Class 10 English Chapter 1 Question Answers - First Flight

Q.1. Where did Wanda Petronski live?
Ans. She lived at Boggins Heights.

Q.2. Where did Wanda use to sit in the class?
Ans. She used to sit in the seat next to the last.

Q.3. Who was Peggy’s best friend?
Ans. Maddie was Peggy’s best friend.

Q.4. Who was Miss Mason?
Ans. She was Peggy’s class teacher.

Q.5. Why were Wanda’s shoes always mud caked?
Ans. Wanda’s shoes were always mud caked because she had to go on foot all the way from Boggins Height to the school.

Q.6. What was strange about Wanda’s name?
Ans. She had a long name which was a funny one.

Q.7. What was the attitude of the other children toward Wanda?
Ans. They often made fun of her.

Q.8. What was Wanda’s response to Peggy’s question about dresses?
Ans. She said that she had one hundred dresses, all lined up in her closet.

Q.9. How did Peggy react when she saw an animal mistreated?
Ans. When Peggy saw an animal mistreated, she would cry for hours.

Q.10. What kind of dress did Wanda wear?
Ans. She always wore a faded blue dress.

Q.11. How did Peggy and Maddie try to amend their behaviour towards Wanda?
Ans. Both Peggy and Maddie felt guilty for their behaviour towards Wanda. Maddie felt very sad to know that Wanda and her family were leaving the town. Both of them wrote a friendly letter to Wanda telling her that she had won the contest. They asked her if she liked the place where she was living. They wanted to say sorry to her.

Q.12. Why was Maddie sure Peggy would win the dress designing contest? 
Ans. Maddie was sure that Peggy would win the dress designing contest because according to her, and everyone in the class, Peggy was the best artist in class.

Q.13. How did Peggy make fun of Wanda Petronski?   
Ans. Peggy would wait to make fun of Wanda at school. She would most courteously ask her, how many dresses she had hanging in her closet. Wanda would reply that there were a hundred. Peggy would then ask about the dress material, and when Wanda walked away, would burst into laughter, sarcastically making fun of her.

Q.14. What kind of girl was Wanda? Where did she usually sit in the class?
Ans. Wanda was a quiet girl who rarely laughed out loud. She didn’t have any friends and always come to school, and went home alone. She usually sat in the corner of the room, where those who didn’t get good marks sat, and which was the noisiest and dirtiest area in the room.

Q.15. How was Wanda treated at school?

Or

Why did children make fun of Wanda?                                         
Ans. Children made fun of Wanda because she had a funny name. And also because she came to school wearing the same faded blue dress although she claimed she had a hundred dresses—all of the different designs, colours and a variety of clothes—silk and velvet.

Q.16. Did Wanda have a hundred dresses? Why did she say so and how did she prove that?
Ans. No, she did not have the actual dresses. She had only the drawings of a hundred dresses on papers. All had different designs and colours. She had lined them up in her closet. She proved herself right by submitting a hundred drawings of dresses in the drawing and painting competition of her school.

Q.17. Why did Maddie write a note to Peggy and then tore it?
Ans. Maddie wanted Peggy to stop teasing Wanda. She thought it was cruel. She could not dare to say all this verbally so she wrote a note to Peggy. But then she pictured herself as a new target for Peggy and other girls, making fun of her for wearing hand-me-down clothes. She shuddered and tore the note.

Q.18. Who was Maddie?
Ans. Maddie belonged to a poor family. She wore old clothes which were given by others, her parents were not rich. They lived in a simple house.                                       

Q.19. What was the opinion of the judges about Wanda?
Ans. Wanda had drawn one hundred designs of dresses, which were all different and all beautiful. In the Opinion of the judges, any one of the drawings was worthy of winning the prize. So she was declared the winner of the girl medal.

Q.20. How can you say that Peggy was a soft girl?
Ans. Peggy was not really cruel. She protected smaller children from bullies. If she saw an animal mistreated, she would cry for hours.

Q.21. Maddie wrote a note for Peggy but she tore it away. Why?
Ans. Maddie wanted that Peggy should stop teasing and making fun of Wanda. So she wrote a note to Peggy. But she lacked the courage to give that note to Peggy fearing lest she should lose Peggy’s friendship. So she tore the note.

Q.22. What kind of girl Peggy was? 
Ans. Peggy was not really a cruel girl. In fact. she protected small children from bullies. She was a sensitive girl. She cried for hours if she saw an animal mistreated. She asked Wanda questions about her dresses and shoes. But her intentions were not bad. She simply wanted to have some fun. She was the most popular girl in the class. She was a pretty girl.

Q.23. Did Wanda Petronski sit in that corner near the last row because she was rough and noisy? 
Ans. No, Wanda Petronski did not sit in that corner because she was rough and noisy like the boys who sat there. She was always quiet and rarely uttered a word. Only sometimes she twisted her mouth into a crooked sort of smile. She sat there because she didn’t feel comfortable with other girls in the front row. They made fun of her. She had no friends and didn’t feel comfortable in the company of other girls.

Q.24. What did they think about Wanda and why? Wanda’s classmates
Ans. Generally, particularly girls usually didn’t notice Wanda’s presence or absence in the class. Only outside the school when they came to school or went home they would talk to her. They would be talking and laughing on their way to the schoolyard. Girls like Peggy would ask mockingly how many dresses Wanda had lined up in her closet. They spoke politely but only to make fun of her.

Q.25. What did her classmates and Maddie think about Peggy? 
Ans. Peggy was decided by the most popular girl in the class. She was pretty. She had many pretty clothes. Her hair was curly they thought that she could draw better than other girls. She handed down her old clothes to her closest friend Maddie. Maddie wished that Peggy would not embarrass Wanda by asking uncomfortable questions about her dresses and shoes.

Q.26. Was Peggy really cruel? Why did she make fun of Wanda Petronski by asking questions about her dresses and shoes?
Ans. No, Peggy was not really cruel. She protected small children from bullies she cried for hours if she saw an animal mistreated. But in Wanda’s case, she thought differently. She thought that Wanda was telling a lie about her hundred dresses and sixty pairs of shoes. She had always seen Wanda wearing a faded blue dress. Moreover, she didn’t like the place, Boggins Heights where Wanda lived. She also found the Polish name Wanda Petronski rather difficult and funny.

Q.27. Why didn’t Maddie like Peggy asking Wanda how many dresses, hats and shoes she had? How did she feel at such times? 
Ans. Maddie was quite poor. She depended on Peggy’s generosity who handed down her old clothes to her. However, she didn’t like Peggy embarrassing Wanda by asking uncomfortable questions related to her dresses and shoes. She couldn’t stand up against her closest friend and benefactor Peggy. She wished Peggy would not ask such embarrassing questions.

Q.28. Why did Maddie feel that she could be the next target of Peggy and all other girls? What did she wish?
Ans. No doubt, Peggy was her closest friend and benefactor. However, Maddie knew that she herself was a poor girl. She wore old clothes given up by Peggy. Peggy and all others could ask her where she had got the dress from which she was wearing. She would have to answer that it was Peggy’s old ones. She could be the next target of Peggy and the other girls. She wished Peggy would stop teasing Wanda Petronski.

Q.29. Why did Maddie think of writing a letter to Peggy? Why did she tear it into bits?
Ans. Maddie didn’t like Peggy teasing Wanda Petronski. But she could not muster up the courage to say it to Peggy. Peggy was her closest friend. She gave her old clothes to Maddie. So, she thought of writing a letter asking Peggy not to tease Wanda again. But Maddie tore into bits the letter she had started. She thought that Peggy could not possibly do anything that was really wrong.

Q.30. Why did Maddie and other girls think that Peggy would win the drawing and colouring competition?
Ans. Not only Maddie but others also believed that Peggy would win the drawing and colouring competition. Peggy drew better than anyone else in the class. She could copy a picture of some film star’s head in a magazine. Moreover, Wanda’s skills in drawing and designing had not been revealed yet.

Q.31. Why did Peggy and Maddie stop short and gasp when they entered the classroom? 
Ans. The moment they entered the classroom, Peggy and Maddie stopped short and gasped as there were drawings all over the room. Even every ledge and windowsill had them. There were designs with dazzling colours. They were drawn on wrapping paper. More than a hundred of them were there all lined up all over the room.

Q.32. How did Miss Mason announce Wanda Petronski’s name as the winner of the girls’ medal in the drawing and colouring contest? 
Ans. As soon as the class assembled, the teacher, Miss Mason announced the winners. Jack Beagles won for the boys. As for the girls, most of the girls submitted one or two sketches. One girl submitted one hundred designs. All of them were different and beautiful. Anyone of the drawings was worthy of winning the prize. She announced that Wanda Petronski was the winner of the girls’ medal.

Q.33. How did Peggy, Maddie and other girls react to Wanda’s drawing winning the girls’ medal in the drawing and colouring contest? Did the boys react differently? 
Ans. All applauded when Wanda was announced as the winner of the girls’ medal. All of them filed around the room to look at the paintings. Maddie showed Peggy one beautiful blue dress that Wanda told them about. Peggy was surprised to see the green one she used to talk about. The boys were not interested in dresses but found time for enjoying and whistling.

Q.34. Why did Wanda Petronski sit in the last row? 
Ans. Wanda Petronski had no friends. She came to school and went home alone. She had a Polish name which looked funny to her classmates. She lived at Boggins Heights, a place that was not particularly liked by the people and her classmates. Her shoes were covered with dry mud and she always wore a faded blue dress. So, she didn’t feel comfortable with other girls and preferred to sit in the last row with ‘rough boys’.