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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 do Shawn's eyes tend to focus on?

2. In the first verse of the poem that Sydney writes, what animal does he use to refer to Shawn?

3. Why does Shawn say that he loves his seizures?

4. In Chapter 5 when Shawn's mother dresses him up, what does Shawn object to wearing?

5. According to the conversation that Lindy has with her friend Connie, what aspect of Shawn's condition bothers Sydney the most?

Short Essay Questions

1. What kinds of things is Shawn able to remember using his gift?

2. How does Shawn describe his father?

3. How does Sydney McDaniel support his argument that schools waste money educating the ineducable?

4. How does Shawn describe the tests administered by the school psychologist?

5. What movements does Shawn's body make and what controls them?

6. During his last feeding of Shawn, Sydney tells Lindy that he is mad at something other than at Shawn. What is he mad at?

7. How does seeing the death of the dog make Shawn feel?

8. How does Shawn use the example of George Washington to show the reader that he knows more than he is given credit for?

9. How does Shawn's special gift progress and strengthen?

10. What does Shawn consider ironic about his actual intelligence and the assumed level of his intelligence within his class at school?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Cindy often has sleepovers and Shawn's reaction to his sister's friends shows that in some ways he is a typical teenage boy.

Part 1) How does his sister and her friends regard Shawn? How do they think of him? How do they react to him and behave around him?

Part 2) How does Shawn normally react to his sister's friends? How does he react to Ally? Does he judge her behavior by the same standards as he uses for other girls? Why or why not?

Part 3) Why does Shawn think that Ally is "so perfect!"? Is he reacting like a normal teenage boy, or is something else at play here? How does his reaction to Ally help or hinder the plot?

Essay Topic 2

Shawn, his sister, and his mother witness the death of a dog that is hit by a car. How does this experience affect Shawn and his perception of death?

Part 1) What are the circumstances surrounding the death of the dog? How is the dog injured? What do Shawn's sister and mother do when the dog is injured? What do they do when the dog dies? What does Shawn see and experience when the dog dies and what is his attitude toward death just after the dog dies?

Part 2) Why is it important in the story that Shawn remembers witnessing the death of the dog? How does the topic of death relate to Shawn's own life? Does experiencing the death of the dog affect Shawn? How does Shawn feel about death as he remembers the death of the dog, and what does Shawn think death means at this point in his life?

Essay Topic 3

Watching The Alice Ponds Show, it is apparent that both Sydney McDaniel and Earl Detraux say that killing their children is about doing the right thing for the kids. Write an essay about the theme of parental responsibility and mercy killing a disabled child as it relates to Sydney and/or Earl. Pick one of these topics to write about.

Topic 1) What is Sydney's attitude toward the mercy killing a disabled child? It is analogous to what type of disciplinary action a parent might take? How does he relate it to parental responsibility? What is his attitude toward Earl's mercy killing of his child, Collin? Who or what does Sydney say killed Collin?

Topic 2) What is Earl's attitude toward the mercy killing of his own son? Why does he say he smothers him? How does he relate it to parental responsibility? What does he say when asked how he would feel if a cure for Collin is invented? How does this relate to parental responsibility? Is Earl's behavior an example of a mature level of parental responsibility? Why or why not?

Topic 3) What are the similarities and differences between Sydney's and Earl's point of view on parental responsibility and mercy killing a disabled child. Do you think that Earl's actions influence Sydney, validate Sydney's already-existing point of view, or something else? Is Sydney's thought process about mercy killing a disabled child indicative of a mature level of parental responsibility? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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