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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 do Ellie and Jeremiah respond to the old ladies who give them an disapproving look in Chapter 11?

2. How does Miah know that Ellie wants to go home and not go to his mother's for dinner in Chapter 20?

3. What does a kid run up to Ellie and Miah and ask if he can do?

4. Of what does Ellie remind her mother regarding the holiday?

5. Where is Ellie when Anne finally calls?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Ellie feel about her mother learning about a boy in Ellie's life from Anne?

2. What do both Miah and his father say about the afterlife?

3. What does Miah's father say happened to his relationship with Nelia?

4. What leads to Ellie and Miah cutting class and heading to Central Park?

5. How does Chapter 14 end?

6. Why does Marion think Ellie skipped class?

7. How does Miah's father respond when Miah tells him he spends his weekends in Manhattan with his Percy friends?

8. How does Miah suggest he and Ellie deal with the negative attitudes of others towards them?

9. What are the types of love Anne describes to Ellie?

10. What takes place under the maple tree in Central Park?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

If You Come Softly is a coming-of-age story. How does the reader know this? How does the growing up of the two main characters compare to the average teen? Explain. How can teenagers, and adults as well, relate to the maturity of the main characters and loss of the naiveté of childhood?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Miah and Ellie have a serious heart to heart as they skip school. What do they discuss? How do they react to each other's stories? What is the significance of this first serious conversation? How does this conversation guide the characters and the plot of the story?

(see the answer keys)

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