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 does Lenny's father's friend give Lenny?

2. What does Debbie find difficult?

3. What would Hector like to change about himself?

4. What does Hector vow?

5. What is the topic of discussion between Debbie and Patty in Chapter Ten?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do Debbie and Patty get their pants to look the way they want?

2. What is Hector's main concern this summer?

3. What does Debbie think about how one should say a wish?

4. Why are Debbie and Patty hiding in the bushes?

5. What does Patty say about their question and what does Debbie think about it?

6. What happens as Debbie is saying the final words of her wish?

7. Where does Rowanne take Hector, and what interests him there?

8. What kind of book is Debbie reading, and what does she think about the book and its relevance to her life?

9. What does Hector's first lesson involve and what disappoints him about that lesson?

10. How does Debbie experience a response to physical contact with Hector?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Hector learns that girls, rather than bluntly stating their feelings, may sometimes develop schemes in order to avoid boys, as experienced through his excursion with Rowanne. He also begins to understand that girls his age are in a process of evolution, like the caterpillar to the butterfly, and that he, too, will be changing, although he does not see his change as exotic or as pleasing as the one for the girls he knows.

1. Do you think Hector's belief about girls is correct? Why or why not? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

2. Discuss, in depth, Hector's comparison of teens and caterpillars. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

3. Why do you think Hector sees the changes that will occur in girls more pleasing than in himself, or probably in most boys? Do you think a heterosexual girl would feel the same way? Why or why not? Use examples from the text 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 "Criss Cross".

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

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

Essay Topic 3

Oftentimes, a book has more of a character-driven plot rather than action driven, and sometimes it is the other way around. Some books seem to balance the two. Discuss the following:

1. What do you think it means to say that a plot is character driven? Action driven?

2. How do you think a plot differs if it is character driven versus action driven?

3. Which type of plot do you find more interesting? Why?

4. Do you think it is possible to have a plot where action and character development share equal time? Why or why not.

5. What type of plot do you think "Criss Cross" is? Explain your response.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 947 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample