View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Grace say that both Max and his father do when they are angry?
(a) They yell.
(b) They shake.
(c) They lower their voices.
(d) They flare their nostrils.

2. What is the subject header of the very first email Maya ever receives from Grace and is followed by a question mark within the subject line?
(a) Family.
(b) Hello.
(c) Sister.
(d) Can it be.

3. Joaquin's favorite foster dad was a man named Rick who thought Joaquin was talented and bought him a set of what?
(a) Crayons.
(b) Tattoo inks.
(c) Oil pastels.
(d) Drafting pencils.

4. How do Maya's parents feel about the fact that she is gay?
(a) They are reluctantly tolerant.
(b) They are proud.
(c) They are angry that she waited so long to come out.
(d) They claim ignorance.

5. What sound does Adam play in class to torture Grace?
(a) The sound of a baby's cry.
(b) The sound of a rattle.
(c) The sound of a woman speaking to her baby.
(d) The sound of a lullaby.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Grace, in what period of her first day back at school does everything "crumble into oblivion" (101)?

2. What dreams in her past does Grace liken to what lunch will be like now that her place in the school is so uncertain?

3. What item is with the empty wine bottle that Maya finds in her house?

4. When Ana asks Joaquin if he will tell Maya and Grace about his psychiatric episode, what is his reply?

5. How many different times has Joaquin been asked to leave a foster home for one reason or another?

Short Essay Questions

1. What quality of Maya and Grace's appearance had Joaquin known to expect even before meeting them for the first time?

2. What does Grace whisper over and over to her unborn child and how does the detail depict the novel's themes of guilt and responsibility?

3. What are a few characteristics of the adoptive parents Grace chooses for Peach and what is one detail about them that particularly pleases her?

4. How does Joaquin respond to the teacher's aide's request of him at Christmastime?

5. What two aspects of Maya's own identity does she think about during her long sleepless night after meeting Joaquin?

6. Discuss an instance when Grace displays self-loathing.

7. What does Janie's purse symbolize upon Grace's return to high school?

8. What are the qualities of Ana's therapy approach that Joaquin appreciates?

9. What favor does the teacher's aide for Joaquin's class ask Joaquin to do around Christmastime?

10. What simile does the narrator use to depict the careful way in which Grace's father tells her that she has biological siblings?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,354 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample