How Dare the Sun Rise

Multiple Choice and Long Answer questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, unit exam, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. What devastating event in Sandra’s life is portrayed in the opening chapter of How Dare the Sun Rise?

A) A scene from when she was nine years old, in which she is forced to go to bed hungry at a refugee camp in Burundi.

B) A scene from when she was 10 years old, in which she watches certain members of her family being killed off by rebel forces invading their refugee camp in Burundi.

C) A scene from when she was 11 years old, in which she is forced to undergo a female genital mutilation procedure.

D) A scene from when she was 12 years old, in which she is relocated to America and taunted by American classmates in her middle school.

2. Sandra’s father’s family gave a certain number of cows to Sandra’s mother’s family in exchange for her hand in marriage. How many cows were given?

A) 7

B) 9

C) 10

D) 12

3. After his time as a child soldier in the Congolese army, Heritage is irrevocably changed. When he returns to his family, which of the following best describes what he has been indoctrinated to believe?

A) That exercising violence is the only way to prove his loyalty and feel a sense of belonging.

B) That DRC will not be free until it sheds its colonialist past with violence.

C) That women must be ruled with an iron fist—no exceptions, not even for family members.

D) That God can be cruel, and—sometimes works in mysterious ways, but he is always just.

4. In Chapter 9, when Sandra is reunited with her mother immediately after the shooting massacre, Sandra looks deeply into her mother’s eyes, desperately searching for the answer to an unasked question. Which of the following best describes the question?

A) Why is life so cruel?

B) Was anyone from our family killed?

C) Why has God forsaken us?

D) Why would you allow this to happen to us?

5. Why are Sandra and her family unable to bury Deborah?

A) The shooting suddenly began again, and Sandra and her family had to flee.

B) Her remains were fully burned, and there was nothing to bury.

C) The ground was too hard and dry for anyone to dig a grave.

D) The UN collected body parts, and they were unable to find her complete remains.

6. What was the traumatic moment in Sandra’s life that instilled in her a determination to speak out against sexual predators?

A) When she was raped at the refugee camp in Burundi

B) When she learned that her mother was sexually assaulted at age 13

C) When she had to defend her sister from an erratic boyfriend

D) When she was nearly sexually assaulted by her uncle

7. Which of the following is not one of the reasons that Sandra finds her first days adjusting to life as a middle schooler at John Williams School No. 5 to be miserable, as described in Chapter 16?

A) She unfavorably compares her short hair to her classmates’ long braids, weaves, and relaxed hair.

B) Her family moves to a rougher, poorer inner-city neighborhood.

C) Her father hates his menial job at the steel mill and takes it out emotionally on the family.

D) Children in the neighborhood throw rocks at Sandra when she is outside.

8. In Chapter 18, what is the primary reason why Sandra refrains from talking to her mother about the bullying she is experiencing as a seventh grader at Thomas Jefferson Middle School?

A) Because she realizes that her mother has problems of her own and her father is in a coma

B) Because her mother tells her that she does not want to hear Sandra complaining

C) Because she is embarrassed and does not want to admit that she is being bullied

D) Because she wants to take revenge on her classmates and she knows her mother will not approve

9. Which of the following best describes the personality of Shantavia, one of Sandra’s closest friends at Our Lady of Mercy?

A) A bit sporty

B) A bit nerdy

C) A bit silly

D) A bit grumpy

10. In Chapter 23, what chance event causes Sandra to fill in for Princesse and give a speech to introduce their church choir to a group in Pennsylvania?

A) Princesse learns that she needs to take a last-minute exam at school.

B) Princesse injures her arm and leaves to go to the hospital immediately.

C) Princesse must save her voice to fill in for the lead singer of the choir.

D) Princesse falls ill and so is unable to give the speech.

11. Five years after Sandra and her family moved to the US, they became eligible for citizenship. Aside from the obvious, why was this an especially momentous occasion?

A) Because their family had never been official citizens of any country

B) Because it coincided with Prudence and Rachel’s 20th wedding anniversary

C) Because Sandra would be awarded a prize for her photo exhibition on the same day

D) Because this would allow Prudence to finally apply for a driver’s license

12. When Sandra returns to the refugee camp in Chapter 26, she notices that the refugee children have made makeshift balls out of what material?

A) Tin cans, molded into circular shapes

B) Rubber tires

C) Wadded-up plastic bags tied together with shoelaces

D) Cattle dung

13. Sandra founded what club on Houghton College’s campus?

A) The Chess Club

B) The Black History Club

C) The African Refugee Society

D) The Student Democrat Society

14. When Sandra decides that she cannot return to Houghton College for mental health reasons, why does her mother assume that she is dropping out?

A) Because she thinks Sandra has a drug addiction

B) Because she thinks Sandra is pregnant

C) Because she thinks Sandra is eloping

D) Because she thinks Sandra is failing classes

15. When Sandra resumes her studies in Chapter 32, she has made the decision to go to what college?

A) Harvard University

B) Brooklyn College

C) New York University

D) Mercy College

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. What happened to Sandra’s brother Heritage, as described in Chapter 2? What does it say about what childhood was like for Sandra, and by extension other children growing up in DRC?

2. Sandra’s romantic woes in college remind her of a paradoxical difficulty that many Black women—refugee or not—face in American society. What is that difficulty?