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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. Who was Mr. Grant?

2. Who helped Nancy's parents buy a semi-detached house?

3. What was Frank's nickname for his newborn daughter, Nancy?

4. What musical did the Spungens see that inspired Nancy's love of rock and roll?

5. How did Nancy avoid time in the juvenile facility until her car case was heard?

Short Essay Questions

1. Right before Nancy started school, what did her parents and doctors believe Nancy needed in order to help her behavior? Why were the Spungens so willing to accept this as truth?

2. Why was Nancy arrested in Colorado, and how did her parents rescue her?

3. How did Deborah's mother feel about her pregnancy with Nancy?

4. How did doctors respond to Deborah when she voiced concern over Nancy's medical issues as an infant?

5. How did Nancy's time at the Lakeside Campus of the Darlington school system change her behavior?

6. Why did Deborah feel so bonded to Nancy when she was first born?

7. Why was Deborah upset with Nancy's treatment at the Lakeside Campus?

8. How did Deborah Spungen's grief prompt her to write this book?

9. What was Nancy's relationship like with the Bebees, and how did she react when they were no longer with her?

10. What did Deborah do for work when David started nursery school?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay that describes how the Spungens were treated by people after Nancy's murder. In your response, be sure to explain the roles of the police, coroner, district attorney, and the press. How was this treatment a pattern in the Spungens' constant search to do right by their daughter? How have their reactions to this treatment changed since Nancy's birth?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay that examines how Frank and Nancy Spungen were often blamed for Nancy's troubles. In your response, answer the following questions:

1) How did the medical community blame the Spungens? Cite specific examples.

2) How did the school system blame the Spungens? Cite specific examples.

3) How did the legal system, both before and after Nancy's death, blame the Spungens? Cite specific examples.

4) In what ways did the Spungens blame themselves for Nancy's troubles?

Essay Topic 3

What is the significance of the title of this book? In your essay, explain how Deborah got to know the line, "And I don't want to live this life." What does this quote mean? How is it significant to the life story of Nancy Spungen? Who said it? Why was it important to Deborah? Provide textual evidence from the book that supports this as an appropriate title for Nancy's life story.

(see the answer keys)

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