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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. What does Zach want to do that surprises Willie after they first meet?

2. Why is Willie panicked in the newspaper shop?

3. What kind of a character is Mrs. Fletcher?

4. What does Emilia Thorne often come to the house to do while Tom is at fire duty?

5. What does Mrs. Beech mean when she writes that she had "sewn him in for the winter"?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is Zach different from any other character the reader has met in the book? Who notes the difference? What possible affect will the difference have on the plot of the story?

2. What further happens in Chapter 3 that make the reader sympathize even more with Willie?

3. How does Tom help Willie with the humiliation that he feels after his first day at school and what do the two of them discover about Willie?

4. What are Sundays like for Willie at home with his mother? How do those Sundays differ from the Sundays he has with Tom?

5. What does the reader learn about Tom as he walks through town with Willie in Chapter 2?

6. How does Willie feel about Zach and what indicators are there about the way their friendship will or will not develop?

7. What does Tom volunteer for at the meeting and how does this show growth in his character?

8. How does Willie feel at the end of the day after going to town?

9. How is Willie's reaction to the squirrel and the dog telling of his character?

10. What does Tom do to the shelter and what is its relevance?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How is Mrs. Beech hypocritical and what does this say about the ideas that she taught her son? What did she teach her son specifically? When and how does the reader learn about what Mrs. Beech has taught Willie?

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast Zach's and Willie's characters.

Essay Topic 3

How is Tom Willie's psychiatrist and doctor? How does Tom approach the healing of Willie?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,637 words (approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample