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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 names are used to describe the water boatmen?

2. The sound of cicadas singing begins how?

3. What are three words used to describe the whirligig beetle's movements?

4. Which bee believes life is hard and unenjoyable?

5. What do the water boatmen and the digger wasp have in common?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is a literary device used in "Water Boatmen?" Explain how it is used.

2. Why might the digger wasp die before its young are born?

3. How is the artwork important, specifically to the whirligig beetle poem? Why?

4. What is the purpose of "Cicadas?"

5. How does this poem draw attention to nature and the life cycle of insects?

6. How is "Requiem" unlike any of the other poems? Why?

7. How does the author use poetry and literary devices to teach about whirligig beetles?

8. What does "Water Boatmen" describe? Why?

9. How are cicadas like a choir?

10. How can the world of the honeybee be compared to your own world?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The tone of this book changes from one poem to another.

Part 1) Which poems give off a sense of chaos and frenzy? Why? How does the poet give the poems this tone? What tools does the poet use to create very different poems from these chaotic poems?

Part 2) How has the poet chosen certain insects to have certain personalities and characteristics? Do these personalities reflect the actual creatures? If so, how? If not, why not?

Part 3) Do you believe the insects are truly as the poet describes? Why or why not? What is the poets reason for giving the insects these varying personalities, opinions, and characteristics?

Essay Topic 2

The point of view of these poems is often from the point of view of the insect that is the main character of the poem.

Part 1) Support this statement with facts from the book. Why might the poet choose to have most of the poems from the perspective of the insect?

Part 2) What is a poem not from the perspective of one insect? From whose perspective is it? Why? How does this affect your view of the insect?

Part 3) How is perspective important in a story or poem? How does this affect the mood of the story and the readers' view of the story and characters?

Essay Topic 3

Mayflies live for only one day.

Part 1) How do they spend their day? Why might they do this? How do they feel about this one day? Are you surprised by this? Why or why not?

Part 2) How are many people like the mayfly? How can one relate to this creature whose life lasts only twenty-four hours?

Part 3) What is the lesson of this poem? What can the reader learn about how one should spend one's life, based on this poem? Why?

(see the answer keys)

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