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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 does Dru's father do for a living?

2. What does Elisa's house smell like?

3. What does Scooter say jumping off the Nail does?

4. How does Elisa feel towards Scooter?

5. Where does Jeremy's mother do volunteer work?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens when Dru shows Elisa the mangled boot?

2. Who does Dru run into while walking her dog and what does the person ask her and say to her?

3. Whose house does Dru pass and what does she think when she passes it?

4. What does Hopi say about jumping?

5. Who drives Dru and MIke back to Mike's car and what is Diane like?

6. What do Scooter and Elisa bring to the Nail with them, how is Scooter feeling, how does Elisa react to Dru and what does Scooter go do?

7. What does Jeremy say to Dru when she sees him?

8. What does Scooter ask Mike and Dru to do, why does he ask them and what does Dru think of Scooter jumping?

9. What does Mike say about Scooter jumping?

10. What happens when Scooter and Elisa jump and immediately after?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Dru represents a mother figure. The other teenagers are eager to see Elisa and Scooter jump, but it tears Dru apart. She seems to take a motherly role with Elisa because she feels her influence would have stopped her best friend from jumping. Being a mother figure causes Dru not to fit in with the group. She is not rich or beautiful, but more importantly, she looks at the teenagers as people to whom she cannot relate. Thus, she separates herself from her own age group.

1. Dru is very intelligent having received a full scholarship to a prestigious university. Discuss how her intelligence may have contributed to her being a mother figure to some of the teenagers in "Jumping the Nail". Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

2. Why do you think Dru being a mother figure, with the maturity that implies, may interfere with Dru fitting in well with Dru and her peers? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

3. Dru is apparently not only smart, but mature, and these two qualities make her feel like she does not fit in and she has a tendency to separate herself from her own age group. What are ways in which you believe Dru could feel more relaxed and compatible with her peers? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Dru discusses the idea of feeling invisible. She feels this way until Mike and she start dating. This represents the universal teenage feeling of being invisible. It is a theme often seen in books about adolescence. For Dru, it is a real feeling and her encounter with Diane only exacerbates the feeling to a deeper level.

1. Discuss a time you or someone you know felt invisible. How did it compare to Dru's feelings? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

2. Discuss, in depth, why Dru's meeting with Diane might have made her feel more invisible or insecure. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

3. Dating MIke is an external event which has made Dru feel, and possibly be, more acceptable to others in her school. Discuss some of the internal values Dru could strengthen within herself which could produce the same effect. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

Many readers of fiction place themselves in the position of one character, wondering if they would do the same thing as that character. Discuss the following:

1. Do you think one of the values of literature is to serve as a reflection of oneself? Why or why not?

2. Socrates said "Know thyself." How can reading a book such as "Jumping the Nail" help a reader to know him/herself? Do you find yourself reflecting on your own character and abilities when reading "Jumping the Nail"? Why or why not.

3. Choose one specific incident in Jumping the Nail to discuss and compare one of the character's response to how you think you would respond.

(see the answer keys)

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