Bad Boy: A Memoir

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 1-3

Reading Check

1. What is Myers’s relationship to Florence?

2. Where do Florence and Walter Dean move to escape the prejudice they face as an interracial couple?

3. What sort of work does Florence do?

4. What makes Myers a target for school bullies?

Multiple Choice

1. By beginning his memoir with his family’s history, Myers implies that this history influences which of the following?

A) his sense of right and wrong

B) his choice of community

C) his sense of identity

D) his love of language

2. Which of the following best describes Myers’s depiction of Harlem?

A) chaotic

B) calm

C) dull

D) vibrant

3. To whom does Myers suggest he owes his passion for language?

A) Nancy

B) Florence

C) Herbert

D) Viola

4. Which of the following passages best explains the root of Myers’s conduct problems?

A) “I would become very angry if kids laughed at my speech, or even if I thought they were laughing” (Chapter 3)

B) “At age eight I was bigger than most of my classmates and nearly as tall as Mama, who stood barely over five feet” (Chapter 3)

C) “Actually, I liked the principal’s office. It was interesting to see the teachers come and go” (Chapter 3)