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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 is a typical dinner at Aunt Gladys' house?
(a) Bagels, cream cheese, and lox.
(b) Pot roast, gravy, boiled potatoes, peas and carrots, and rye bread.
(c) Matzos soup, leg of lamb, and mixed vegetables.
(d) Kosher chicken, tossed salad, and dessert.

2. What antic does Neil perform at the pool?
(a) He swims thirty laps without stopping.
(b) He does handstands on the diving board.
(c) He hides Brenda's glasses.
(d) Neil dives in and surfaces like a dolphin beside Brenda, sliding her legs on his.

3. Ironically, where is Mr. Patimkin's store that makes all the money for the family to live in Short Hills?
(a) In the Bronx.
(b) On the waterfront.
(c) In Brooklyn.
(d) The African-American section of Newark.

4. What shows Brenda's competitive nature?
(a) Brenda is ahead five games to four.
(b) Brenda is arguing that her last shot was in bounds.
(c) Brenda makes sure the score of each game is written down.
(d) Brenda does not notice Neil until the game is over.

5. While Neil and the boy are looking at the art book, what is Neil seeing?
(a) Brenda in a Gauguin setting.
(b) That his job is dull.
(c) That discrimination is a bad thing.
(d) How the boy is really interested in art.

Short Answer Questions

1. What are some of the things they do together that summer?

2. While the dinner conversation is going on, what is Brenda doing?

3. What disruption takes place when Ron needs to leave?

4. Why does Neil say he lives with his aunt and uncle?

5. Where are the Patimkin's going while Neil babysits?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the reader get introduced to ten-year-old Julie Patimkin?

2. What rather strange job is given Neil the evening after the dinner?

3. What is the image the reader gets of Ron as he joins Neil and Brenda at the pool?

4. Tell how the relationship has developed between Neil and the boy who comes to look at the Gauguin book.

5. Explain the prejudice of the head librarian against the boy.

6. Explain a commonality between Neil and the boy.

7. Describe the relationship between Neil and Brenda during the summer.

8. Contrast Aunt Gladys and Mrs. Patimkin from the conversation Gladys and Neil have about the Patimkin house.

9. What does Brenda do that suggests she is very infatuated with Neil?

10. Describe Brenda's neighborhood in Short Hills.

(see the answer keys)

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