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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who did the author's father meet?
(a) Fellow freelance painters.
(b) Fellow freelance artists.
(c) Fellow freelance writers.
(d) Fellow freelance musicians.

2. What was all work measured by in the author's childhood home?
(a) The look on mother's face when she saw the job.
(b) The length of a job.
(c) The perfect skill with which it was completed.
(d) The approval of peers.

3. Where does the author step off the train when he first enters Brownsville?
(a) Broadview Avenue.
(b) Rockaway Avenue.
(c) 35th Street.
(d) Main Street.

4. What was the author's favorite school experience?
(a) Visiting the assembly hall.
(b) His weekly visits with the speech pathologist.
(c) Walking past the girls' bathroom.
(d) Saying the pledge of allegiance.

5. What instrument did the author play as a child?
(a) The clarinet.
(b) The violin.
(c) The trumpet.
(d) The piano.

6. What would the author skip pages of his favorite book to read?
(a) The description of the ship the immigrants came across the ocean on.
(b) The description of the homestead the characters were building.
(c) The description of the mountainous terrain the characters lived in.
(d) The description of the characters eating black bread, salt and tomatoes.

7. What belief about Jews did the author grow up with?
(a) That they were destined to be propertyless workers.
(b) That they were destined to marry only out of duty.
(c) That they were destined to be leaders of the country.
(d) That they were destined to be bankers.

8. What did the author spend his school days staring at in fear and anxiety?
(a) The ruler that was used to punish the students that hung on the wall.
(b) The boy in the second row who would tease him during lunch.
(c) The clock.
(d) A notebook that sat on the teachers desk.

9. What did the children buy from the Syrian vendors?
(a) Manoushah.
(b) Yaknit al-kama.
(c) Couscous.
(d) Halvah.

10. The author's mother was a hard worker but there was something she couldn't do. What was that one thing?
(a) Work the victrola.
(b) Read at all.
(c) Do basic math.
(d) Read English.

11. Who did the author say it was good to be back among?
(a) The children playing stickball on on the block.
(b) The women who shouted from the market.
(c) His family.
(d) The children playing handball on the street.

12. What can the author see in every ground floor kitchen window?
(a) Pies cooling for dessert.
(b) Containers of milk and fresh poppy seed rolls.
(c) Lemonade and jam.
(d) Jars of beans and fresh herbs.

13. What did Mrs. E do when she abandoned her housework for a half hour every morning?
(a) She listened to her "shows" on the radio.
(b) She gossiped with the neighborhood ladies.
(c) She weeded her small flower garden.
(d) She sat in the vegetarian restaurant.

14. What did the team receive if they won the competition between the "Army Navy" tests the civics teacher gave?
(a) A blue star.
(b) A free pass to the bathroom.
(c) A gold star.
(d) An automatic passing grade on a test.

15. At what age are Jewish boys "confirmed?"
(a) Eighteen.
(b) Fifteen.
(c) Twelve.
(d) Thirteen.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did the author always have in his hands when he was waiting fort the girl by the junkyard?

2. What did the three dressmakers and the author's mother speak of that made the author upset?

3. The author preferred the movie house over the synagogue, why did he favor the movie house?

4. Where did the civics teacher stand during the tests he gave?

5. What did the author's family regularly do after their Friday night discussions?

(see the answer keys)

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