Half and Half Reading Literature by Lensey Namioka “Your form isn’t complete, Fiona,” said the recreations director “I can’t let you enroll in the folk dancing class until it’s completely filled in.” The recreation center is located at the park not far from my school For years the center had been used for adult education classes, such as pottery and language lessons Recently the building was remodeled and expanded, and they started having classes for young people, too When I heard there were folk dancing classes, I immediately went over to enroll I had never filled out one of their forms before, and I didn’t know what the director meant by the form not being completely filled in I looked it over again Name: Age: Address: Class: Fiona Cheng 11 2134 Hillside Blvd E Seattle, WA Folk Dancing It looked good to me “You didn’t check a box for race,” she said “To get government funding, we have to let them know how many kids we have in each of the race categories.” This was a problem I’d bumped into before, but I still wasn’t sure how to handle it I took the form from her “I’ll finish it later,” I muttered, and quickly left the recreation center Reading Strategy Analyze Problem/ Solution What is ✓ Fiona’s problem? Why is it a problem? ✓ Reading Check Recall details Why does Fiona need to fill out a form? recreations fun things to do, such as sports or hobbies enroll join officially remodeled made over or redone expanded made larger bumped into came across muttered spoke unclearly or quietly Relate to own experiences What forms have you filled out? Unit • Chapter Reading Strategy On the way home, I tried to decide on the best way to complete the form I had to check one of the boxes that said, “White,” “Asian,” “Black,” “Hispanic,” “Native American,” or “Other.” None of them would be right, though, because I’m not any one of those things I’m half and half: my father is Chinese and my mother is Scottish I couldn’t just check either “White” or “Asian” since I’m half of each I suppose I could have checked the box for “Other,” but I didn’t want to It would make me feel like an outsider, a weirdo who didn’t belong anywhere I wanted to fit in like everyone else Why didn’t they have a box for people like me, who were half and half ? 10 When I got home, Mom was in the kitchen, pouring herself a cup of tea She teaches math at the university, so she’s often home in the afternoon She drinks tea instead of coffee, even though we live in Seattle, the nation’s coffee capital Tea is cheaper than coffee since you can use the bag over again You see, Mom is very thrifty 11 She says it’s because a mathematician’s aim when proving a theorem is to use as little as possible to prove as much as possible In other words, you always spend a teeny bit to get a whole lot After doing this for years and years, you wind up being ver-r-r-y thr-r-r-ifty 12 I took a seat at the kitchen table “Mom, what am I?” I asked 13 She frowned “What you mean? You’re Fiona Cheng, last time I looked.” 14 “I’m not asking you who I am,” I said “I’m asking you what I am.” Analyze Problem/ Solution What are Fiona’s choices for solving the problem? Why is Fiona having a hard time making a choice? weirdo a person who seems strange thrifty careful about spending money theorem an idea in math that can be shown to be true frowned had a look of disapproval on her face 10 Unit • Chapter 15 “What brought this on?” asked Mom, sipping her tea and looking at me over the rim of the cup I think she suspected that the problem had something to with our family being racially mixed It’s not something the two of us often discuss 16 I told her about the form I had to fill out for the folk dancing class Mom didn’t answer right away The expression in her hazel eyes didn’t tell me much “Why not check two boxes, one for ‘Asian’ and one for ‘White’?” she suggested after a while 17 “I don’t think they’ll accept that,” I sighed Suddenly I became angry “Why grown-ups always have to sort people into boxes anyway?” 18 “They like to that, don’t they?” said Mom “But you can’t always sort people by the way they look.” 19 To be honest, though, I sorted people, too Whenever I met another racially mixed kid for the first time, I thought about percentages I said to myself, “Let’s see … 65%/35%,” meaning that he looks 65% one race and 35% another Later, when I got to know the person well, I’d forget about the percentage business for the most part But it was a tough habit to break completely Maybe I get it from Mom’s love of mathematics Reading Strategy Analyze Problem/ Solution What solution does Fiona’s mother offer? Evaluate the solution against the information about Fiona’s problem in paragraphs and Does it solve her problem? Explain ✓ Reading Check Recall details What kind of work does Fiona’s mother do? Make inferences Why you think Fiona thinks about percentages when she first meets racially mixed kids? racially mixed of more than one race expression way of appearing or looking hazel greenish brown percentages amounts that are parts of 100 tough difficult Identify cause for character action Why does Fiona’s mother suggest checking two boxes? Why doesn’t Fiona want to check them? Use your knowledge of character traits to support your answer Unit • Chapter 11 Reading Strategy 20 Since Mom wasn’t any help, I went upstairs to Dad’s studio He writes and illustrates children’s books His bestknown books are a series about a dragon living in ancient China Dragons are supposed to all sorts of good things, like bringing rain to lands suffering from drought But Dad’s dragon is secretly scared of water, and just about everything else, too So how can his dragon present a majestic and fearsome image to the world while preserving his shameful secret? Each of Dad’s books puts his dragon in a tight spot, but the dragon always manages to get out of it somehow 21 I knew Dad was working on the illustrations for his latest dragon book Normally I don’t like to interrupt him, but this time I needed help 22 Dad looked up from his drawing board and placed a large sheet of paper over the picture he was working on He always does this automatically whenever anyone comes in while he’s in the middle of something He hates having people look at his work before he’s satisfied with it Analyze Problem/ Solution Why does Fiona go to see her father? What kind of help does she need? Use your knowledge of Fiona’s situation and motivation to support your answer drought a period of time with little or no rainfall majestic spectacular; grand preserving guarding or protecting automatically without thinking about it 12 Unit • Chapter 23 “What’s up, Fiona?” he asked I asked him the same question I had asked Mom “I have to fill out a form for the folk dancing class, and they want to know what race I am Should I check the box for ‘Asian,’ or the box for ‘White’?” Reading Strategy 25 Dad looked at me His eyes are a dark brown, just like mine “Would it bother you to check the box for ‘Asian’?” he asked 26 “Of course it wouldn’t,” I said quickly I’ve always known that I look more Asian I have my dad’s brown eyes, straight dark hair, and dark skin By checking the box for “Asian,” I would be telling him that I belonged with his people 27 “It’s just that I have to be accurate,” I told Dad “The recreation center has to report the number of kids they have in each race to get money from the government.” 28 “Then you should whatever feels right to you,” said Dad the first solution that Fiona’s father suggests? Evaluate the solution against the information about Fiona’s problem in paragraphs and What is the second solution? Does either solution solve her problem? Explain Why might he respond this way? How does Fiona feel about her father’s response? 24 29 The problem was that I didn’t know what felt right to me Analyze Problem/ Solution What is ✓ Reading Check Recall details What kind of work does Fiona’s father do? [B-A-1-17: same setting as previous illustration, but girl is now talking with father] What’s up? informal (social) way of asking, “What are you doing?” “How are you?” “What is happening?” accurate exact or correct Recall details Who does Fiona look like? Identify cause for character action Why does Fiona’s father suggest checking the box for “Asian”? Why doesn’t Fiona like the suggestion? Use your knowledge of character traits and motives to answer Unit • Chapter 13 Reading Strategy Analyze Problem/ Solution Why does Fiona go to see her brother? 14 Unit • Chapter 30 There was only one person left to ask: my brother, Ron He’s twelve years old and had reddish hair and much paler skin than mine He takes after Mom I look about 30% white and 70% Asian, while Ron looks maybe 75% white and 25% Asian 31 Ron is small for his age, and he’s sensitive about his size He’s very conscious that he’s exactly the same height as me, even though he’s a year older Mom keeps telling him, “Boys get their growth spurt later, Ron By the time you’re sixteen, you’ll overtake Fiona in height.” 32 That’s not much comfort to Ron If you’re twelve, sixteen seems an awfully long way off 33 Ron used to get picked on by some bullies in school, so Dad had him enroll in kung fu classes to give him confidence Nobody picks on Ron now But I know he’s still conscious of being one of the shortest boys in his class, and more than anything else, he hates being called a sissy 34 I went up to his room “Say, Ron, you’re signing up for the kickboxing team at the recreation center, right?” 35 He looked up from his homework “Yeah, so?” paler lighter in color sensitive easily hurt or affected emotionally picked on teased or bothered sissy a cowardly, weak boy or man kickboxing a sport in which players punch with gloves and kick with bare feet 36 “Have you filled out the form yet?” I asked 37 “It’s filled out and ready to hand in.” 38 “Which box did you check for race?” 39 40 Ron looked at me His eyes are a light brown, not quite Mom’s hazel, but not dark brown like Dad’s, either “Let’s see …,” he said “I guess I checked the box for ‘Other.’” “And that was okay with you?” I asked 41 “Why should it?” he asked “None of the other boxes seemed to fit.” 42 “But doesn’t that bother you? That anyone who doesn’t fit into one of the categories on the form is just lumped into ‘Other’?” 43 Ron shrugged “I kind of like it when they can’t fit me in a box so easily.” 44 I decided that I would check the ‘Other’ box as my race after all when I filled out the recreation form It wouldn’t make me an outsider or a weirdo Since I didn’t fit in one of the boxes for race, I didn’t have to choose one culture over another 45 I got to be both: half and half Reading Strategy Analyze Problem/ Solution How does Fiona find a solution to her problem? What is her solution? Why does she choose it? ✓ Reading Check Recall details What does Ron look like? culture the ideas, activities (art, foods, businesses), and ways of behaving that are special to a country, people, or region Interpret meaning Ron says, “I kind of like it when they can’t fit me in a box so easily.” What does he mean? Unit • Chapter 15 ... I’m not any one of those things I’m half and half: my father is Chinese and my mother is Scottish I couldn’t just check either “White” or “Asian” since I’m half of each I suppose I could have... old and had reddish hair and much paler skin than mine He takes after Mom I look about 30% white and 70% Asian, while Ron looks maybe 75% white and 25% Asian 31 Ron is small for his age, and. .. wanted to fit in like everyone else Why didn’t they have a box for people like me, who were half and half ? 10 When I got home, Mom was in the kitchen, pouring herself a cup of tea She teaches