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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. While listening to a church sermon in Chapter 2, what question did August pose to God?
(a) "How could God take away my mother?" (22).
(b) "What does God do with his daughters?" (23).
(c) "Why did God only love the white people?" (23).
(d) "Do you even exist? If so, why are you so unfair?" (21).

2. How does August describe her friend Sylvia when she accidentally ran into her on the train years after leaving Brooklyn?
(a) Sylvia had not aged at all and was dressed in expensive clothing.
(b) Sylvia had not aged at all and had reddish brown hair.
(c) Sylvia had a child on her lap and looked content.
(d) Sylvia looked so different that August barely recognized her.

3. What was one song August listened to as she had her hair braided?
(a) "The Blues Are No Good."
(b) "The Great Girl."
(c) "Amazing Grace."
(d) "Keep on Livin'."

4. What was the name of the woman who braided August's hair as indicated in the latter part of Chapter 4?
(a) Miss Sonja.
(b) Miss Alfia.
(c) Miss Dora.
(d) Miss Erica.

5. At the end of Chapter 5, how did Sylvia respond when August, Gigi, and Angela asked her what she loved?
(a) Sylvia answered, "I'm not the boss of me. How the hell would I even know" (63).
(b) Sylvia rejoined, "I'm too young to answer that question" (62).
(c) Sylvia told the girls, "I have no clue. My parents will decide that" (63).
(d) Sylvia replied, "I will be the most famous actress ever" (62).

Short Answer Questions

1. Toward the end of Chapter 7, what did August want to say to her mother about trusting women?

2. At the beginning of Chapter 7, what was "telling some part of our [August, Sylvia, Gigi, and Angela] story" (69)?

3. Who originally owned the land where Augusts's family lived in Tennessee?

4. When August asked about the jar in the apartment, what did her father tell her?

5. At the start of the novel, what style of music does the narrator say was "trying to tell our [the girls'] story" (2) despite the fact that it never quite got them?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did drug abuse factor into August's childhood?

2. What does the jar of ashes represent in the novel?

3. Why did Gigi warn her friends not to sing in their churches' choirs?

4. Who was Miss Dora and how is she described in the narrative?

5. What did August and her friends think of one another before they met?

6. What are the circumstances of August's brother in the most-recent timeline in the novel?

7. What about Angela reminded August of her mother? Why?

8. What did Gigi want to be when she grew up? Why?

9. What led to August's father taking his children to Brooklyn?

10. What did August think about Sylvia, Angela, and Gigi when she first saw them?

(see the answer keys)

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