The Princess
(Mulberry English Course Book)
MAKING CONNECTIONS
Quick answers
1. Here are a few things that Patty Jean says. Now that you have read the story, put a tick (✔) against those that are true and a cross (🗙) against those that are false.
a. Everybody calls my sister 'the Princess'. [🗙]
b. I walk to school because my school is right across the street. [🗙]
c. I wish I could go to camp like all my friends. [✔]
d. I find it easy to push myself around in my sister's chair. [🗙]
e. Everybody is kind to people in wheelchairs. [🗙]
f. My sister is a brave girl. [✔]
2. Patty Jean wrote down the things that happened to her when she took a ride on 'the throne'. But she wrote them in a jumble. Help her put the events in the correct order by numbering them.
a. I apologized for taking Penny's chair. [10]
b. A group of boys made rude remarks about me. [4]
c. I pushed myself down the hill near the Princess' school. [1]
d. The wheels of the chair got stuck in the mud. [6]
e. I rode to the corner of the street. [3]
f. My parents were looking for me. [8]
g. I fell out of the chair and hurt my knee. [2]
h. My parents were so glad to see me! [9]
i. It began to rain heavily. [5]
j. I managed to drag the chair home. [7]
Reference to context
3. "Beside the tree is the throne. Seeing it empty gives the best idea. Today I will be the Princess! I sit on the throne. 'Now I will send every minute on the throne,' I say."
a. What is the throne? Whom does it belong to?
= The throne is the wheelchair.
It belongs to Patty Jean Piper's elder sister Penelope Piper.
b. Which word in these lines means the opposite of worst?
= The word in these lines means the opposite of worst is 'best'.
c. Why does Patty want to sit on the throne?
= Patty wants to sit on the throne to know how does it feel to be on the wheelchair.
4. "Then I ride to the corner of the street. I've been pushing so hard that I feel like both my arms are broken. Some grown-ups are walking towards me. They look at me and my throne, and then they turn away fast, like I do when I'm watching a scary movie."
a. Does Patty Jean find it easy to push the wheelchair? How do we know?
= Patty Jean does not find it easy to push the wheelchair.
We come to know that as Patty Jean finds it difficult to push it and both her arms hurt like those were broken.
b. Find words or groups of words in the passage that mean the opposite of the following.
i. look at __________ .
ii. away from ________ .
= Look at - turn away.
Away from - walking towards.
c. What do the grown-ups do when they look at Patty Jean? Why do you think they do this?
= The grown-ups look at Patty Jean and her throne, and then, they turn away fast, like she does when she is watching a scary movie.
I think they got scared at the sight of Patty Jean being on the wheelchair.
Read, reflect and write
5. Do you agree with Patty Jean that the Princess is a good name for Penny? Give a reason for your answer.
= I think to some extent, the Princess is a good name for Penny. She is a handicapped child. That is why her parents take special care for her.
When they go to shopping at the mall, Penny rides on her wheelchair while her Father wheels her around, along the aisle and Patty carries packages. Patty reads in a school far away her house. Penny goes to the new school right across the street. She can wheel herself there in one second. She does not even have to wear a uniform. Patty can not go to the summer camp with her friends because there is no money left to send her to camp after buying new braces for Penny's legs.
I am not totally agree with Patty with her attitude towards her sister. She kind of mocks her sister with this name. Rather she should be compassionate towards her sister as she is child with special needs.
6. Why had Patty Jean not gone to camp like all her other friends?
= Patty had not gone to the summer camp with all her other friends because there is no money left to send her to camp after buying new braces for Penny's legs.
7. What did Patty Jean think when she first saw her parents outside the house?
= When she first saw her parents outside the house, Patty Jean thought that they were worried for the wheelchair of Penny.
8. Describe how Patty Jean's feelings for Penny change by the end of the story. What does Patty Jean realize?
= Patty Jean got stuck in the mud with the wheelchair of her sister. She was able to return home somehow with the wheelchair. She found her parents eagerly waiting. She mistook they as worried for the wheelchair. But she found herself wrong when she understood that her parents were worried for her only. They love her the same as they love Penny.
Moreover, she had an experience that how her sister's life can be to be on the yucky wheelchair. Now she can understand all the puzzles she nurtured in her mind about her sister. She whole heartedly wishes that her sister will always be able to things that make her happy.