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. What secret does Yahaira learn about Papi about a year before he dies?

2. What neighborhood does Yahaira live in with Mami?

3. Where does Yahaira's Mami work?

4. Who is Camino's best friend?

5. What is the phrase for giving birth that Camino loves?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Tia raise Camino?

2. How does Yahaira feel about the Dominican Republic?

3. How does Camino's work with Tia influence her decision to become a doctor?

4. How did Yahaira feel about chess?

5. Why was Yahaira so resentful towards Papi during the last summer he was in the Dominican Republic?

6. Who comforts Yahaira when many family members are over the house to sympathize with Yahaira and Mami, and how does Yahaira think this person feels?

7. When is the first time Yahaira wonders if Mami knows Papi's secret about having another wife?

8. What does Yahaira do to try to get her mother back on her feet in the haze of Mami's grief in Part II?

9. What does Papi tell Yahaira right before he leaves for the flight that he dies on?

10. What does Yahaira mostly remember from when she is given the news about her father's death?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay explaining how the main female characters in this novel all come together to exhibit both their collective and individual strength at the end of the book.

Essay Topic 2

How does Acevedo's decision to write this novel in verse affect the reader's experience? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 3

Why do you think Acevedo begins the novel with Camino's ruminations on mud? What does the mud of Camino's homeland symbolize? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 672 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample