Question

as jacqueline searched for books, she discovered something that really excited her—a picture book called stevie, by john steptoe, about an african american boy’s relationship with his foster brother. then she found a novel called zeely, by virginia hamilton, about an african american girl who visits her uncle in the south—reminding jacqueline how she had once lived with her grandparents in south carolina. books by these and other black writers meant the world to jacqueline. “thank goodness for mildred taylor and virginia hamilton and nikki giovanni,” she says, “the writers who came along and started putting black girlhood on the page in a way that felt relevant to me. and the fact that they’d once been black girls made it even more important.” jacqueline gradually received recognition for her own words, and one year she won a prize for her poem about martin luther king jr. when her teacher praised one of her stories as “really good,” jacqueline began believing in herself as a writer, and her growing confidence—along with years of persistence and hard work—eventually paid off. which text evidence best supports the inference that jacqueline overcame personal obstacles to become a writer? it took some poems from a teacher and a prize for her writing for jacqueline to feel. also, at first, she found poetry to be, but that changed. now, she has written many books in free verse and believes that poetry can be.

Explanation:

To determine the text evidence, we analyze the context. The relevant part is about Jacqueline's journey: she needed external validation (poems from a teacher, a prize) to feel confident, initially found poetry challenging (a common obstacle), but persisted. The key is identifying the evidence that shows overcoming obstacles (like self - doubt, initial difficulty with poetry) to become a writer. The text "It took some poems from a teacher and a prize for her writing for Jacqueline to feel confident. Also, at first, she found poetry to be difficult, but that changed. Now, she has written many books in free verse and believes that poetry can be..." (the filled - in blanks would be "confident", "difficult", and the last part about poetry's power) shows her overcoming personal obstacles (self - doubt, initial struggle with poetry) through external validation and persistence to become a writer.

Answer:

The text evidence is: "It took some poems from a teacher and a prize for her writing for Jacqueline to feel confident. Also, at first, she found poetry to be difficult, but that changed. Now, she has written many books in free verse and believes that poetry can be [powerful/expressive/... (depending on the exact option, but the core is the part about overcoming initial difficulty and gaining confidence through recognition to become a writer)]" (assuming the blanks are filled as "confident", "difficult", and a positive description of poetry). If we consider the structure, the relevant evidence is the part that shows she had obstacles (initial difficulty with poetry, needed external validation to feel confident) and overcame them (changed her view, wrote many books).