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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. Why does Mr. Brandt call Marshall up to the front of the class?

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

3. About how long before the action of the novel starts was the Senate hearing on SunRay Farms held?

4. Why does Tamaya wake up at 7:08 every morning?

5. What is Marshall's best subject in school?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. When Ms. Filbert was assigning the reports about presidents, how did her behavior contradict her words?

3. Describe the setting of SunRay Farm.

4. What advice of Ms. Filbert's does Tamaya think about as she is about to go into the woods, and why does she think about it?

5. Why does Marshall blame his parents for his problems with Chad?

6. What offer does Tamaya make to Marshall on their walk to school in Chapter 12, and why does she think his response is not very honest?

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

8. What are some of the consequences Marshall suffers at school because of Chad's bullying?

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

10. When he is lying awake on the night after Chad's attack, what two possible endings does Marshall imagine for a scenario where he tries to defend Tamaya from Chad?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What message about courage does Fuzzy Mud convey? How do various characters display--or fail to display--the kind of courage this book is talking about? What are the consequences of these choices? Do any characters grow and change in their ability to display courage? What relationship is there between the messages the text sends about courage and the two words on the Woodridge uniform? Does the text propose that people who strongly believe in virtue will automatically have courage, or are these two separate goals that people need to work toward? Write an essay in which you make and defend a claim about how the text defines courage and how characterization, plot, and textual details work together to support this definition.

Essay Topic 2

How does Sachar use chapter titles to convey information? How does he use them to convey ideas? How does he use them to create anticipation and tension? Write an essay that explains the various purposes of the chapter titles that Sachar has chosen in Fuzzy Mud. Support your ideas with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from throughout the text, and be sure to cite quoted evidence in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

One effect of having multiple perspectives in a novel is that the reader gets to see events and characters from more than one perspective. Think of an event or character that seems one way when presented from either Marshall's or Tamaya's perspective but that you understand differently when the same event or character is then presented from the other character's perspective. Explain how this event or character is presented first and then show how the reader's understanding is enhanced or changed when the same event or character is seen from the perspective of a different character. Support your ideas with evidence from the text, and remember that if you use quoted evidence, this should be cited in MLA format.

(see the answer keys)

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