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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 happens when Leo tries the machine himself?

2. Who does Douglas go hiking with?

3. In what year does this novel begin?

4. Where does Douglas go while Grandfather takes Tom home?

5. What do Miss Fern and Miss Roberta do to the Green Machine?

Short Essay Questions

1. How and why is Colonel Freeleigh a real time machine, though not a mechanical contraption?

2. How did Helen overcome her exasperation at the children not being able to accept the fact that she was once young?

3. How does Douglas convince the shoe store owner to give him the new shoes and how does this process help the shoe store owner himself?

4. Name two examples where Douglas tried to cling to something in order to control destiny or change.

5. What new revelation does Douglas come to by dividing up his summer?

6. What does the beating of the rugs symbolize to Douglas and Tom both?

7. What do Douglas and his father experience very differently and provide one example of how they see the same event quite differently?

8. Why does Douglas believe that he must get new sneakers to keep his new found sense of aliveness?

9. Why does Douglas suggest that he and John spend the time alone in a haystack doing nothing?

10. What is Leo having a difficult time resolving in his own mind that he discusses albeit briefly with Douglas?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Children in the novel often live in the present, not the past or future. In what way do some of the adults in this novel live the same way? Think of an adult that you know that lives this same way. Do you think it is a good way to live? Use their experiences to support your judgment.

Essay Topic 2

Death is an ongoing issue which must be dealt with throughout the novel. Describe the similarities and differences between how the children dealt with death and how the adults did. Make connections between this and your own personal experience.

Essay Topic 3

Describe in detail the changes Douglas undergoes throughout the novel. Use specific details from the novel to support your description. Do you believe the changes were for the positive? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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