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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. In "Secret Samantha," what is Samantha's favorite cartoon?

2. In "Sol Painting, Inc.," what are the school's colors, which Merci, her father, and Roli are painting the gym?

3. In "Sol Painting, Inc.," who is Mr. Falco?

4. In "Secret Samantha," who does Samantha get to deliver her gift?

5. In "Sol Painting, Inc.," what image appears on Merci's business cards?

Short Essay Questions

1. In "How to Transform," why does the narrator want to go to the gym in Balboa in the first place?

2. In "The Beans and Rice Chronicles," who is Miz Rita?

3. In "The Difficult Path," how is it that Lingsi finally learns to read?

4. In "Secret Samantha," what happens when Samantha goes to see the school nurse?

5. In "Sol Painting, Inc.," how does the girls' soccer team act in trying to get into the gym?

6. In "How to Transform," what role does the narrator's Mexican heritage play in the story?

7. In "Secret Samantha," how and why must Secret Santa change?

8. In "The Difficult Path," what is Li Po's poem "The Difficult Path" about, and why is the poem significant to the story?

9. In "Sol Painting, Inc.," what do Merci's business cards look like?

10. In "How to Transform," how does the narrator finally get into his first game?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Many of these stories are told in an unusual way. For example, "Choctaw, Bigfoot, Midnight in the Mountains" is the story of someone telling a story; "Seventy-Six Dollars and Forty-Nine Cents "is told in verse; "The Beans and Rice Chronicles of Isaiah Dunn" is told as a series of journal entries." Choose at least two stories from the collection and compare and contrast how they are told and how the storytelling method affects the stories' meanings.

Essay Topic 2

In an essay, discuss why you feel the author chose to write "Seventy-Six Dollars and Forty-Nine Cents" in verse. How does writing it this way help him get his point across?

Essay Topic 3

Choose two or more stories from this collection in which female characters are treated poorly at least in part because they are female. Then write an essay in which you compare/ contrast how these female characters are treated and what the writers seem to be saying about society's treatment of females in general.

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