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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. What does Grace do when Adam plays the sound in class as an act of bullying?

2. For how long has Joaquin been seeing Ana in therapy at the time he breaks up with Birdie?

3. How much more money on average does Joaquin say it takes in adoption fees to adopt a white baby, versus a baby of color?

4. How does Max feel about his father?

5. What is NOT an aspect of Ana's office that Joaquin finds too alarming to be borne?

Short Essay Questions

1. Discuss an instance when Grace displays self-loathing.

2. What has always been the strategy Grace's parents have used in regards to her status as an adopted child?

3. What does Grace whisper over and over to her unborn child and how does the detail depict the novel's themes of guilt and responsibility?

4. What is ironic about Grace's television-watching habits prior to becoming pregnant with Peach?

5. What favor does the teacher's aide for Joaquin's class ask Joaquin to do around Christmastime?

6. What quality of Maya and Grace's appearance had Joaquin known to expect even before meeting them for the first time?

7. How does Joaquin respond to the teacher's aide's request of him at Christmastime?

8. After two weeks of agony spent missing Peach, what desire brings Grace out of her depression?

9. How does the author demonstrate the difference between Grace's high school days before Peach and her experiences at school after Peach's birth?

10. What does the tattoo across the shoulders of one of Joaquin's older foster brothers symbolize?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the function of Rafe's character within the novel? Discuss the characterization methods used by the author in depicting Rafe and include in your discussion the reasons that the author portrays this character in these particular ways.

Essay Topic 2

What is the author's message regarding motherhood and what themes does the author employ in order to send these messages to the reader?

Essay Topic 3

Sensory details are used frequently by the author in order to create vivid pictures of each sibling's character and progression through the narrative. Choose three scenes in which sensory details are heavily used and discuss how the sensory details used by the author set a particular mood for each of the three scenes.

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