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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What do the sisters blindfold their dad with when they play a game?
(a) A handkerchief.
(b) A kitchen towel.
(c) The baby's blanket.
(d) A baby's coat.

2. What kind of flowers did John bring home to Yolanda?
(a) Daisies.
(b) Roses.
(c) Wildflowers.
(d) Irises.

3. What is Yolanda's name in Spanish?
(a) Yo.
(b) Yazi.
(c) Josie.
(d) John.

4. What was the title of the autobiographical paper that the oldest daughter wrote?
(a) "I Was There Too."
(b) "My Mother, the Saint."
(c) "How I Hated my Mother."
(d) "How my Mother Hovered."

5. How did the mother dress her daughters when they were small?
(a) All alike but in different colors.
(b) Differently to tell them apart.
(c) Like boys.
(d) In the same color dresses.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did the other students at the American school think of the background of the sisters?

2. How many years pass when Yolanda and Rudy meet later in life?

3. What colors did the mother use for her color code?

4. Why did John call Yolanda Violet?

5. What happened when the father heard Yolanda's school speech?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did Sister Zoe tell the students about the Cuban Missile Crisis? How much description did she give to the kids? Why?

2. How does the author describe the public schools in New York?

3. Who is the man with the dog that Yolanda meets by the coal shed? Is he really a hunter as her aunt says? If he is a hunter, then why do they call the police when they hear gunshots?

4. Who are the Guardia? What do they do when they come to the de la Torres compound? Why do they take the actions that they do?

5. How were the girls affected by their mother dressing them all alike, but in different colors? Why did they refer to it as "assembly-line" mentality?

6. What is Rudy trying to teach Yolanda with his sonnets? Why does he choose this approach?

7. What does it tell the reader to know that the de la Torres compound is next to the palacio of the dictator's daughter? Does this mean that grandfather is an important man? Why? Why not?

8. What is important about the dinner with the Fannings? Why is it so important to the girls' parents?

9. Why will Yolanda's mother not let her bang the drum? Why would she allow such a toy and then put limits on it? Does this confuse Yolanda? Why?

10. What is the significance of the electric typewriter? What does it mean to Yolanda? To her mother? To her father?

(see the answer keys)

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