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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 do Perilee and the children do with Hattie on Sunday?

2. What is Hattie's uncle Holt's actual relationship to Hattie?

3. How does Hattie's uncle Holt surprise Hattie?

4. With what does Mrs. Martin threaten Hattie?

5. What does Hattie spend hours studying over?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who arrives to pick Mattie up in Wolf Point, and why do they spend the night there?

2. Describe Hattie's initial plowing efforts.

3. What happens the next day after the dance to the Mueller's barn?

4. How does Leafie stop some men from running the Mueller's cow to death?

5. Who has been Hattie's main supporters when she comes to live with Uncle Holt and Aunt Ivy?

6. What does Hattie write to Uncle Holt and Charlie and who mails them for her?

7. What is the first homesteading lesson Hattie learns the next morning as she goes to draw water for her coffee?

8. Where does Hattie go on Sunday where she has not yet been, and how is she initially greeted?

9. What neighbor does Hattie meet in the local grocery store and what does he tell her?

10. What surprises Hattie while she is in her cabin in the middle of a violent storm?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the following:

1. What is a plot? What are the most important elements of a plot and their definition? Do all novels have a plot? Why or why not?

2. Write a brief synopsis of the plot of "Hattie Big Sky", identifying where the various elements of the plot occur (Exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution or denouement.) Do you find it difficult to identify the plot? Why or why not? What about the various elements of the plot?

3. Identify the major sub-plots and their elements in "Hattie Big Sky". (The subplots may not contain every element of a major plot.) Do the sub-plots add to the main plot? Why or why not. Are the sub-plots interesting in and of themselves? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

There are a number of interesting questions raised by teen historical fiction--questions that Larson may wish readers to consider and think through carefully. Discuss the following:

1. What does the term "author agenda" mean?

2. Name one idea/concept you think may have been a part of the Larson's agenda. Analyze that idea throughout the book and discuss Larson's probable agenda concerning that idea.

2. Do you think writers who have an agenda for writing should point it out in a preface?

3. How often do you think fiction is written with a clear agenda in mind by the author?

4. Research the life of Larson and see if/where her life may have influenced her writing.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss one of the following:

1. Trace and analyze the theme of growth in "Hattie Big Sky". Consider the following questions as you write: What characters are most concerned with growth? Why? What are some symbols of growth? Symbols of rigidity? What characters seem rigid?

2. Trace and analyze the theme of courage in "Hattie Big Sky". Which characters struggle with this issue? Why? Which characters seem to possess courage? Why?

3. Trace and analyze the theme of death in "Hattie Big Sky". Consider not only the physical deaths but the death of innocence or the death of ignorance.

(see the answer keys)

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