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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. Why does Grayson take Maniac to the equipment room?

2. How does Maniac respond when Grayson asks him about attending school?

3. What do Maniac and Grayson do on Thanksgiving Day in the cold?

4. How do the Pickwells know when it is dinnertime?

5. What does Mr. Cobble use the knot for?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Amanda treat Maniac differently than everyone else in Chapter 11 and previous chapters?

2. How does Grayson's background shape the man he has become today?

3. Why do Maniac and Grayson decorate a tree in the woods?

4. How is the scene in the kitchen between Mrs. Beale and Maniac both ironic and symbolic?

5. How does the story of Grayson't past affect Maniac?

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

7. How might Amanda Beale's character be a good match for Maniac?

8. How does Maniac impress the star quarterback, Brian Denehy in Chapter 4?

9. How does Maniac manage to infuriate McNab and does he do it on purpose?

10. Right at the start of this novel, the reader knows that the main character is going to have a different life than the normal pre-teen. How so?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How is the pillbox the most frightening part of the whole novel? What does the pillbox symbolize? When John McNab states that others will build one once they see the McNabs, why does this make Maniac sick? Why should it make anyone sick?

Essay Topic 2

Why doesn't Maniac choose to remain at the Pickwell house? Why does he not choose this loving family as his own when he knows that they would embrace him? What does this say about Maniac's past and his future?

Essay Topic 3

What is Maniac truly searching for for himself? How is this search a theme of the novel?

(see the answer keys)

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