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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. How does Little Tree's education and instincts about nature get him into trouble at the orphanage?
(a) He explains to the teacher that the dogs in the courtyard are mating.
(b) He explains to the teacher that the deer in a picture are mating.
(c) He tells the teacher that the trees and the winds can communicate with him.
(d) He tells the teacher that the mourning dove is a sign of death.

2. Why does the author include the special relationship between Mr. Wine and Little Tree's family in the story?
(a) To show that the world has many different types of people.
(b) To show that Little Tree has someone to help round out his education.
(c) To show that despite ethnic and racial differences, people with common values and beliefs can become close friends.
(d) To show that Little Tree is learning to relate to many different people.

3. What do Little Tree and the sharecropper's daughter have in common?
(a) Both are being deprived of education.
(b) Both are poor.
(c) Both live off the land and have a strong sense of pride.
(d) Both are exposed to the challenges of being young in an adult world.

4. What is the importance of the way Chapter 12 ends?
(a) To demonstrate that the Cherokee way of life has serious dangers.
(b) To demonstrate that time is running out for the family.
(c) To demonstrate how grave danger has cemented the bonds among the members of the family.
(d) To demonstrate that everyone in the family has an important role.

5. How does the reverend at the orphanage continue the prejudice that Little Tree has suffered throughout his life?
(a) He calls him a terrible name and says he doesn't have to go to church because people like him cannot be saved.
(b) He assigns Little Tree to a cot in the basement.
(c) He gives Little Tree special clothing that will set him apart from the other children.
(d) He makes Little Tree wear a shirt with "Outcast" written across the back.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Mr. Wine light a candle at a special time?

2. At the beginning of the chapter "The Farm in the Clearing", what inhuman scene does Granpa describe to Little Tree?

3. In teaching Little Tree, how does Mr. Wine reinforce Granma's lessons about the spirit-mind and the body-mind?

4. Referring to people who like to take and give handouts, what similarity does Granpa describe between some people and some countries?

5. Why does Little Tree believe that the incident in which he gets into trouble with the teacher eventually leads to Granpa coming for him?

Short Essay Questions

1. What purpose does Willow John serve in the novel?

2. In what way does the title of Chapter 18 foreshadow the events that occur in it?

3. How do Granpa and Little Tree continue to make sure that as much as possible is learned from Little's Tree loss in the calf purchase?

4. How does this episode on the old farm symbolize both the cruelty and generosity observed by Granpa in his youth?

5. Give a brief summary of the events related by Granpa that lead to Little Tree's return from the orphanage.

6. Write a short character sketch of Mr. Wine and summarize his role in the story.

7. What are the early symbols in Chapter 20 of Little Tree's excitement that he is home from the orphanage?

8. How and why does Granpa's approach to people in church who are badly off differ from the approach of others?

9. Give an example from Chapter 12 of how well the author uses vivid description to convey a picture of Spring to the reader.

10. In what ways does the author communicate to the reader the growing fear and grief experienced by Granpa, Granma and Little Tree at the prospect of their separation?

(see the answer keys)

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