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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. When does Tash expect to be out?

2. What happens to Tupac when Chapter 10 opens?

3. Where did Tash play piano before going to prison?

4. What does Jayjones say happens to black men in the wrong places?

5. Where do the girls walk?

Short Essay Questions

1. Where does D have the girls get off the bus and how do they feel about entering the place where she has brought them?

2. What does Neeka's family do while visiting with Tash and what does Miss Irene say about his lawyer? What does Tash tell her?

3. How does Neeka's family enter the prison and how do they feel about the guards?

4. What does Neeka complain about on the way to the prison and what does she think she can do about it?

5. What does Tash look like when he comes into the visitation area and how does he act?

6. What shocks Neeka and the narrator while listening to music and preparing for Tash's welcome home party? What do they learn about D?

7. What do Neeka and the narrator do when they come home after being with D in Chapter 11?

8. What does Tash ask Jayjones and what does Tash say is the first thing he is going to do when he leaves prison?

9. What does Tash tell Jayjones about crime?

10. What has D learned about her real mother and how does she feel about it?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The narrator doesn't know who her own father is, either. Mama expresses regret for the narrator not having a father. Some days Mama looks sadly out the window, and the narrator can tell she's thinking of what could have been.

1. Do you think most of the characters in this book regret something in their past? Discuss your opinion in depth using examples from the book.

2. How do you think not knowing her father has affected the narrator's life and her feelings about herself and others? Use examples from the book and your own life to support your answer.

3. Do you think dwelling on the past and what might have been can negatively impact the present? Why or why not? Use examples from the book and your own life to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

D reveals how she loves Tupac because she feels he knows what extreme hunger is like and what it is to go hungry because you don't have enough money. D's friends are shocked that D had such an impoverished upbringing. Neeka assures D that her mother will always have food for D, and D is grateful.

1. Why do you think in a country as rich as America there are still people who don't have enough to eat? Discuss your opinion in depth using examples from the book and your own life.

2. Given the fact that the narrator's mother works long hours to support them and where they live, why do you think the narrator and Neeka are shocked to find out about D's life? Discuss your opinion in depth using examples from the book and your own life.

3. Discuss in depth the following statement: Every human being has the right to enough food to eat.

Essay Topic 3

D is a "throwaway child", and the system allows foster parents to take her on (for government payments) and then dispose of her at their will. Furthermore, the reader gets the sense that the court has erred in granting D's real mother custody, considering the mother's history of alcoholism and negligence.

1. What do you think are the major problems with the foster care system in the United States? Use examples from the book and your own life to support your answer.

2. Do you think the courts should have so much power over the lives of children and their parents? Why or why not? Use examples from the book and your own life to support your answer.

3. Discuss the mental and emotional impacts D's life situation might have on her in the long term. Use examples from the book and your own life to support your answer.

(see the answer keys)

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