Answer: 1. How do the events of "The White Umbrella" teach the narrator a lesson about shame and acceptance?
In the "The White Umbrella" by Gish Jen, a girl is ashamed of her working mother . She wants to have a white umbrella that her piano teacher has over the piano. She receives the piano as a gift and she wants the piano teacher to be her mother. Later on when she, her sister and her mother have an accident and when she thinks her mother is dead she learns to value her mother and throws away the umbrella as a symbol that fitting in the society is not as important as her mother.
2. What role does creativity play in "The Bat-Poet"?
Creativy is really important is the endearing story "The Bat-Poet" by Randall Jarrel. A bat feels he is different from his peers and composes poems. The mockingbird calls his attention and writes a poem about it. The success with the mockingbird convinces to look for other animals and this time he plans to sell his poem. The chipmunk becomes his first client properly and he wants to sell the poem by six crickets but the chipmunk doesn't know what crickets are and.... You have to read the story but I can tell you it is unique and very creative and the poems are wonderful.
3. How does the character of Squeaky change over the course of "Raymond's Run"?
At the beginning Squeak doesn't think Raymond could run well and at the end Squeak notices Raymond's potential as a runner and decides to train Raymond for the next year's race.
4. Discuss the influences of older family members on the protagonists and speakers in the stories and poems of this unit.
In the first story, the influence of the piano teacher is strong as well as the desire of youngsters to fit in and be like the other teens. In the bat poet-bat old people are represented in animals like the mockingbird and the owl. The other bats can be like friends you have at schools that are important for teenagers when they take decisons. In "Raymond's Run" friends are key and influence what the characters consider important.
There are more the 5 paragraphs in all the hints I gave you.