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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 is Amanda carrying to school in her suitcase?
(a) Crayons and drawing paper.
(b) A project.
(c) Books.
(d) A puppy.

2. What causes the red bumps to surface on Maniac's body?
(a) Pizza.
(b) Chicken Pox.
(c) Poison Ivy.
(d) Mumps.

3. What does Maniac do for fifteen minutes before completing the knot?
(a) He drinks an orange soda.
(b) He prays.
(c) He takes a nap.
(d) He reads a book.

4. What does the big black man shout about on that hot August day in chapter 17?
(a) That white people shouldn't swim in his water.
(b) That white people are ruining his neighborhood.
(c) That white people waste everything.
(d) That white people never have enough.

5. What do the high school kids do to Arnold Jones in Chapter 5?
(a) They shove him in a locker.
(b) They toss him over Finsterwald's fence.
(c) They force him onto Finsterwalds' porch.
(d) They throw him in a pond.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is Maniac running on that amazes the Pickwell children?

2. Who specifically has tried to untie the knot before Maniac?

3. What does Maniac do for Grayson after he reads his first book?

4. What is the big question at the Pickwell dinner table on the night they eat spaghetti in Chapter 6?

5. With what does Mars Bar Thompson challenge Maniac?

Short Essay Questions

1. The fact that Maniac takes a nap during the untying of the famous knot says a lot about the way he perceives the event. What does it say?

2. How is Maniac blind?

3. Why won't Maniac go to school?

4. Why does Amanda think the Cobble Knot will solve Maniac's problems?

5. How is it that Maniac could have a meal at the Pickwell house and nobody questions his presence?

6. Why is the big black man so upset that Maniac is playing in the fire hydrant water?

7. What stops McNab and the Cobras from chasing Maniac after the home run hit? What does this say about the boys?

8. Maniac's life tale may be bigger than he actually is. What begins the exaggeration in Chapter 2?

9. How does Maniac help others and what are his motives in doing so?

10. Chapter 14 ends with Mrs. Beale asking Maniac whether he is Maniac or not. He responds saying that he is Jeffrey. She states that in her house he will always be Jeffrey. What does this mean for the two of them?

(see the answer keys)

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