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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 Emilia Thorne often come to the house to do while Tom is at fire duty?

2. What is the Little's building?

3. What does Charlie Rudder want of Tom?

4. What do Willie and the other children discover about Zach?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What "firsts" does Willie experience in the "Birthday" chapter and how does he respond to them?

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

4. 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?

5. What astonishing discoveries are made at the library?

6. Why are George's sisters upset with George on the day of the picnic, and what does this say about the way that they think?

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

8. What is the overall feeling of the townspeople about the war? What actions do they perform that reveal their feelings?

9. How does Willie become humiliated at school on the first day? What do the children do to make him feel better?

10. How do the townspeople react to Tom's attendance at the meeting and why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How is the death of Mrs. Beech both a blessing and a tragedy in regard to Tom and Willie?

Essay Topic 2

In what ways does Mrs. Beech not recognize her own son when he returns to London? How does she react to the changes? What does she believe brought about the changes? What do the changes say about the way she used to treat her son?

Essay Topic 3

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

(see the answer keys)

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