View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where do Mr. Homesley and Brennan take the skull?

2. What does Dr. Tibbets look like?

3. Why does Brennan stay on the road when running near Fort Bliss?

4. What does Mr. Homesley call the mixture he and Tibbets used in Vietnam?

5. What does Brennan do with his t-shirt when he takes it off while running?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Mr. Homesley say about the second source of information?

2. Where does Brennan hide the skull in his house?

3. Where does Brennan leave the skull and why?

4. What film did thinking about the bullet hole remind Brennan of and why did he think of it?

5. What does the commander answer in response to the letter in question #49? What does Brennan conclude from this report?

6. How long does it take for more information to come to Brennan and what does he do when Mr. Homesley calls about it?

7. What does Brennan learn about the probable cause of death?

8. In Chapter 12, describe what Brennan is thinking when he contemplates the bullet hole in the skull.

9. What was written in most of the reports in the boxes?

10. With what does Brennan become obsessed and what starts happening to him?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Brennan returns home from the camping trip and finds himself obsessed with the skull. Brennan has many dreams that are not of experiences he has ever had, making Brennan wonder if perhaps there is some kind of connection between him and the skull.

1. There seems to be an implication here that the dead can talk to the living in dreams. Do you believe this is true? Why or why not?

2. Do you think Brennan's reaction to the skull and the dreams is the way most 15-year-old boys would react? Why or why not?

3. Do you think Brennan's reaction to the skull and dreams is reasonable and believable? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Most protagonists are a mixture of admirable traits and character flaws, and Brennan is no exception. Discuss the following:

1. Trace and analyze situations when Brennan demonstrates his intelligence and good work ethic. Give specific examples to illustrate your analysis.

2. Trace and analyze Brennan's character flaws offering specific examples of these flaws in your discussion.

3. Discuss how you think Brennan's admirable traits makes him do what he does with the skull. Have his flaws impacted his life? How do his flaws influence his handling of the skull?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the following:

1. What do you think are the characteristics of a successful novel?

2. Analyze and discuss Canyons based upon the criteria you decide upon in #1 and judge if Canyons is a successful novel.

3. Do you think the fact that Canyons has paranormal incidences in it changes whether it is a successful novel especially along the lines of whether it is believable? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 856 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample