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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 kind of tree grew in the backyard of Bryson's grandparents' farm?

2. What quality hindered Bryson in his work?

3. What did Bryson threaten to do to Bryson when he saw the amount of absences on his report cards?

4. For how long was Bryson in a cast?

5. What did Bryson's grandparents do in their house on winter nights?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did the Bryson family end up staying in a hotel in Harlem?

2. Describe the events surrounding Bryson's finally getting into the strippers' tent at the state fair.

3. How did the very long winter season impact the school children?

4. What were the circumstances when, for the second time, Bryson realized that adults could not be trusted?

5. What did the adult Bryson recall about what happened to his parents and friends?

6. What did Bryson learn about his parents that pleased him and how did this change his views of his real parentage?

7. What did Bryson buy with his newspaper route money and what other interest did he develop at this time?

8. What was Bryson's opinion of staying in Des Moines versus moving to a bigger city?

9. What were the weather extremes in Winfield?

10. What was Bryson's elementary school and what were some of the features that made it so nice?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Humor takes on an almost human persona in this story. What is this literary technique called? Cite examples that support this position.

Essay Topic 2

Bryson is masterful at crafting literary descriptions for his readers. Choose a paragraph from the book which you find especially descriptive. How do you think Bryson was able to craft it the way he did? What is so appealing to you about the passage? Explain.

Essay Topic 3

Describe the overall settings for the book. What is important about each setting as it is revealed? What are the time periods of the stories? How important are the time periods to the attitudes and issues of the people?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,070 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample