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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. Which of the following actions is a frequent habit of the girl at the center of the story?
(a) She rocks when anxious.
(b) She does not make eye contact.
(c) She rarely speaks.
(d) She sucks her thumb.

2. About how many languages does the woman say are spoken in New York City?
(a) 500.
(b) 800.
(c) 1,200.
(d) 120.

3. During the road trip, the girl develops an obsession with a book called "The Book with No" (99) what?
(a) Ending.
(b) Cover.
(c) Swear words.
(d) Pictures.

4. As the family crosses Memphis, they play the song entitled "Graceland" by what musician?
(a) Carlos Santana.
(b) Johnny Cash.
(c) Sting.
(d) Paul Simon.

5. From what state does the family at the center of the narrative depart at the beginning of the novel?
(a) New Mexico.
(b) Puebla.
(c) New York.
(d) California.

Short Answer Questions

1. What term does a customer at the Dixie Cafe use to refer to the family at the center of the narrative?

2. What past tense verb does the woman use to indicate what happened to the girl's biological father?

3. To what kind of establishment does the woman walk the night she ends up in a flirtatious encounter with a stranger?

4. The man and the woman had first met while working on a project involving which of the five senses?

5. The archival studies specialist to whom the woman turns for support is a professor at which university?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is the road trip from New York to Arizona a symbol of the family's imminent separation?

2. How does the woman define documentation for the boy?

3. For what purpose does the family at the center of the narrative bring bankers' boxes along on their road trip?

4. What prompts the woman to begin to record the man's Apache stories as he tells them?

5. While the man wants the road trip to end in Arizona, the woman wants to visit what state so that she can pursue her own next project?

6. How does the woman react to hearing the radio interview with the boy being held in a Texas detention center?

7. When the woman is conflicted about whether to record the sounds of the family's road trip, what does she say she wishes she could do instead?

8. What quality does the woman say is difficult to maintain within a marriage in a "real and sustained" (82) manner?

9. How does the man reply when the boy asks him why he has chosen the Apache tribe as the subject of his newest project?

10. For what purpose does the family plan to travel to Lawton?

(see the answer keys)

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