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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 Mike say to Dru about his father and Dru's mother?

2. What does Dru say about Scooter and Elisa jumping the Nail together again?

3. How does Elisa feel towards Scooter?

4. How does Elisa respond to Dru's question?

5. Whose boot comes floating to the surface of the water?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Dru tell Elisa as Elisa is dressing, what is Elisa's response and what does Elisa do to get ready to go to the party?

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

3. What is Dru's response to the rumor she hears and what does Mike think of her response?

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

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

6. What has Dru just finished, and what is she thinking about as she walks her dog looking at houses?

7. How does Dru feel towards Scooter after Elisa tells Dru about the drowned girl and what does Elisa say to her?

8. 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?

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

10. Why is Dru different from the other teenagers at the Nail, what rumor does one teen say to Dru?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Characters are an important part of what makes "Jumping the Nail" interesting. Discuss the following:

1. Thoroughly discuss and analyze Dru. What are her strengths? Her weaknesses? How does she contribute to the plot? Is she a sympathetic character? Is she ever likable? Never likable? Use specific examples to illustrate your ideas.

2. Thoroughly discuss and analyze the character of the Mike. What are his strengths? His weaknesses? How does he contribute to the plot? Is he a sympathetic character? Is he always likable? Never likable? Use specific examples to illustrate your ideas.

3. Thoroughly discuss and analyze the character of Elisa. What are her strengths? Her weaknesses? How does she contribute to the plot? Is she a sympathetic character? Is she ever likable? Never likable? Use specific examples to illustrate your ideas.

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

Discuss the following:

1. Who is/are the protagonists of the story and why?

2. Who is/are the antagonists of the story and why?

3. Which 3 secondary characters have the greatest impact on the plot?

4. Are any of the characters dispensable and which ones? Why or why not?

5. Do you think this is a character-driven plot or an action-driven plot? Explain.

(see the answer keys)

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