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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 examples does White include in a memo as entrances that would infuriate people if they were the same height as a taxi cab door?
(a) Bars, subways, and closets.
(b) Bars, subways, and garages.
(c) Subways, closets, and garages.
(d) Bars, closets, and garages.

2. Which John Steinbeck book was the result of an assignment for Holiday magazine that White could not complete?
(a) "The Grapes of Wrath".
(b) "Travels with Charley".
(c) "East of Eden".
(d) "Of Mice and Men".

3. What reason does White give his agent for putting the book, Charlotte's Web, aside for a while?
(a) To allow it to breathe.
(b) To allow it to seem new.
(c) To allow it to seem familiar.
(d) To allow it to ripen.

4. When is the children's concert of "The Trumpet of the Swan" performed?
(a) April 15, 1972.
(b) May 13, 1972.
(c) May 13, 1971.
(d) April 15, 1971.

5. What is the subject of the article that White's granddaughter, Martha, writes?
(a) Fishing.
(b) Writing.
(c) Exercising.
(d) Jogging.

Short Answer Questions

1. When does E.B. White pass away?

2. What type of people did Ross hire when starting the New Yorker, according to White?

3. In a response to a student's letter, what does White say is the best way to learn about a writer?

4. How many letters of condolence does White receive after Katharine's passing?

5. Why does White initially think his biography should be shorter?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is White's concern with the cover art for "Charlotte's Web" and what appropriate advice does he share?

2. What complications does White have with his vision in 1982, and how many years does he provide newsbreaks for the New Yorker before retiring?

3. How does White's response to Cathy Durham generate controversy, and what solution does his publisher implement?

4. How does White respond to a confused senior at Newton High School?

5. What changes does White experience after Katharine passes away?

6. What question does Cathy Durham ask White, and how does he respond?

7. Why does White write to Maine Sen. Margaret Chase Smith?

8. What illnesses does Katharine battle between 1960 and 1965, and how does she adjust her work schedule?

9. What is the subject of the exchanged letters between White and President Richard Nixon in July, 1969?

10. How does White categorize "Charlotte's Web" in his October, 1952 letter to Ursula Nordstrom of Harper & Brothers, and what are the sales like for the book's first edition?

(see the answer keys)

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