he decides to quit grape-picking with his mother?

4. Where does Soto end up working in Glendale, CA at age 17?

5. What do Soto and his friend Scott do with the items they stole from Scott’s sister?

Multiple Choice

1. In Story 14 (“Bloodworth”), Soto writes:

“I was amazed at the calm, almost pastoral, atmosphere of Roosevelt High and, for a while, was pleased to hover over tuna sandwiches during lunchtime without the worry of being jumped from behind.” 

What effect does Soto’s choice to use the word “pastoral” have here?

A) It evokes comparison to show how bizarre Soto’s high school is.

B) It uses metaphor to explain how Soto got into boxing.

C) It relies on contrast to show how chaotic school life was for Soto before high school.

D) It delays the reader’s expectations by showing how peace-loving Soto is.

2. In Story 14 (“Bloodworth”), Soto writes:

“No sooner did such ideas snap from one brain cell to the next than Bloodworth rose to one knee, then the other knee, before he shot straight up like King Kong with me hanging desperately to his waist, as if I were begging him to stay.” 

This sentence features two examples of which figure of speech?

A) simile

B) irony

C) personification

D) symbol

3. What do Soto’s stories about working in Story 15 (“One Last Time”) and Story 16 (“Black Hair”) represent in terms of narrative structure?

A) They represent inciting incidents. Soto chooses to marry rich and become a writer so he can avoid hard work.

B) They represent soft spots. A lot of Soto’s emotions about work and his family come out in his work stories.

C) The represent exposition. These stories build up to the narrative climax where Soto’s poetry gets discovered by a major publisher.

D) They represent turning points. Soto decides to stop letting TV, his family, and his community define what kind of life he will live.

4. In Story 17 (“Being Stupid”), how does Soto show readers he feels remorseful without using the word “guilty”?

A) After he and a friend trick a drunk man, Soto rides his bike up and down the street and stares at his friend’s house.

B) After he and a friend trick a drunk man, Soto buys a bunch of snacks and magazines to chase his guilt away.

C) When he and his friends rob Scott’s sister, Soto picks several fights with friends and neighbors.

D) When he and his friends rob Scott’s sister, Soto rides a bus to San Francisco and hides out for a month.

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. Re-read Story 15 (“One Last Time”) and select an example of Soto’s imagery. What effect does this imagery have on the text?

2. In Story 16 (“Black Hair”), Soto contemplates the lives of people who do physical labor for a long time, if not all their lives. What conclusions or truisms do you draw from his questions?

3. In Story 14 (“Bloodworth”), Soto focuses on his mother’s undivided attention on a piece of gum, which she offers him after his loss. What does the gum symbolize by the end of Soto’s story?

4. Story 17 (“Being Stupid”) features details about the sounds and sights of dogs. What do they symbolize for Soto in this story?

Stories 18-21

Reading Check

1. According to Soto, why does his wife marry him?

2. Because he’s worried about an economic depression, what does Soto convince Carolyn to buy?

3. When Soto decides to get a job, where does he apply?

4. What creature had Soto’s alcoholic neighbor Ziggy befriended?

5. Why does the dog Banjo have to stay locked in the bathroom when people visit?

6. Who steals Soto’s new leather jacket?

Multiple Choice

1. In Story 20 (“Short Takes”), Soto writes:

“[...] I let Mariko crawl in the grass and jab ants with a stick, her drool confusing them as they raced hysterically to get out of the way.” 

What is the most likely intended meaning of the word “hysterically” in this sentence?

A) The ants were laughing.

B) The ants moved as if they were panicked.

C) The scene with the baby and the ants was humorous.

D) both B and C

2. Mariko’s crying and playing patty cake at the same time in Story 20 (“Short Takes”) is an example of which of the following?

A) situational irony

B) verbal irony

C) allusion

D) synecdoche

3. What is the significance of Story 20’s title, “Short Takes”?

A) It features several short stories from Soto’s time apart from Carolyn.

B) In it, Soto steals things from others in fits of desperation.

C) The police steal all of Soto’s valuables in a short amount of time.

D) both A and C

4. Which word best describes the tone of Story 21 (“A Good Day”)?

A) playful

B) cautionary

C) clueless

D) zealous

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. Story 19 (“Getting By”) introduces many small characters and short unique encounters that make up Soto’s world. What impact do these details have on the tone of the story?

2. Compare Soto’s attitude to work and money before and after he meets Carolyn and becomes a published poet.

3. What details in Story 21 (“A Good Day”) set the tone for the story?

4. Many of Soto’s stories feature vivid imagery of the setting and people around him. What effect does imagery have on the overall impact of Living Up the Street? Use details from the text to support your characterization of Soto’s writing.