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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 Cody tell his father, as the sail-less boat is whipped by the waves?

2. What river do the travelers cross to get to England?

3. In Sophie's story, where does Bompie go to see the ocean?

4. What do the crew do to practice radio code?

5. On Sophie's first night home, what food does her dad make?

Short Essay Questions

1. What quotation from Tennyson does Uncle Dock yell out?

2. What do Sophie and Cody do to the sails of the boat, when they finally get them up again?

3. What do Stew and Mo argue about?

4. What happens in the altercation between Sophie and Brian?

5. What seems different to Cody about the way Brian bugs Sophie, as they near Bompie's?

6. In Sophie's story about Bompie and his father, why does Bompie visit his father?

7. What does Mo do after he gets back from the trip?

8. How does Sophie feel about seeing Bompie, as the travelers near their destination?

9. What is the weather like, the first night on the open ocean?

10. What theory about death and life do Cody and Sophie discuss?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare Cody and Brian as characters, and Mo and Stew as similar characters from the previous generation.

1) How are Cody and Mo similar? How are Brian and Stew similar? Is each generation a continuation of the past?

2) Why are Cody and Brian often at odds, just like Mo and Stew? What does this show about the family dynamic?

3) Why does the author choose family members with clear differences to include in the story?

Essay Topic 2

One of Sophie's primary personality traits is curiosity. Discuss Sophie's curiosity.

1) Why is Sophie curious about every new thing she encounters? Why does she ask so many questions?

2) Why does Sophie imagine living the lifestyles of new people she meets? What does imagining different lives do for Sophie?

3) How is Sophie's curiosity and enthusiasm contrasted with Brian's negativity and practicality? Is Sophie a dreamer because of her curiosity and enthusiasm?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the importance of family in the novel.

1) How does Sophie's status as an orphan affect her sense of family? Is she, in some ways, not part of the family? How do her parents and Bompie make her part of their family?

2) How does family help build identity? How does family help the characters have a sense of themselves and their place in the world?

3) How does Sophie lose her birth family even more because of her repressed memories? How does the loss of these memories, in addition to the death of her parents and grandfather, affect her?

4) What is Cody's relationship with his father like? What does their relationship reveal about family?

(see the answer keys)

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