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Oral Comprehension Check 

Q1. Where in the classroom does Wanda sit and why?
Answer: Wanda sits in the next-to-last seat in the last row. She sits there because the rough boys who don’t get good marks sit in that corner.

Q2. Where does Wanda live? What kind of a place do you think it is?
Answer: Wanda lives on Boggins Heights. It sounds like a poor and remote area, as her feet were often covered with mud from the long walk to school.

Q3. When and why do Peggy and Maddie notice Wanda’s absence?
Answer: Peggy and Maddie notice Wanda’s absence on Wednesday because they had been waiting for her to make fun of her, and she hadn’t shown up, which made them late for school.

Q4. What do you think “to have fun with her” means?
Answer: “To have fun with her” is a mean way of saying that they were going to tease and mock Wanda about her hundred dresses.

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Oral Comprehension Check 

Q1. In what way was Wanda different from the other children?
Answer: Wanda was different from the other children because she was poor, wore the same faded dress every day, and kept to herself.

Q2. Did Wanda have a hundred dresses? Why do you think she said she did?
Answer: Wanda did not have a hundred dresses. She said she did to protect herself from being teased and to imagine a world where she felt proud and special.

Q3. Why is Maddie embarrassed by the questions Peggy asks Wanda? Is she also like Wanda, or is she different?
Answer: Maddie is embarrassed by Peggy’s questions because they are rude and make fun of Wanda. Maddie is different from Wanda because she is not poor, but she is similar in being kind and feeling sorry for what happens.

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Oral Comprehension Check 

Q1. Why didn’t Maddie ask Peggy to stop teasing Wanda? What was she afraid of?
Answer: Maddie didn’t ask Peggy to stop teasing Wanda because she was afraid of losing Peggy’s friendship. She was also afraid that Peggy would start teasing her next, since she was also poor.

Q2. Who did Maddie think would win the drawing contest? Why?
Answer: Maddie thought Peggy would win the drawing contest because Peggy was very good at drawing and could copy a picture from a magazine very well.

Q3. Who won the drawing contest? What had the winner drawn?
Answer: Wanda Petronski won the drawing contest. She had drawn one hundred different designs, all of them beautiful.

Thinking about the Text

Q1. How is Wanda seen as different by the other girls? How do they treat her?
Answer: Wanda is seen as different because she is a Polish girl with a funny-sounding name and lives in a poor area. She also wears the same faded blue dress every day. The other girls treat her poorly by teasing and mocking her.

Q2. How does Wanda feel about the dresses game? Why does she say that she has a hundred dresses?
Answer: Wanda feels hurt by the teasing. She says she has a hundred dresses to show that she has a rich inner world, which is her defense against the cruel teasing.

Q3. Why does Maddie stand by and not do anything? How is she different from Peggy? (Was Peggy’s friendship important to Maddie? Why? Which lines in the text tell you this?)
Answer: Maddie stands by and does nothing because she is afraid of being teased herself. She is different from Peggy because she feels bad about the teasing and knows it is wrong. Peggy’s friendship was very important to Maddie because she was the most popular girl. The line “She was Peggy’s best friend, and Peggy was the best-liked girl in the whole room,” tells us this.

Q4. What does Miss Mason think of Wanda’s drawings? What do the children think of them? How do you know?
Answer: Miss Mason thinks Wanda’s drawings are worthy of winning the prize, calling them “exquisite” and “beautiful.” The children also admire the drawings, as they “stopped and whistled or murmured admiringly.”

Thinking about Language

I. Look at these sentences. Combine the following to make sentences like those above.

1.This is the bus (what kind of bus?). It goes to Agra. (use which or that)
Answer: This is the bus that goes to Agra.

2.I would like to buy (a) shirt (which shirt?). (The) shirt is in the shop window. (use which or that)
Answer: I would like to buy a shirt that is in the shop window.

3.You must break your fast at a particular time (when?). You see the moon in the sky. (use when)
Answer: You must break your fast at a particular time when you see the moon in the sky.

4.Find a word (what kind of word?). It begins with the letter Z. (use which or that)
Answer: Find a word which begins with the letter Z.

5.Now find a person (what kind of person?). His or her name begins with the letter Z. (use whose)
Answer: Now find a person whose name begins with the letter Z.

Then go to a place (what place?). There are no people whose name begins with Z in that place. (use where)
Answer: Then go to a place where there are no people whose name begins with Z.

II. The Narrative Voice

Q1.Here are two other sentences from the story. Can you say whose point of view the italicised words express?

(i) But on Wednesday, Peggy and Maddie, who sat down front with other children who got good marks and who didn’t track in a whole lot of mud, did notice that Wanda wasn’t there.
Answer: This is the narrator’s point of view, describing the difference between the children.

(ii) Wanda Petronski. Most of the children in Room Thirteen didn’t have names like that. They had names easy to say, like Thomas, Smith or Allen.
Answer: This expresses the point of view of the American children, who find Wanda’s name strange compared to their own simple names.

Q2. Can you find other such sentences in the story? You can do this after you read the second part of the story as well.
Answer: The line “Oh, well! Maddie ran her hand through her short blonde hair…” expresses Maddie’s point of view.