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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. Where did most people bury their animals, defying city codes?

2. What did Zippy's dad give the dogs to bark at when he kept the dogs on his front lawn?

3. Who did Zippy's mom listen to on the television every Sunday?

4. Why did Julie, Zippy's friend, not talk?

5. What did Zippy's brother Daniel wear as a kid?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was Daniel's reaction when he broke the bathroom door and saw Melinda sitting on the edge of the tub fully dressed?

2. How did Zippy envision getting ready and walking to church?

3. What deal did Zippy and her dad reach about the pink Bible?

4. Why was it important to Zippy that her sister win the Fair Queen in 1972?

5. By throwing the runt piglet on the pile of dead carcasses, what did Julie show Zippy that she knew?

6. How did the dog Kai protect Zippy when she was a child? What does this say about the general opinion of animals in this household?

7. What does Zippy's mother tell her about the green bag that she traded with the gypsies?

8. What did it mean for Zippy to attend Julie's grandfather's funeral?

9. Why did Zippy's neighbor Reed threaten to kill her dogs?

10. When Zippy asked her sister about the child with disabilities, how did her sister handle it? How did this show maturity in her sister?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Zippy tended to exaggerate at certain times in the book. Is there a pattern to this behavior? What is it? When does Zippy exaggerate? How does Zippy exaggerate? Does it add to the story? How?

Essay Topic 2

Compare Julie's not talking to Zippy's not talking? At what stages of their lives did they do this? What is significant about this comparison? What did this say about their friends? How did Zippy know what Julie was thinking?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Zippy's mom's upbringing. Do you think she had a good childhood? What do you think of the story that her mother told the class about the brain tumor? What does this do to your opinion of Zippy's mother? Do you think her childhood affected her adult life? How?

(see the answer keys)

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