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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where was the turn off to "all things good" the author's sixteenth summer?
(a) The turnoff to the Italian neighborhood.
(b) Pitkin Avenue.
(c) Eastern Parkway.
(d) Chester Street.

2. How did Mrs. Solovey commit suicide?
(a) She sealed the doors and windows and let the gas stove run.
(b) She jumped of the Brooklyn Bridge and drowned in the East River.
(c) She jumped from the fire escape.
(d) She jumped in front of the El train at Rockaway Station.

3. What has replaced an entire block of drugstores and candy shops in the neighborhood?
(a) Factories.
(b) Second-hand furniture shops.
(c) Department stores.
(d) Restaurants.

4. Why did the author play the violin for the barber?
(a) So he could listen to the old men talk politics.
(b) So he could learn how to become a barber.
(c) So he could get free haircuts.
(d) So he could read the racy news magazines.

5. Who did the shacks on Livonia Avenue start filling up with during the depression?
(a) Jobless union workers.
(b) Communists.
(c) Negroes.
(d) Irish immigrants.

6. What book did Mrs. Solovey take the author back to?
(a) Jane Eyre.
(b) Anna Karenina.
(c) Dr. Zhivago.
(d) Pride and Prejudice.

7. How did the author try to show his parents he loved them?
(a) He played his violin for them.
(b) He hugged them.
(c) He tried to get an after school job.
(d) He succeeded in school.

8. What had the author's final paper been about?
(a) Mrs. Solovey's suicide.
(b) A violin.
(c) His Socialist party friends.
(d) His relationship with his mother.

9. Why don't the children sleep inside?
(a) The cockroaches made it impossible to sleep in their bedrooms.
(b) The bedrooms are closed off to save energy.
(c) Their parents rent out their rooms.
(d) It was too hot.

10. What made Mrs. Solovey leave the author's house?
(a) He asked her if he could marry one of her daughters.
(b) He told her about his daydreams.
(c) He told her about his mother's depression.
(d) He asked her why she came to Brownsville.

11. Why did the author believe the neighborhood madwoman stood on their stoop so long?
(a) Because the only person she could relate with was his mother.
(b) Because she knew he liked to watch her.
(c) Because she would forget where to go after his house.
(d) Because she knew she would get more to put in her cart the longer she stayed.

12. When the author read books, he yearned for something. What did he yearn for?
(a) Someone to run with at night.
(b) Someone to be his true friend.
(c) Someone he could bully around.
(d) Someone to walk to school with.

13. What building does the author miss the most, though?
(a) The hardware store.
(b) The drugstore.
(c) The candy shop.
(d) The fabric shop.

14. When the author played handball, was it for fun?
(a) He felt it was fun because he felt like he could escape when he played.
(b) When he practiced, it was for fun. When he played, it was for money.
(c) No.
(d) Yes.

15. What did the author rejoice to see in his kitchen?
(a) More customers than his mother had ever had before.
(b) His cousin and her friends sitting at the table.
(c) A sink full of fresh produce.
(d) His dad covered in paint from his first job in some time.

Short Answer Questions

1. What kind of coat did Mr. Solovey wear?

2. What did the boy do to win over the neighbor girl's mother?

3. Where were political rival meetings held?

4. Where did the author stop his nightly runs around the block during summertime?

5. What did the author like best about Highland Park Reservoir?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 618 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample