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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 Calder's grandmother call a "rainbow bath"?

2. What does Petra decide she wants to do after reading "Lo!"?

3. What is Ms. Hussey's class discussing at the opening of Chapter Four?

4. Why was University School started?

5. What have these people chosen to do?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do the students respond to the quote by Picasso, and who is especially intrigued by it?

2. What is Ms. Hussey teaching her students, and where is she teaching?

3. What do Petra and Calder do additional study on and what does Petra learn about the woman in her dream?

4. What does the author challenge the reader to do concerning the artwork and why?

5. What about Petra's Halloween outfit is familiar to Calder and what shocks Petra about something she sees in a book about Vermeer?

6. Who did Calder used to spend his time with, and what does he do now?

7. What sort of books has Ms. Hussey chosen in Powell's Bookstore?

8. What does Calder learn about his grandmother and what does he wish about Vermeer and Fort and why does he wish that?

9. Where can the reader find the answers to the clues given in the art work?

10. How are clues related to the story?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Lo! is a book full of unexplained events. The clippings in this book come from newspapers from all over the world and include hundreds of stories of bizarre events. The majority of these events are of living animals falling out of the sky. Charles Fort, the author of the book, believes that people take what happens around them and then make these often odd and unlikely events fit into something they can understand, rather than taking what actually happens and trying to figure out why it has happened.

1. Do you think a bizarre event can always be explained by science, even if the knowledge is not available in the present time? Why or why not? Use examples from "Chasing Vermeer" and your own life to support your answer.

2. Making something you see into something your mind understands or expects is a common phenomenon. For example, we might see "waht" but read "what". Discuss an incident in "Chasing Vermeer" in which one of the characters saw an event and decided to interpret that event based on what the character wanted to find or know. Use examples from "Chasing Vermeer" and your own life to support your answer.

3. Explain, in depth, how reading Lo! changed Petra and Calder's perception of the world. Use examples from "Chasing Vermeer" and your own life to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss one of the following:

1. Thoroughly analyze how the setting informs the plot in "Chasing Vermeer".

2. Trace and analyze one major theme of "Chasing Vermeer". How is the theme represented by symbolism? By the characters' behaviors? By the action?

3. Trace and analyze two secondary themes of "Chasing Vermeer". How are the themes represented by symbolism? By the characters' behaviors? By the action?

Essay Topic 3

Characters are an important part of what makes "Chasing Vermeer" interesting. Discuss the following:

1. Thoroughly discuss and analyze Calder. What are his strengths? His weaknesses? How does he contribute to the plot? Is he a sympathetic character? Is he always likable? Never likable? Use specific examples to illustrate your ideas.

2. Thoroughly discuss and analyze Petra. What are her strengths? Her weaknesses? How does she contribute to the plot? Is she a sympathetic character? Is she ever likable? Never likable? Use specific examples to illustrate your ideas.

3. Thoroughly discuss and analyze Mrs. Sharpe. What are her strengths? Her weaknesses? How does she contribute to the plot? Is she a sympathetic character? Is she ever likable? Never likable? Use specific examples to illustrate your ideas.

4. Thoroughly discuss and analyze Ms. Hussey. What are her strengths? Her weaknesses? How does she contribute to the plot? Is she a sympathetic character? Is she ever likable? Never likable? Use specific examples to illustrate your ideas.

(see the answer keys)

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