View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is Romulus Foster?

2. What lie has come back to haunt Yolanda?

3. What does Yolanda discover in the middle of the night?

4. What is Yolanda yelling to Shirley as Yolanda rushes out of the house?

5. What makes Yolanda feel better when she is thinking about her old home?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is the darker side of Asphalt Hill, and what are Andrews thoughts about that?

2. What is Yolanda thinking about as the novel opens?

3. Where has Yolanda chosen to sit in her classroom and why?

4. Describe Andrew's encounter with the drug pushers at Asphalt Hill.

5. How is the cake when Yolanda returns from the park with Andrew?

6. How does Yolanda respond to the cruel comments by the other children on the bus?

7. What does Yolanda go to the library to research and what does she learn?

8. What is one terrible thing that has happened lately?

9. What does Yolanda tell herself as she is running to Asphalt Hill?

10. What gives Yolanda comfort in her new home?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

"Yolonda's Genius" belongs to the teen fiction genre. Discuss the following:

1. Define the literary term "genre" and give several examples of three other genres in addition to the teen fiction genre.

2. Discuss two reasons why it might be useful to label a text by genre and two reasons it might be disadvantageous to label a text by genre.

3. What do you think is the difference between a teen fiction and teen historical fiction?

Essay Topic 2

Many novels, and perhaps a majority, of novels ends on a happy note. Discuss the following:

1. Why do you think many (most?) people want what they perceive as a happy or good ending to a novel? Explain your opinion. Do you? Why or why not? Do you think "Yolonda's Genius" ends on a happy note? Why or why not.

2. What are three reasons to read fiction? Discuss each one in light of "Yolonda's Genius" and whether or not it fulfills all three, two or one of the reasons you mention. Give examples as to why this book is or is not successful in fulfilling the reasons you discuss.

3. Do you think reading solely for entertainment is as good a reason to read as any other? Why or why not? Can any work of fiction or non-fiction, no matter how poorly written, enlighten, teach, stimulate thought? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Yolanda is eleven throughout much of the novel. Discuss the following:

1. What are some ways that Yolanda seems like an average eleven year old? Give examples and why you say her activities are average teen activities.

2. What are some ways that Yolanda seems older than her age of 11? Give specific examples and discuss whether they seem consistent with the character of Yolanda as she is developed throughout the book.

3. Do you think most eleven year old girls would look out for their six-year-old brother in the ways Yolanda does? Why or why not.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,004 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample