Genesis Begins Again

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

Chapters 1-4

Reading Check

1. What is one of the nicknames that the girls at school call Genesis?

2. What fruit does Grandma believe has healing powers?

3. After Genesis and her family are evicted, what city do they move to?

4. In Chapter 4, what falls out of Emory’s pocket and tips Mama off that he has been gambling again?

Short Answer

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

1. As shown in Chapters 1-4, what are the negative effects of Emory’s alcoholism on Genesis and his family?

Paired Resource

 “Gambling Disorder”

• Emory suffers from a gambling addiction, which controls the direction of his family’s life. In this factsheet, Yale Medicine describes how gambling addiction can wreak havoc on someone’s life, while also speculating on the origins of a gambling addiction.
• This connects to the theme of The Effects of Poverty and Addiction.
• What symptoms of a gambling disorder, as described in this article, do you see in the character of Emory?

Chapters 5-9

Reading Check

1. What is the name of Genesis’s strict, rule-driven English and homeroom teacher at her new middle school?

2. When Genesis puts on her black button-down shirt that she has had since she was seven years old, whose hair does she think hers resembles?

3. In Chapter 7, we learn that Genesis’s father had a brother, Charlie, who passed away. What did Charlie die from?

Short Answer

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

1. Troy is surprised to learn that Genesis has not heard of a very important figure in Black history. Who is this figure? Why, according to Troy, did his parents want him to know about this figure?

Chapters 10-14

Reading Check

1. Genesis’s mom tells Genesis that a woman’s “crowning glory” is what?

2. When Emory comes home from work in Chapter 11, he tells Mama and Genesis that he has been drinking because he has been celebrating what event?

3. Genesis catches Sophia crying in the girls’ bathroom in Chapter 12. When Genesis asks what the matter is, Sophia tells a white lie. Why does Sophia say she is crying?

Short Answer

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

1. In Chapter 13, Grandma tells Genesis about the concept of “marrying up.” What does “marrying up” entail, according to Grandma? How has “marrying up” affected Genesis’s family?

Paired Resource

 “This Is the Story of Black Hair”

• In this Good Morning America clip, author Emma Dabiri unpacks the stigma around “kinky” and Afro-textured hair, revealing where the myth of “bad” hair came from, historically and sociologically.
• How does the concept of “bad” hair affect Genesis in this section? Who has “good” hair and who has “bad” hair?

Chapters 15-19

Reading Check

1. Why do Yvette and Belinda wait for Genesis at her locker in Chapter 15? What question do they want to ask her?

2. In Chapter 16, Genesis becomes enraged when she finds three bottles of vodka and whiskey in a cabinet in their home, knowing that it means her father is drinking again. What does she do with the bottles?

3. Genesis tells Troy that she thinks of what type of instrument as a “white people’s instrument”?

Short Answer

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

1. In Chapter 18, Mama confides to Genesis that she was proud that Genesis was a “chocolate baby,” referring to her dark-skinned features. During this conversation, Mama also reveals something about her childhood that shocks Genesis and complicates how Genesis thinks of her own Blackness. What is the story and why does it surprise Genesis?

Paired Resource

“Figures on Alcohol Use and the Black Community”

• This piece from the American Addiction Centers describes the effects of alcohol and alcoholism on the African American community.
• The article provides several statistics on the scope and nature of the role of alcohol in the Black experience.
• Which of the statistics in this article do you see reflected in Emory’s experience? Did any of the statistics in this article particularly enlighten/surprise you?

Chapters 20-24

Reading Check

1. At dinner with Sophia’s family, Genesis notices that Sophia and her dad share a common trait in the way that they eat. What is that trait?

2. Nia plays what musical instrument at the talent show?

3.   When Genesis discovers that Emory no longer has a job in Chapter 23, on the bus ride home she listens to the music of what artist to calm herself down?

Short Answer

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

1. Genesis wonders how Nia can perform any music but neo-soul because she has locs. What does this reveal to Genesis about her own character?

Chapters 25-29

Reading Check

1. Emory is furious when he learns that Genesis took a bus to his workplace. Who tells Emory that Genesis did this?

2. In Chapter 26, Mama apologizes to Genesis for the first time in Genesis’s life. Why does she apologize?

3. Genesis’s bleaching cream promises results in how many days?

Short Answer

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

1. Describe Genesis’s relationship with Yvette and Belinda. What does it say about Genesis that she cares what they think?

Paired Resource

“Skin Lightening Products Can Cause Health Problems”

• This article examines the health impacts of skin lightening creams, like the ones Genesis uses in Chapter 27.
• This connects to the theme of The Harmful Effects of Internalized Colorism.
• Is the fact that skin lightening creams are harmful an act of racism? If yes, who should be held responsible?

Chapters 30-33

Reading Check

1. When Mama notices the light spots on Genesis’s cheeks, she panics and thinks Genesis has what condition?

2. What modern song does Troy perform at the talent show (which surprises Genesis, since he usually only plays classical music)?

3. After Genesis decides that she is done with “the list,” what does she do with it?

Short Answer

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

1. In Chapter 32, Genesis suddenly understand why Mama always wants to protect Emory—and, now, Genesis does too. What makes her have this epiphany?

Recommended Next Reads 

Piecing Me Together by Renée Watson

• Like Genesis Begins Again, Renée Watson’s Piecing Me Together is the story of a young Black protagonist trying to make sense of herself and her Blackness in a Colorist world.
• In Piecing Me Together, middle schooler Jade is invited to join a mentorship program for “at-risk” Black girls called Women to Women, but she does not like being singled out as someone who “needs help.” Through her experience in the program, she learns to find her voice, her purpose, and what she wants from the rest of her life.
• Piecing Me Together on SuperSummary

The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois

• Written in 1903, The Souls of Black Folk is the landmark text comprised of 14 essays that describe the state of the South and the African American community at the turn of the 20th century. It is one of the most important contributions to African-American literature, American literature in general, and sociology.
• Troy tells Genesis that in reading The Souls of Black Folk, he learned that “no matter where we [Black folks] came from, we can still be great” (Chapter 8).
• The Souls of Black Folk on SuperSummary