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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 is Eddie doing when Ava arrives at his house?

2. Who else was in Ava's dream?

3. What does Ava feel is one of Gerry's major character flaws?

4. What did the area of Idlewild on the lake used to be when Ava was young?

5. How does Ava see the difference in the condition of homes in the area near the lake from the last time she was there?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Joyce feel about Reverend Anderson's stand and what does she intend?

2. How does Joyce demonstrate condoms and what happens while she's doing it?

3. What problem with the state does Joyce have and what does she decide to do about it?

4. Where is the meeting about Joyce's house and what happens there?

5. Describe the dream Ava has in Eddie's garden.

6. What do Eddie and Ava do after talking and how does Ava feel about it?

7. What do Joyce and Ava mean by the word tumbling and how did it that meaning come about?

8. What is the best thing that happens in Eddie, Joyce and Ava's life that summer?

9. Where does Ava meet up with Eddie again and why has she not seen him?

10. Who meets Ava at the airport and why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Eddie succumbed to the lowest depths of the drug and street lifestyle and ended up committing murder, for which he paid with ten years of his life. Fortunately, Eddie had found redemption after adversity, though there is also a sense that Eddie still walks a fine line to maintain his forward focus.

1. What do you think is meant by redemption after adversity? Use examples from the book to support your answer.

2. Why do you think Eddie still walks a fine line to maintain his forward focus? Use examples from the book to support your answer.

3. Why do you think people like Eddie decide to change and are able to do so? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

The author's use of time shifts is an effective technique that allows her to share Ava's thoughts without the benefit of dialogue with another character.

1. Why do you think using flashbacks is an effective technique to tell about Ava? Use examples from the book to support your answer.

2. Chose one scene in the book that is a flashback and rewrite it as a dialogue between Ava and another person to convey the same information. Which method did you like better?

3. Write a brief summary of what you learned about Ava via the flashbacks. Include not just facts but her emotions and thoughts.

Essay Topic 3

Gerry Anderson has told Mattie that taking back the child will also guarantee the young girl the monthly income provided by the foster care system.

1. Do you think mothers who cannot support their children should be supported by the government? Why or why not?

2. If you were a judge who had to decide where Imani should live what would you decide? Why?

(see the answer keys)

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