ELA 10-1

Short Stories Unit

“Liddy, First to Fly” by Kim Fu

Write your responses in full sentences on a separate page if space
is required.

Vocabulary Building and Pre-Reading Questions

1. What do you think the following words mean? After you have written down what you think it
means, define the word.

Word Predicted Definition Actual Definition

Oblong

Appendectomy

Bulbous

Downy

Lanced

Unfurl

Enamored

Bureaucratic

Menacing

Viscera

Concave

Convex

Speculative

Reverie

Disdain

Austere

2. What is mood?
ELA 10-1
Short Stories Unit

3. What is tone?

4. How are mood and tone established in a story?

Post-Reading

1. What is the mood of the story?

2. What is the tone of the story?

3. Are there any shifts?

4. Who is the narrator of the story? What type of narrator is it?

5. What types of conflict are evident in the story? Explain.

6. Who is the protagonist? Why?

7. What does it mean when Grace says, “The realm of pretend had only just closed its doors to us,
and light still leaked through around the edges”? What does this suggest about the characters?

8. What are Liddy’s wings a metaphor for? What quote from the text supports this? How?

9. What does the ending symbolize?

10. How might this story be seen as allegorical?

11. Plot the story on a plot diagram provided on the next page.
ELA 10-1
Short Stories Unit