View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Haitham tell kids at school in an effort to defend Nima?

2. Who is Nima's best friend's mother?

3. What does Aisha say when Nima asks why she still wears her headscarf?

4. What is the word Nima often uses to mean "father"?

5. What language do Nima and Haitham often speak together when they are very young?

Short Essay Questions

1. In "Jinn," what does Nima think Yasmeen has appeared to her for?

2. In "Bathwater," what startling thing happens to Nima in the bath?

3. Why do Nima and Aisha go to the hospital in "The Bus"?

4. Why does Haitham call Nima a "Nostalgia Monster"?

5. In "Halloween," what does Haitham tell the kids making fun of Nima?

6. What does Nima imagine about herself in the mirror?

7. In "School," why does Nima beg her mother to stop sending leftovers to school for her?

8. What does Nima use to imagine Aisha's life before she herself was born?

9. What is one major factor Haitham and Nima have in common?

10. In "Yasmeen," (pgs. 12 - 13), how does Nima imagine the fictional Yasmeen?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What does Elhillo use dance, and Aisha's facility and love of it, to symbolize throughout this novel? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 2

Why and how does Elhillo highlight the way that some characters exhibiting racist, harmful behaviors associate the words "Muslim" and "terrorist" at different places in the novel? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 3

What role does Elhillo assign to Mama Fatheya in terms of plot development in the early stages of the novel, and why do you think Elhillo does this? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 574 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample