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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Tyler Klement do for work?
(a) He is unemployed.
(b) He runs an engine repair business.
(c) He is a dogcatcher.
(d) He owns a construction company.

2. Whose vehicle do the boys see parked at the quarry when they arrive there?
(a) Nathan's car.
(b) Morris Engdahl's car.
(c) Karl's car.
(d) Gus' motorcycle.

3. Who first tells Nathan that Emil has attempted suicide?
(a) Gus.
(b) Jake.
(c) Ariel.
(d) Ruth.

4. What work does Ariel do for Emil Brandt in exchange for music tutelage?
(a) She transcribes for him.
(b) She paints portraits for him to sell.
(c) She cleans his house.
(d) She gardens in his yard.

5. What prompts Gus and Morris to be thrown in jail?
(a) They get caught drag racing.
(b) They get caught gambling at a poker game.
(c) They rob the local liquor store.
(d) They get into a fistfight in the bar parking lot.

6. How do Jake and Frank feel about their sister Ariel?
(a) They adore her.
(b) They resent her status as their mother's favorite child.
(c) They feel they can never live up to her level of academic success.
(d) They are jealous of her musical ability.

7. Who first voices the suspicion that Bobby Cole's death might have involved foul play?
(a) Ruth.
(b) Gus.
(c) Officer Doyle.
(d) Nathan.

8. What reason does Frank give for the Fourth of July being one of his favorite holidays?
(a) He likes the fireworks.
(b) He gets to spend time alone with his sister Ariel.
(c) He gets to take the day off from his work at his grandfather's house.
(d) He likes the pies his mother makes.

9. Whose conversation does Frank overhear when he is hiding behind the stage at the theater?
(a) Ruth's and Emil's.
(b) Nathan's and Gus'.
(c) Jake's and Ariel's.
(d) Ruth's and Nathan's.

10. Why are Frank and Jake forced to squeeze in next to Karl when he takes them for a ride in his Triumph sports car?
(a) Because the Triumph has no back seat.
(b) Because there are no seat belts in the back seat.
(c) Because the back seats have been removed to make room for a speaker system.
(d) Because the back seat is full of theater props.

11. In what month and year does the narrator's story begin?
(a) July of 1961.
(b) January of 1961.
(c) July of 1969.
(d) January of 1967.

12. Where do Frank and Jake run to after seeing the dead body at the train tracks?
(a) Their father's church.
(b) Halderson's drug store.
(c) Emil Brandt's house.
(d) Their house.

13. What word does Ruth instruct the family to use when talking about Skipper, the dead man the boys had found on the tracks?
(a) Transient.
(b) Itinerant.
(c) Hobo.
(d) Bum.

14. Who arrives at Emil and Lise's house moments after the firemen have left with Emil?
(a) Karl.
(b) Ariel.
(c) Ruth.
(d) Axel.

15. What method does Emil use to attempt suicide?
(a) Hanging.
(b) An overdose of pain medication.
(c) An overdose of aspirin.
(d) An overdose of sleeping pills.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Ruth believe is the true cause of Ariel's change of heart regarding Juilliard?

2. What two queries does Frank make of Karl during the ride in the Triumph?

3. How was Bobby Cole killed?

4. Why do Frank and Jake look forward to Saturday dinners at their house?

5. When the family is leaving for Bobby Cole's funeral, where does Frank go when he tells Jake to stay at home for a minute?

(see the answer keys)

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