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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Nyiko say about the Small’s issue with the animals?
(a) Chickens are popular to raise.
(b) Everyone owns the cats.
(c) Puppies are owned by the chief.
(d) No one in the village owns a cat.

2. Why does Maureen question July in Section 7, when he talks of going back to the way things were?
(a) She doesn’t believe he has heard the new.
(b) She doesn’t want him to work for her anymore.
(c) She doesn’t want him to be afraid.
(d) She doesn’t believe he wants things to go back.

3. What does Bam hope Nyiko knows in Section 6?
(a) Who stole the food.
(b) How to hand feed the kittens.
(c) Who owns the kittens.
(d) Who stole the bag.

4. By the end of Section 7, how does Maureen feel about Bam, after this journey?
(a) She loves him more.
(b) She is angry with him.
(c) She is disgusted by him.
(d) She no longer sees him as the same person.

5. In Section 8, what does Victor want his dad to buy?
(a) A car.
(b) A car radiator.
(c) A train.
(d) A bike.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who drives the car with the family in Section 7?

2. What does Maureen demand July do when she finds him after an obejctive has gone missing from her hut?

3. By Section 8, who has joined the forces from Africa?

4. Who does Maureen hear as she runs through the jungle at the end of the book?

5. What does Bam do that Maureen realizes is a move of defeat?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the gumba-gumba, and the resulting party atmosphere.

2. Explain why Maureen drowns the kittens and what this implies about her?

3. Why do you think Maureen runs for the helicopter at the end of the novel, leaving her family behind?

4. What is missing when the Smalls arrive back at the hut in Section 9, and what does this likely mean for the family?

5. Describe Maureen’s point about the smell of her family.

6. What does Martha wonder most about the white woman, when she lived in town with July?

7. Describe the birth of animals in the Smalls’ hut, and how that relates to the accusation of theft.

8. What does Bam mean when he says July is “shrewdy”?

9. Explain why Maureen thinks they need to leave in Section 9.

10. Explain Maureen’s feelings about her life, prior to the riots, as reflected upon in Section 9.

(see the answer keys)

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