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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. How much time does it take for an ergonym to reproduce?

2. What nickname does the inventor of the product made by SunRay Farms use for his invention?

3. What is implied by the equations at the end of Chapter 7?

4. Where does Tamaya remember sitting to read in her fourth grade classroom?

5. What does Marshall see that helps him and Tamaya find their way out of the woods?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Tamaya rub in Chad's face, and how does Chad react?

2. What does Tamaya's response to the balloon writing prompt demonstrate about her as a person?

3. How do the stories that Chad tells help to show what kind of a person he is?

4. What does Tamaya and her mother's nighttime routine communicate about their relationship?

5. Describe how Marshall's attitude toward Tamaya has changed over the years.

6. What ideas are conveyed by the description of the history of the building Woodridge Academy is housed in?

7. Describe Tamaya's relationship with her parents.

8. What do the descriptions of the outside and inside of Tamaya's house communicate about her home?

9. What does Ms. Filbert's balloon demonstration show about her as a teacher?

10. When he is lying away on the night after Chad's attack, what does Marshall decide is his best hope for a final ending to the situation with Chad?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does Sachar's choice of a genetically modified organism as the source of trouble in this novel convey a message about humans interfering in the natural world? How does this relate to his choice of snow as a symbol of hope? Write an essay in which you show how these two aspects of the novel--the ergonyms and snow--relate to one another and convey a message about human beings and the natural environment. Support your claims with evidence drawn from throughout the text. If you use quoted evidence, remember to cite it in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

When you began reading this novel, you made a guess about whether Tamaya would be a static or dynamic character. What kind of a person is she at the beginning of this book? How do you know? What kind of a person is she at the end? How do you know? Does this make her a static or a dynamic character? After you have an answer to these questions, write an essay that makes a claim about whether Tamaya is a static or dynamic character and that uses evidence from the beginning, middle, and end of the text to support your claim. Remember that if you use quoted evidence, this should be cited in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

How do the realistic setting, characters, and plot of Fuzzy Mud all interact to keep the reader engaged in the story? Why does it matter that the story is set in ordinary places like a school, the woods, and students' homes? How do the thoughts and feelings of the ordinary children in this story help the reader bond with them? How does this bond increase the reader's engagement? In what ways is the plot realistic, and why does it matter that these things could really happen? Write an essay that uses evidence drawn from plot, characterization, and setting to show the many ways in which Fuzzy Mud is realistic and how Sachar's use of realism keeps the reader engaged.

(see the answer keys)

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