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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where is Arthur when he dies, according to events in Part Four?
(a) In the hospital.
(b) By the side of the road.
(c) Home.
(d) In the river.

2. How does Alice say that Nonna described Mother?
(a) As shy and withdrawn.
(b) As spirited and energetic.
(c) As eager to please.
(d) As precocious, loud and boisterous.

3. What does Mr. Early encourage Alice to do?
(a) Move in with Mother.
(b) Become a poet.
(c) Become a musician.
(d) Go to Florida alone.

4. What does Alice tell Mr. Early about Father?
(a) That he wanted to be a poet.
(b) That he was going to take her to Florida.
(c) That he killed himself.
(d) That she looks just like him.

5. What kind of poets does Alice say Father liked?
(a) Ivy league approved classics.
(b) Romantic.
(c) Hairy, bearish and mad.
(d) Senseless men who spouted jibberish.

6. What does Alice say she is hoping for in the chapter labeled Short Identifications?
(a) Money falling from the sky.
(b) A letter.
(c) A vacation.
(d) A rich uncle from Madeira.

7. How old is Alice in Part Four: West 76th-Mother?
(a) Twenty-eight, again.
(b) Thirty.
(c) Twenty-five.
(d) Fifty.

8. What does Mother say was true of Nonna's husband?
(a) He was a poet.
(b) He was devoted to Nonna.
(c) He was a cruel and abusive man.
(d) He had a mistress.

9. Where does Mother live at the time of Nonna's funeral?
(a) The Big House.
(b) Florida.
(c) The San.
(d) California.

10. How is Nonna described in Part Two:The Big House-Arthur?
(a) As having a heart of stone.
(b) As being soft-hearted.
(c) As being heartless.
(d) As having a hardened heart.

11. Why does Alice first return to the Big House years after leaving?
(a) For Uncle Billy's funeral.
(b) For Nonna's funeral.
(c) To auction off Nonna's remaining possessions.
(d) To visit Mother.

12. Alice quotes someone, maybe her father, as saying, "A man sounds like money when he-"
(a) Is aggressive and loud.
(b) Speaks like a poet.
(c) Makes money.
(d) Wears expensive shoes.

13. Who makes Alice a cake?
(a) Mrs. Early.
(b) Mother.
(c) Duane.
(d) Aunt Frances.

14. What does Aunt Frances confide to Alice during their last visit in the book?
(a) That she sometimes steals packs of gum.
(b) That she regrets being so strict with Alice.
(c) That she misses Uncle Billy.
(d) That she has cancer.

15. What does Alice say she and her students mourn?
(a) A culture that appreciated words.
(b) Dead poets.
(c) Leather-bound books.
(d) A teacher like Mr. Early.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was Mr. Early doing when he died?

2. What is the last word that Mother speaks in the novel?

3. How does Alice describe Mr. Early when he taught high school?

4. Why doesn't Mother attend the funeral in Part Three?

5. How do Nonna and Alice communicate?

(see the answer keys)

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