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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. Which city was Smarsh's family farm 30 miles west of?
(a) Texarcana.
(b) Lawrence.
(c) Wichita.
(d) Omaha.

2. When was Smarsh's father born?
(a) Labor Day in 1955.
(b) Christmas Day in 1960.
(c) Halloween in 1955.
(d) Christmas Day in 1950.

3. What poplar concert series meant to provide assistance to farms did Arnie say he never saw a dime from?
(a) Band Aid.
(b) Rural Aid.
(c) Farm Aid.
(d) Wheat Aid.

4. What life-threatening injury befalls Betty as a child?
(a) She is nearly electrocuted as a child when a power company worker leaves a live wire laying on the ground.
(b) She nearly drowns in a nearby lake.
(c) She is nearly killed on a construction site.
(d) She nearly falls down a sinkhole.

5. How did Smarsh's grandfather Chic die?
(a) He had a heart attack.
(b) He was in a car accident.
(c) He had prostate cancer.
(d) He had an accident involving farm equipment.

Short Answer Questions

1. How did Nick describe his own mother Teresa to Smarsh?

2. What work did Smarsh's father primarily do?

3. What rare ailment did Betty have in Chapter 2?

4. Who was the man who became Smarsh's step-grandfather?

5. What kind of toy did Jeannie have as a child that she was heartbroken to lose?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Part I, what happens shortly after the birth of Smarsh's brother that upsets and weights on Jeannie?

2. In Part I, what is the one fact of Smarsh's family history she thinks most significantly shaped her relationship to August?

3. Why was Nick's barn burning down such a blow to Smarsh's family?

4. In Part I, why was Jeannie considering calling off her wedding to Nick, and what changed her mind?

5. Why does Smarsh feel she needs to be so vigilant in childhood?

6. What are Smarsh's memories of her father Nick like from childhood?

7. In Part II, what does Betty become so ill with?

8. How does Nick's pole barn burn down?

9. What skill did Jeannie and Nick both have in common?

10. What birthday does Smarsh's father have that Smarsh feels is a sort of poetic for him?

(see the answer keys)

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