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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. To everyone's consternation, Maxine Patch bounds down the stairs how?

2. Why did Mrs. Weidenbach choose to go to Grandma Dowdel to solve this problem?

3. In response, Grandma plays matchmaker and hosts a dinner with Arnold Green and who?

4. It turns out Grandma had been setting _______ traps earlier that day.

5. Valentine's Day is coming. Around this time, Mary Alice has been secretly doing what?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Grandma's final surprise for Mary Alice? What does this reinforce about Grandma?

2. How is Carleen Lovejoy like Mildred Burdick?

3. What is the final surprise in this chapter? Are you surprised by this? Why or why not?

4. What does Grandma do to pay the bills and survive during the Great Depression? How is this foreshadowed?

5. How does Grandma initially respond to Mrs. Weidenbach's request? Why?

6. What newspaper column does Mary Alice write? Why might she do this?

7. Why does Mrs. Weidenbach ask for Grandma's help? Why is this surprising?

8. How has Mary Alice's relationship with the other girls changed? In what ways has it stayed the same?

9. How do Ina-Rae and Mary Alice get back at Carleen? Why do they do it in this way?

10. How does Grandma take advantage of this man? Why does she do this?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Mary Alice is the main character.

Part 1) Describe Mary Alice. How does she change throughout the story? Why does she change? How do other characters in this story also change? What is Mary Alice's relationship with other main characters in the story?

Part 2) Mary Alice is also the narrator of the story. How does her narration affect the knowledge of the reader? How does it also influence the reader's opinion of other characters? How different might the story be if the narrator were not a character in the story? How different might the story be if Grandma was the narrator?

Part 3) What is learned about Middle America during the Great Depression through Mary Alice's eyes? Has this affected your view of life in the 1930s? If so, how? If not, why not?

Essay Topic 2

Grandma hunts foxes to survive.

Part 1) Describe Grandma's hunting technique. Are you surprised by her decision to hunt foxes? Why or why not? How might she have come to be a fox hunter? What does this reinforce about her character?

Part 2) What is the purpose for revealing this in the story? How does this help to develop Grandma's character and her relationship with Mary Alice?

Part 3) How have other characters in this story adapted to the hard times of the Great Depression? How might you have adapted at this time to survive? What skills do you posses that would be useful?

Essay Topic 3

Pride is a theme.

Part 1) What is pride? How is this a theme in this story? What role does Grandma play in this theme? Why? How is this a universal theme?

Part 2) How can you relate to this theme? When has pride been an important theme in your own life? What can you learn about pride from this story?

Part 3) What other themes are important to this story? How is each theme significant? How are these themes connected to the main characters? How are these themes connected to one another?

(see the answer keys)

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