Little Fires Everywhere

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 1-4

Reading Check

1. How does the novel open?

2. Where do the Richardsons live?

3. What does Mia do to make money?

4. What does Pearl watch with the Richardsons after school?

Multiple Choice

1. What is the Warrens’ relationship with Mrs. Richardson?

A) She is their neighbor.

B) She is Pearl’s teacher.

C) She is their landlord.

D) She is Mia’s great aunt.

2. What is implied by Pearl’s remark that the Warrens move around a lot when Mia “gets the bug” (Chapter 2)?

A) It suggests that they are on the run from someone.

B) It suggests that Pearl doesn’t always enjoy moving frequently.

C) It suggests that Mia is a bad parent.

D) It suggests that Pearl doesn’t think she and Moody will be friends for long.

3. Why does Moody take Pearl to his house?

A) He thinks that she will grow bored with him if he doesn’t.

B) He thinks that she’ll enjoy meeting his siblings.

C) He thinks that his mother will make sure that the Warrens stay permanently.

D) He thinks that she will fall in love with Shaker Heights.

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why is Pearl shocked by Moody’s family?

2. Why does Lexie’s question about her father hurt Pearl?

3. Name 2 differences between Mia Warren and Mrs. Richardson.

Chapters 5-8

Reading Check

1. Whose compliment makes Pearl blush?

2. What does Lexie do for Pearl in return for Pearl writing Lexie’s essay?

3. Teaming up with Moody and Pearl, how does Izzy get revenge on Mrs. Peters?

Multiple Choice

1. What does it show about the Richardsons that Lexie is fascinated by the thrift store?

A) They don’t shop anywhere besides the mall.

B) They don’t worry about spending money.

C) They don’t think about others’ lives.

D) They look down at other people.

2. Why is Mia most concerned about Pearl writing Lexie’s college admissions essay?

A) She is worried that Lexie is taking advantage of her.

B) She is not comfortable with cheating.

C) She is displeased that Mrs. Richardson didn’t teach her children to know better.

D) She is concerned that Pearl doesn’t realize that Lexie is using her because she is different.

3. What is the most likely reason that Mia takes the job as a housekeeper for the Richardsons?

A) She wants the money.

B) She doesn’t trust Mrs. Richardson and can keep an eye on her.

C) She can watch Pearl more closely.

D) She wants to mentor Izzy.

4. Why does Mia take Izzy on as an assistant?

A) She sees that the Richardsons don’t give Izzy’s desires much attention.

B) She believes she can set Izzy on the straight and narrow so she stops acting out.

C) She wants Pearl to be jealous of Izzy.

D) She thinks having an assistant will make people take her more seriously as an artist.

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why is Moody particularly hurt that Pearl has abandoned him?

2. Why was Izzy suspended?

3. What does Pearl realize after she asks her mother about the photograph she saw with Moody and Lexie in the museum?

Chapters 9-12

Reading Check

1. Where was Mirabelle found?

2. How does Mia make the connection between her coworker and the McCullough’s new baby?

3. What is Mia’s birth name?

Multiple Choice

1. Why does Mia suggest that Bebe go to a reporter when she can’t afford a lawyer?

A) Her story about finding her baby will draw attention to her case.

B) Her story will encourage a reporter to pay for a lawyer.

C) Her story can serve as a warning to other new mothers.

D) Her story can draw attention to problems with the adoption system.

2. Why does Mrs. Richardson invite Pearl to lunch with her and Lexie?

A) She doesn’t think that Pearl is eating enough.

B) She is grateful to Pearl for writing Lexie’s admission essay.

C) She is hoping to gain more information about Mia from Pearl.

D) She wants to tell Pearl that she too can get into Yale if she works hard enough.

3. What does it show about the relationship between Lexie and her mother that Lexie makes her abortion appointment for a time that that Mrs. Richardson will be out of town?

A) It shows that Lexie keeps secrets from her mother.

B) It shows that Lexie can handle things on her own and doesn’t need Mrs. Richardson.

C) It shows that Lexie is closer with her father because she tells him about the appointment.

D) It shows that Lexie doesn’t feel like her mother will be understanding.

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does Izzy criticize the McCulloughs for changing Mirabelle’s name from May Ling?

2. Why does Mrs. Richardson feel particularly betrayed by the revelation that it Mia who told Bebe about the McCulloughs?

3. What does Mrs. Richardson discover about Mia and Pearl? How does it connect to Bebe’s story?

Chapters 13-16

Reading Check

1. In what city did Mia go to college?

2. How does Mrs. Richardson confirm the Wrights’ story about Mia and the Ryan?

Multiple Choice

1. What motivates Mia to accept the Ryans’ offer to pay her to carry their child?

A) She wants to help them because they can’t have children.

B) She believes that the experience will add to her art.

C) She needs the money for her tuition since her scholarship was not renewed.

D) She is influenced by Pauline, who encourages her to do it.

2. What estranges Mia from her parents?

A) They don’t allow her to attend Warren’s funeral after learning she is pregnant with the Ryans’ child.

B) They refuse to treat Pearl kindly.

C) They refuse to help her with her tuition for school.

D) They don’t trust Pauline.

3. Why is Mia surprised to feel sympathetic toward Lexie?

A) She has seen her take advantage of Pearl’s friendship.

B)  She expected to gloat because Lexie and Brian had been so obvious about having sex.

C) She doesn’t like any of the Richardson children.

D) She thinks that Lexie is irresponsible.

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What fact about herself does Pearl keep from Mia that she considers to be not a lie but an “omission” (Chapter 15)?

2. Why does Ed Lim ask Mrs. McCullough about the ways that the McCulloughs keep May Ling connected to her Chinese heritage?

3.  How does Mrs. Richardson’s view of Mia develop during the trial between Bebe and the McCulloughs?

Chapters 17-20

Reading Check

1. Who goes with Lexie to her follow-up appointment at the clinic?

2. Who wins the custody battle?

3. What happens to May Ling at the end of the novel?

Multiple Choice

1. Why does Mrs. Richardson believe that her friend Betsy should give her confidential information?

A) She believes that she is trying to pursue the truth about Bebe.

B) She believes that Betsy owes her because Mrs. Richardson helped her to get to where she is in her job.

C) She believes that Betsy should also help the McCulloughs since they are all friends.

D) She believes that the information should be public knowledge.

2. What is the most likely reason that Moody tells Mrs. Richardson that Trip is the father of Pearl’s baby?

A) He doesn’t want her to think that he is having sex.

B) He knows that Pearl and Trip are sleeping together.

C) He is upset that Pearl has replaced him with Lexie and Trip.

D) He wants to hide the fact that Lexie had an abortion.

3. Why does Mia say that Mrs. Richardson is dissatisfied with her life choices?

A) She believes that Mrs. Richardson is afraid when she sees other people make different choices from her own because she isn’t certain she made the perfect ones.

B) She thinks that Mrs. Richardson regrets staying in Shaker Heights and is jealous that Mia has lived in so many different places while also still managing to be a mother to Pearl.

C) She knows that Mrs. Richardson made the wrong choice by staying in Shaker Heights when she could have gone on to be more independent from her family.

D) She wants to make Mrs. Richardson question her own choices so that she stops looking into Mia’s past.

4. Why is it ironic that Mrs. Richardson ultimately loses Izzy?

A) Prior to this, all of the other mothers in the novel deal with loss except for Mrs. Richardson.

B) Izzy is the only child who isn’t biologically related to Mrs. Richardson.

C) She was scared that she would lose Moody since he was in love with Pearl.

D) Her attempt to control Izzy’s life is what pushed Izzy away.

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why is Moody hurt that Pearl never used the notebook he gave her?

2. Why does Mrs. Richardson call Mia a hypocrite?

3. Why does Izzy decide to light the Richardson house on fire?

4. Where does Mia get the materials for each gift for the Richardsons?