Q. Where in the classroom does Wanda sit and why?
Ans. Wanda sat in the next seat to the last seat in the last row in Room Thirteen. She sat there because her feet were covered with mud and dirt.
Q. Where does Wanda live? What kind of a place do you think it is?
Ans. Wanda lived at a place called Boggins Heights. Wanda was a poor Polish girl. The place where she lived should be a poor man’s locality. This should also be dirty place because Wanda’s feet were covered with mud and dirt.
Q. When and Why do Peggy and Maddie notice Wanda’s absence?
Ans. Peggy and Maddie noticed Wanda’s absence on Wednesday. The reason of Peggy and Maddie Wanda’s absence was because Wanda had made them late to school. They waited for Wanda in order to have some fun with her. But she hadn’t come. 4. What do you think “to have fun with her” means? Ans. ‘To have fun with her’ means to have an enjoyable time with her. Peggy and Maddie used to have fun with Wanda. Their intentions were not bad. They simply wanted to have an enjoyable time by asking Wanda some questions about her dress.
Q. In what way was Wanda different from the other children?
Ans. Wanda Petronski was a Polish girl. Most of her classfellows did not have names like that. They had easy names such as Thomas, Smith or Allen. So Wanda’s name appeared to be funny. She didn’t have any friends. She had only one dress— a faded blue dress.
Q. Did Wanda have a hundred dresses? Why do you think she said she did?
Ans. Wanda was a poor Polish girl. She didn’t have a hundred dresses as she claimed to have. She knew that other girls were making fun of her by asking questions about the number of dresses she had. So she said it only to counter the fun other girls made of her. Other girls, however, knew that it was a likely story.
Q. Why is Maddie embarrassed by the questions Peggy asks Wanda? Is she also like Wanda, or is she different?
Ans. Peggy used to ask Wanda how many dresses and shoes she had. Wanda used to reply that she had a hundred dresses and sixty pair of shoes. This amused Peggy because she knew that it was not so. Peggy’s questions used to embarrass Maddie because she herself was poor like Wanda. She used to wear old clothes given by others. But she was different from Wanda. She very well mixes with her class-fellows. She does not have a funny name like that of Wanda. She does not live in a poor locality as Wanda does.
Q. Why didn’t Maddie ask Peggie to stop teasing Wanda? What was she afraid of?
Ans. Peggy was Maddie’s best friend. But she didn’t like Peggy making fun of Wanda because she herself was poor. She used to wear old clothes given by others. She didn’t have the courage of asking Peggy to stop teasing Wanda. She was afraid that she would lose Peggy as a friend if she did so. She thought she might be Peggy’s next target. She might start asking her questions about her dresses. She also thought that Peggy could not possibly do anything really wrong.
Q. Who did Maddie think would win the drawing contest? Why?
Ans. Maddie thought that probably Peggy would win the drawing contest. She was good at drawing. She drew better than anyone else in the room. She could copy a picture in a magazine or some film star’s head beautifully. Maddie was sure Peggy would win the girls’ medal.
Q. Who won the drawing contest? What had the winner drawn?
Ans. Wanda’s drawing won the drawing contest. She had drawn a hundred designs. They were all different and all beautiful. Any one of her drawings was worthy of winning the prize.
Q. How is Wanda seen as different by the other girls? How do they treat her?
Ans. Wanda was a Polish girl. Other girls were Americans. Wanda’s name sounded very funny to them. She used to wear only one dress in the school. She had no friends. She used to sit in the back of the classroom in a corner. She didn’t mix with others. She came to school alone and went home alone. She was a poor girl. Other girls made fun of her by asking her how many dresses she had. When she replied that she had a hundred dresses, they laughed at her.
Q. How does Wanda feel about the dresses game? Why does she say that she has a hundred dresses?
Ans. Peggy had invented the dresses game. She used to ask Wanda how many dresses she had. She simply wanted to have some fun. Wanda used to reply that she had a hundred dresses to counter the fun which girls made of her. She knew that the girls asked those questions to tease her but she kept her cool.
Q. 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?)
Ans. Maddie stands by because she cannot muster up courage to ask Peggy not to make fun of Wanda. She fears that she might be the next target of the girls’ jokes. That is why she keeps quiet and does nothing, though in her heart of hearts she does not like Wanda being teased. She is different from Peggy in that she completely identifies herself with Wanda. She feels for her, because she was also a poor girl like Wanda. Maddie is a serious girl while Peggy is fun-loving. Peggy’s friendship was important to Maddie and she doesn’t want to lose her as a friend. The reason was that Peggy was the most popular girl in the school. She also thought Peggy would not do anything wrong. The following lines tell us that Peggy’s friendship was important to Maddie. “She was Peggy’s best friend, and Peggy was the best-liked girl in the whole room. Peggy could not possibly do anything that was really wrong, she thought”.
Q. What does Miss Mason think of Wanda’s drawings? What do the children think of them? How do you know?
Ans. Miss Mason appreciated Wanda’s drawings very much. She called them ‘exquisite’. She told the students that each of these drawings could win a prize. The children were also amazed at the beautiful and brilliant drawings. We know it from the fact that Peggy and Maddie stopped short and gasped as they entered the room. Other children whistled or murmured with admiration.
Q. Combine the following to make sentences:
- This is the bus (what kind of bus?). It goes to Agra. (use which or that)
- I would like to buy (a) shirt (which shirt?). (The) shirt is in the shop window. (use which or that)
- You must break your fast at a particular time (when?). You see the moon in the sky. (use when)
- Find a word (what kind of word?). It begins with the letter Z. (use which or that)
- Now find a person (what kind of person). His or her name begins with the letter Z. (use whose)
- Then go to a place (what place?). There are no people whose name begins with Z in that place. (use where)
Answer
- This is the bus which goes to Agra.
- I would like to buy the shirt which is in the shop window.
- You must break your fast when you see the moon in the sky.
- Find a word that begins with the letter Z.
- Now find a person whose name begins with the letter Z.
- Then go to the place where there are no people whose name begins with Z.
Q. Can you say whose point of view the italicised words express?
- 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.
- 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.
Ans. The italicised words express the narrator’s point of view in the above sentences.
Q. Other such adverbs are apparently, evidently, surprisingly, possibly, hopefully, incredibly, luckily. Use these words appropriately in the blanks in the sentences below. (You may use a word more than once, and more than one word may be appropriate for a given blank.)
- ________________, he finished his work on time.
- ________________ , it will not rain on the day of the match.
- ________________ , he had been stealing money from his employer.
- Television is ________________ to blame for the increase in violence in society.
- The children will ________________ learn from their mistakes.
- I can’t ________________ lend you that much money.
- The thief had ________________ been watching the house for many days.
- The thief ________________ escaped by bribing the jailor.
- ________________ , no one had suggested this before.
- The water was ________________ hot.
Answer
- Luckily, surprisingly
- Hopefully
- Evidently
- apparently
- apparently/possibly
- possibly
- evidently
- possibly
- surprisingly
- incredibly.