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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 is the name of Liam's cousin who takes Autumn outside and helps her relax on Thanksgiving?

2. Autumn nearly raped by whom at her aunt's wedding?

3. What means rapid breathing or a respiration rate greater than 20 breaths per minute?

4. Summer worries that her new foster father is __________.

5. Whom does Hunter move in with in the course of the novel?

Short Essay Questions

1. What discussions does Hunter have with his adoptive parents after leaving Nikki in the novel? What does Hunter learn?

2. Where do Summer and Kyle go after running away in the novel? What are their plans?

3. Where does Autumn spend Thanksgiving dinner in the novel? How does she feel about this setting?

4. Who advises Hunter to let his obsession with his biological father go in the novel? What does he do instead?

5. What does Hunter learn from Brendan about his past in the novel? How has Brendan changed?

6. What risks does Autumn take in her first sexual encounter in the novel? What has led to this behavior?

7. What leads Autumn to begin drinking in the novel? Where does this first show to be a problem?

8. What confrontations does Summer have with her mother and father after her father spends the weekend in jail in the novel?

9. What does Trey tell Autumn about her childhood when he arrives at Aunt Cora's house after the wedding? What does this inspire Autumn to do?

10. How does Summer feel about her decision to run away from her foster home in the novel? Why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the cycle of addiction in the novel. In what ways are the sins of the parents revisited on Kristina's children? Who shows tendencies for chemical dependency in the novel and in what ways? What are the underlying causes for these tendencies?

Essay Topic 2

Describe and discuss Hunter's attraction to infidelity in the novel. Why is Hunter compelled to cheat, and how does this behavior mirror that of his mother? What effect does Hunter's infidelity have on his relationship with Nikki? In what ways is it seen as "addictive" behavior?

Essay Topic 3

Define, analyze and discuss the themes of abandonment and neglect in the novel. What effects have been seen in Kristina's children of their abandonment by their parents? How has their neglect or abandonment affected them differently. How are the older children's experiences better or worse than those of the elder children?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 946 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample