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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How long does Thomas later learn the first bombing of Dresden lasted?
(a) One hour.
(b) Less than half an hour.
(c) More than six hours.
(d) Two hours.

2. In Why I'm Not Where You Are, what news can Thomas not bring himself to tell Grandma about her father?
(a) He was killed in the bombing.
(b) He commited suicide.
(c) He was collaborating with the Nazis.
(d) He left his wife to die in the flames.

3. Whose hand does Oskar squeeze on his way to the top of the Empire State Building in Alive and Alone?
(a) Grandma's.
(b) A.R. Black's.
(c) Ruth Black's.
(d) Thomas Schell, Sr.'s.

4. What is the only reason Grandma comes into Thomas's guest room the first two months that he is there?
(a) To collect rent.
(b) To make love.
(c) To yell at him.
(d) To clean.

5. Which famous person declines to look at a letter of recommendation in Happiness, Happiness?
(a) George Clooney.
(b) Stephen Hawking.
(c) Kofi Annan.
(d) Jane Goodall

6. How is a famous landmark moved from the Sixth Borough to Manhattan?
(a) It is carried across the six Staten Island Ferries.
(b) It is lifted by helicoptors.
(c) It is driven by a thousand pickup trucks.
(d) It is dragged by large hooks.

7. How does Abby Black know William Black?
(a) He is her grandfather.
(b) He is her ex-husband.
(c) He is her nephew.
(d) He is her brother.

8. In his letter in A Simple Solution to an Impossible Problem, what does Stephen Hawking admit wishing that he could be?
(a) A poet.
(b) A waiter.
(c) An athlete.
(d) An actor.

9. On what floor of the Empire State Building did a plane crash in 1945?
(a) 79th.
(b) 95th.
(c) 33rd.
(d) 58th.

10. Which direction direction does the long jumper run across Manhattan in preparation for his jump to the Sixth Borough?
(a) East.
(b) North.
(c) South.
(d) West.

11. In Why I'm Not Where You Are, Thomas admits to Grandma that during their absence he had sex with whom?
(a) Married women.
(b) No one.
(c) Men.
(d) Prostitutes.

12. What gift was Thomas given by Anna days before the bombings?
(a) A typewriter.
(b) A journal.
(c) A kitten.
(d) A fedora.

13. In Why I'm Not Where Your Are, how does Thomas Schell get from the airport to Grandma's building?
(a) He takes a shuttle bus.
(b) He takes a taxi.
(c) He walks.
(d) He rents a car.

14. What natural occurrence does Ruth Black talk about in Alive and Alone?
(a) Solar flares.
(b) Static storms.
(c) Lunar eclipses.
(d) St. Elmo's Fire.

15. How does Thomas burn the skin off his hands in Why I'm Not Where You Are?
(a) He touches a hot doorknob.
(b) He runs through a curtain of fire.
(c) He grabs hold of a smothering corpse.
(d) He falls into a pubble of burning fuel.

Short Answer Questions

1. What famous Manhattan landmark used to be in the Sixth Borough?

2. In Why I'm Not Where You Are, where does Thomas say he wants to live with Anna?

3. In The Sixth Borough, what had the engineers brought in to deal with the island previously worked on?

4. Why does Oskar want to know how his father died?

5. How many survivors, including Thomas, are recovered by soldiers after the bombing in Why I'm Not Where You Are?

(see the answer keys)

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