We Beat the Street: How A Friendship Pact Led to Success

Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Chapters 1-5

Reading Check

1. Why does Rameck throw pencils at the ceiling in his Catholic elementary school?

2. Sampson and his friends Nobody and Will think that playing what sport might be their ticket out of the projects?

3. When Rameck returns to public school in Chapter 5, which teacher helps him discover his passion for theater?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What is Sampson’s first introduction to medicine, as described in Chapter 1?

2. George’s third-grade teacher, Miss Johnson, gives her students an exceptional learning challenge when she gives them what assignment? What effect does this have on George and his classmates?

Paired Resource

Why Three Men from Newark Made a Promise to Become Doctors in High School

• In this 7-minute video, Tamron Hall interviews the three protagonists for her talk show, asking them about their pact to become medical doctors when they were just teenagers.
• All of the book’s core themes—the Power of Friendship, the importance of Learning and Education, and Second Chances—are touched upon in this clip.
• What are your first impressions of the three protagonists upon “meeting” them in this clip?

Chapters 6-9

Reading Check

1. George’s dentist likens both dentists and doctors to what superhero?

2. Sampson, his brother Andre, and two neighborhood boys seek out a man named Reggie to teach them what skill?

3. What does Sampson see as the key to popularity, as described in Chapter 8?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. In Chapter 6, how does George use a trip to the dentist to learn outside of school?

2. What does Rameck experience on Arlington Avenue in Chapter 9 that makes him question his relationship with his neighborhood friends?

Chapters 10-12

Reading Check

1. While celebrating Sampson’s birthday, why does Sampson’s friend Hock get angry with him?

2. Rameck faces expulsion from school after he sprays what substance in a teacher’s face?

3. After the Seton Hall professor’s presentation about pre-med/pre-dentist programs, which of the three boys is most determined that they should apply?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What ultimately leads Sampson away from selling drugs with his friend Spud, even though he is desperate for money?

2. In Chapter 11, what is an example of how Rameck learns to stand up for himself?

Paired Resource

The Link Between Drug Trafficking and Poverty

• The Borgen Project is a nonprofit that works toward addressing and alleviating poverty in the United States. In this article, they explain the connection between poverty and drug trafficking in low-income communities.
• The boys face peer pressure on multiple occasions, often related to drugs. Even though they’ve occasionally had lapses in judgment, the boys luckily are given Second Chances that allow their lives to be put on the right path.
• According to this article, what are the key factors that link drug trafficking to poverty? Which of those factors do you see reflected in We Beat the Street?

Chapters 13-15

Reading Check

1. Where do Rameck and his neighborhood friends typically go to hang out and drink alcohol?

2. Sampson has a low-paying summer job working at what fast food restaurant?

3. After Sampson is arrested for robbing drug dealers with his friends, his parents help arrange a plea bargain. What is his ultimate sentence?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does Rameck end up spending Thanksgiving weekend in jail, as described in Chapter 13?

2. In George’s interview with the student development specialist at Seton Hall, what does he tell her that impresses her so much?

Paired Resource

Cost of living crisis: Teens making money for their families by joining gangs and selling drugs

• This Sky News piece profiles Matthew Norford, a former gang member in England who now helps hundreds of young people find a living outside of drug trafficking. 
• Like the protagonists of We Beat the Street, Norford received a Second Chance to turn his life around.
• What are the parallels between Norford’s story and the three young men in We Beat the Street? Consider their reasons for engaging in drug trafficking, as well as how they escaped.

Chapters 16-18

Reading Check

1. In the boys’ summer college prep program at Seton Hall, what time is lights-out each night?

2. Which of the three boys is most enthusiastic about making a name for himself in the hip-hop world?

3. Which of the three boys becomes their hip-hop group’s ad-hoc agent?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. In Chapter 16, how does Carla help keep the three boys on track during their summer college prep program at Seton Hall?

2. Why do the three boys name their organization Ujima? What is their mission with this group?

Paired Resource

I’ll Always Love Big Poppa: How Biggie Smalls Helped Me Understand My Parents’ Deaths

• In this personal essay published in The Root, Brittany Brathwaite explains how the murder of rapper Biggie Smalls helped her process her parents’ deaths, as a young woman growing up in an underprivileged community in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn.
• Brathwaite’s childhood, like the protagonists of We Beat the Streets, is filled with danger from their environment. Also like the boys in We Beat the Streets, losing Biggie was a pivotal moment in their youth.
• How did the death of rapper Biggie Smalls affect the course of Brathwaite’s life, as compared to the three boys?

Chapters 19-22

Reading Check

1. Sampson and Rameck both get into what program that helps transition them to Rutgers med school?

2. Why is Rameck arrested in Chapter 20, after being pulled over while driving by police?

3. Rameck decides to focus on what specialty within medicine, landing a spot at Robert Wood Johnson?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. When Sampson and George begin to feel doubts over their ability to treat patients, how do they handle this anxiety? How does this relate to a larger theme in the book?

2. The concluding chapter of the book shows the boys doing what? Describe the scene, and also how it reinforces the book’s overall meaning.

Recommended Next Reads 

The Battle of Jericho by Sharon M. Draper

• The first book in Sharon Draper’s Jericho Trilogy, this is a YA novel that tells the story of Jericho, a young man awaiting his initiation into the Warriors of Distinction, an ancient and exclusive school club.
• The allure of the Warriors of Distinction and Jericho’s dealings with his friends/family circle share themes of Learning Experiences and Education and The Power of Friendship.
• Jericho deals with some of the same difficulties around peer pressure that the three young boys deal with growing up in We Beat the Street.
• The Battle of Jericho on SuperSummary

I Will Always Write Back: How One Letter Changed Two Lives by Caitlin Alfirenka and Martin Ganda, with Liz Welch

• The real-life story of two pen pals—one in the US, the other in Zimbabwe—forming a bond so strong that it changed the course of both of their lives.
• The Power of Friendship is emphasized as one of the core themes of I Will Always Write Back, particularly cross-cultural friendships. A passion for Education (and some help from Caitlin) is also what ultimately gets Martin to change the course of his life.
• Though Martin (from Zimbabwe) faces a different kind of hardship from the three boys growing up in Newark, he has many challenges as he moves from childhood to adulthood.
• I Will Always Write Back on SuperSummary