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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. Mary Jo is Kari's what?

2. Which of the following is not one of the things the friends are doing, as the novel opens?

3. Faith takes Patsy to what local business?

4. Slip's daughter goes by what name?

5. Kari's husband died in his sleep at what age?

Short Essay Questions

1. Kari's baby, Julia, is biracial. How does that affect Kari and those around her?

2. Do you think that Kari should tell her brother that the baby is his daughter, Mary Jo's?

3. When a woman they don't like comes over, Faith, Audrey and Slip flash the woman. How do you feel about the flashing incident?

4. Do you think that Merit is strong or weak?

5. Do you agree with Merit hiding things in her hair? Why or why not?

6. Define Faith's attitude, as the book opens.

7. How do you feel about Slip's activist nature?

8. Why does Audrey's ability upset Faith?

9. What affect does Merit's father's death have on Eric and what does that say about Eric's character?

10. Do you think that it was right for Fred to enlist to go to Vietnam?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Kari takes some heat when she adopts Julia because Julia is of mixed race. Using at least three hundred words, describe your thoughts about Julia's race and about race in general. For example, do you feel that any race is inferior to any other race? Why or why not? Also, how would you handle the harassment from others, if you were Julia or Kari?

Essay Topic 2

Eric, Faith and Kari, especially, are very much affected by their pasts in the novel.

Part 1. List at least two examples each where each of the characters of Faith, Eric and Kari are affected by their pasts.

Part 2. Why do you think that, in general, people's pasts affect their futures and do you think that those affects are always negative? Why or why not?

Part 3. Have you ever been affected by your past? If so, in what way?

Essay Topic 3

Perspective changes everything in the book. For example, Slip is mad at Faith over Faith's lying, until Slip's son points out that, from his perspective, Slip has led a charmed life and should cut Faith a little slack. Describe three situations from the book and how each situation was viewed differently by at least two characters.

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