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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What did Frank use to beat Janisse and her brothers after they stood by while a neighbor boy killed a snapping turtle?
(a) A wooden paddle.
(b) A ruler.
(c) A wooden spoon.
(d) A belt.

2. What does Janisse say the source of southern Georgia's majesty and sublimity used to come from before that source was destroyed?
(a) The clear, unpolluted skies.
(b) Many clear springs, rivers, and waterfalls.
(c) The longleaf pine forests.
(d) The wide diversity of native bird species.

3. How often does Janisse say thunderstorms happened in the summer in their area of Georgia?
(a) Rarely.
(b) At least three times a week.
(c) About once a month.
(d) Almost every summer afternoon.

4. What constituted Janisse's and her brothers' very favorite game within the junkyard?
(a) Playing church.
(b) Chasing each other along the tops of salvaged cars.
(c) Making believe they were car salespeople.
(d) Pretending to be paramedics saving car accident victims.

5. What type of bird was Clyde, the bird that Frank nursed back to health after finding it on the side of the highway with a broken leg and wing?
(a) A pigeon.
(b) A heron.
(c) A woodpecker.
(d) A robin.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Dell, Janisse's brother, claim to have seen men stealing from the junkyard in the middle of the night?

2. Though Frank did not graduate from high school, Janisse cited two other forms of education that Frank sought out and received. What were those two sources of education?

3. What event did Frank attend on the day he had his first major nervous breakdown during Janisse's childhood?

4. When Charlie somehow got out of the mental institution to which Clyo had him committed, how did she persuade him to leave the family home again?

5. What number child is Janisse within her family?

Short Essay Questions

1. On page 79, Janisse includes the text of a letter her father Frank wrote to her. In the letter, Frank wrote that he was thankful for his mental illness and that it had taught him seven lessons. What were three of those lessons he said mental illness had taught him?

2. After explaining that "Ninety-eight percent of the presettlement longleaf pine barrents in the southeastern coastal plains were lost by 1986" (16), Janisse writes that she did not know about this loss as a child. However, she states, "But it is a loss that as an adult shadows every step I take" (16). What does she mean?

3. Due to their parents' religious beliefs and their resulting family rules, what were some of the practices forbidden to Janisse and her siblings?

4. The second sentence of the chapter entitled Timber says, "About the same time, the production of naval stores in North Carolina began to wane and big turpentine producers in North Carolina sashayed into Georgia" 99). What is the effect of the author's choice of the verb "sashayed" and what is her purpose in making that choice?

5. What elements did Frank consider crucial to the business of buying?

6. What is the author's purpose in relating the fact that her parents told their children false stories about their births?

7. Why do people call certain parts of the wood of the longleaf pine "fat-lightered"?

8. When Janisse wrote that her father Frank was a "mechanic in the word's truest sense," what did she mean?

9. How does Janisse describe her feelings toward her father when he was mentally unwell?

10. What descriptions of her homeland does Janisse give in order to support her claim that her "homeland is about as ugly as a place gets" (13)?

(see the answer keys)

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