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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. What does the poet describe happening to the witch in "Family"?

2. How far did Jackie have to walk to attend school in "First Grade"?

3. In what collection of stories was "The Selfish Giant" published?

4. Where did Jackie and her siblings move after Aunt Kay's death, as described in the poem "Moving Again"?

5. In what neighborhood of Brooklyn is the apartment that is described in "Brooklyn, New York"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is a johnny pump? How does the author describe them in "The Johnny Pump?"

2. Who is described as sporting afros in the poem "Afros"? Why was Jackie not allowed to wear this hairstyle?

3. What does the poet describe Gunnar impressing upon her in "Daddy This Time"?

4. Who is described as "The Other Woodson" in the poem by this name? To whom is this individual compared?

5. How does the poet describe the first notebook she found in "Composition Notebook"?

6. Who attended church in Brooklyn with Jackie when she was growing up? How is the church described in the poem "Another Kingdom Hall"?

7. Why does Jacqueline Woodson say she wrote "Jackie" on the board in school in the poem "Late Autumn"?

8. How does the author describe her family's reaction in "When I Tell My Family"? What does Jackie describe telling them?

9. How does the author describe her school in "First Grade"?

10. What made Jacqueline Woodson relate to the character of Stevie, as seen in "Stevie and Me"? Who is Stevie?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe and discuss the Woodson ancestry. How was Jacqueline Woodson related to Thomas Jefferson? How many children did Thomas Jefferson father with Sally Hemings? How does the author relate this information in Brown Girl Dreaming? Why does she relate it?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the setting of New York when Jackie first arrived there with her mother and siblings. During what decade did Jackie's family move to New York? Where did they live? Where did they move after their first home? Why? How did Jackie compare New York with South Carolina?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss South Carolina’s history of Slavery and the “trainings” and oppressions during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. What do “trainings” refer to? How did the trainings originate? How accurate is Gunnar’s explanation of the social unrest in South Carolina and the emerging Civil Rights Movement?

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