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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. How does Ellie show her father that Jeremiah is intelligent?

2. Where does Jeremiah’s grandmother always tell him to sit?

3. Where had Jeremiah's parents met?

4. How does Jeremiah feel now that his parents are separated?

5. As Jeremiah watches his mother prepare dinner, what does he wonder?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Jeremiah now attend Percy?

2. How does Ellie feel as she listens to the messages on the answering machine?

3. About what do Carlton and Miah discuss on their walk home from school?

4. How does Jeremiah feel about his time in history class with Ellie?

5. How does Jeremiah feel now that his parents are separated?

6. How does Peter treat Jeremiah?

7. What do various family members tell Jeremiah about his blackness?

8. Why does Anne call Ellie?

9. How does Jeremiah reveal his intelligence in his first day in history class?

10. What is the cause of Ellie's inability to fully love and trust her mother, Marion?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The story ends with Ellie preparing for high school graduation and a future at a college of her choice but without the excitement of her peers. Unlike Juliet in "Romeo and Juliet" she does not die alongside Jeremiah, but how, in some ways is she like Juliet? How might she resemble Maria from "West Side Story?" Does she have more hope for her future than these two women? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

How does Jeremiah die? How is this relevant to today? Could his death have been prevented? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Although If You Come Softly was published in 1998, how is it relevant to today? What elements of this book are timeless? How might this book stand the test of time? Why?

(see the answer keys)

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