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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 about the Catholic religion are the friends discussing at the beginning of Chapter 21?

2. How is Mrs. Bruning when she comes home?

3. What does Hector's mother make for which some people might want the recipe?

4. What did Peter see that he thought was strange outside his bedroom window upon waking at his grandmother's house?

5. What are Debbie and Patty doing as they look at the yearbook?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do Peter and Debbie decide to do after Mrs. Bruning is taken to the hospital?

2. What is Lenny doing in Chapter 22 while Debbie is in the backyard reading and what saddens him when he goes into his house and comes back out?

3. With what is Lenny helping his father in Chapter 16, and what is Debbie doing when she overhears them?

4. With what class is Patty struggling and what does she feel from the knowledge she has learned in this class?

5. Where does Hector find Meadow, and why is he embarrassed?

6. What are Debbie and Patty doing while looking at the yearbook and what is Debbie thinking about when she looks at her own picture in the yearbook?

7. How does Debbie's necklace end up in a tar patch after Dan picked it up?

8. How do both Hector's and Mrs. Bruning's hairstyles change in Chapter 20?

9. Why are Phil, Debbie, Lenny and Hector sitting on a curb, what are they doing and what are they talking about?

10. Who is at the Tastee Freez when the guitar lesson group arrives there and how does Hector feel about the class going to the Tastee Freez?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

1. What is foreshadowing? How many incidences of foreshadowing are in "Criss Cross"? How does foreshadowing contribute to a book's suspense?

2. Discuss an example of foreshadow in Criss Cross including why you believe it is foreshadow. Include examples from the book and your own life to illustrate your answer.

3. How do you think most people react to uncertainty in their lives? Use examples from "Criss Cross" and your own live to support your opinion.

Essay Topic 2

Choose one of the following to discuss:

1. Choose two significant symbols and trace and analyze their appearance in "Criss Cross". Are these universal symbols? Would they be understood in any culture? Are there other symbols that would portray the same idea? What are they? Why do you think Perkins chooses the symbols he does?

2. Choose two important metaphors and trace and analyze their appearance in the novel. Are these universal metaphors? Would they be understood in any culture? Are there other metaphors that would portray the same idea? What are they? Why do you think Perkins chooses the metaphors she does?

3. Discuss Perkins's use (or lack ) of literary device (such as foreshadowing, cliffhangers, deux ex machina, etc.), and how they add or detract from the story. Does Perkins use too many or too little literary techniques? State which of the five major elements of fiction the literary device is related to (style, character, plot, setting, theme).

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

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