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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 was Nima's best friend's mother's hair like when she first arrived in America?

2. What is Nima's mother's name?

3. What does Nima remember wistfully Haitham doing for her years earlier?

4. What does Nima's mother's name mean in her native language?

5. What does Aisha do when Nima tells her someone at school called Nima a terrorist?

Short Essay Questions

1. In "Haitham" (pg. 43), what does Mama Fatheya tell Nima and Haitham about loud singing after sundown?

2. How do Haitham and Nima know each other?

3. Why does Khaltu Hala give Nima a pearl ring?

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

5. What does Mama Fatheya tell Nima about her own birth in "Calling Haitham"?

6. In "Baba," what does Aisha have all over the apartment that Nima often looks at?

7. Why does Nima think her own name is somewhat ironic?

8. What happens in "The Airport" that Nima always remembers as hurting her mother deeply?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does Elhillo treat the topic of male abuse of women through the backgrounds and experiences of both Nima and her mother Aisha? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

How does the fact that Nima never met her father Ahmed impact her relationship with Aisha, her mother? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 3

How does Elhillo describe Nima's feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt in the early stages of the novel? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

(see the answer keys)

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