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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 do Lily and Adam discuss briefly?

2. About what does Ben tease Willa concerning Tess?

3. What is one of Tess' duties on the ranch?

4. What is Pickles thinking about as he rides the fence line?

5. What does Willa do at the cemetery?

Short Essay Questions

1. Whose funeral is happening in the beginning of the book, what kind of a person was he and how does his daughter feel about the people at the wake?

2. What does Tess see at the corral that bothers her, what does she do, who takes her in the house, and what does he say to her?

3. Who is the ranch foreman, of what does he assure Willa, and what is his and Willa's relationship?

4. What do Nate, Adam and Ben do after the party and the discovery outside?

5. What is found at the foot of Willa's porch after the New Year's Eve party is over? What is done about it?

6. With whom is Tess speaking on the phone at the wake, what does she tell the person, and what is Tess's intent concerning after the funeral?

7. What does Willa think is the reason her father set the will up as he did?

8. Where does Tess go after the funeral, who is her mother, and what is her mother like? Why did her mother marry her father?

9. Who is the second oldest daughter of the person in question #1, where did she come from and for what does she hope?

10. What did Lily consider the trip to Mercy Ranch to be and how do her and Adam handle her revelations?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Titles often play a vital role in making a person decide to read a particular book. Discuss the following:

1. Fully explain why you think Montana Sky is titled as such. Do you think it is the best title for the book? Why or why not? Can you think of a better title? Why would you choose it?

2. How important is a title in influencing you to consider reading a book? Explain your answer.

3. Do you think a title needs to have direct relevance to a book's content? Explain your answer.

4. Have you ever read a book that when you finished, you do not understand the relevance of the title? Does it discourage you from "trusting" that particular author again?

Essay Topic 2

Jack Mercy married three times and considered each marriage a failure when his wife had a daughter. His last daughter lived at the ranch with him, trying unsuccessfully to earn her father's approval.

1. Do you believe the fact that Jack Mercy lived on a ranch in Montana influenced his intense desire for a son? In other words, do you think a doctor in New York City would have been more likely to not care whether his child was a boy or girl? Why or why not? Use examples from the book to support your answer.

2. In many places in the past, and even in the present, female babies were often killed or left out in the elements to die. This has social as well as moral repercussions, for example, in China at present, males are having a difficult time finding a wife because the ratio of men to women is so skewed from female infanticide. Discuss the moral or social implications of cultures which prefer male to female babies. Use examples from the book to help illustrate your answer.

3. In many countries where there is a bias towards male children, even the mother participants in that bias. Discuss the implications for the mental and emotional health of females raised in a culture where such bias exists.

Essay Topic 3

In most fiction, readers would like all the loose ends to be neatly "tied up." Discuss the following:

1. Do you think Montana Sky is successful as a mystery novel? Why or why not?

2. What about this book would motivate you to read another of Nora Roberts alphabet series? What would discourage you from doing so?

3. Were all the "loose ends" satisfactorily settled for you? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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