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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 has Willa shot?

2. Why is Tess willing to stay at the ranch?

3. What does Lily don for the New Year's party?

4. How does Willa feel as she drives around the ranch?

5. Who knocks on Willa's vehicle window?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. With whom does Willa meet to make sure she is adhering to the rules of the will, what does Willa tell them, and what do they think about her ideas?

3. Why is Willa crying on the couch when Ben finds her and what does he do about it?

4. What do Ben, Tess and Lily discuss over soup, and what does Ben point out in their discussion?

5. What does Willa teach her sisters in Chapter 15 and what does Tess do after that?

6. What do Willa and Ben find the day after the funeral, how do they find it, and what do they do about it?

7. How does Jesse Cooke feel about what is happening at the Mercy ranch and what does he plan to do?

8. In Chapter 9, what does Ham tell Willa about ranch hands and about what she needs to do?

9. What is the killer feeling after he kills Pickles and what does he decide at that point?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Oftentimes, a book has more of a character-driven plot rather than action driven, and oftentimes the other way. Some books seem to balance the two. Discuss the following:

1. What do you think it means to say that a plot is character driven? Action driven?

2. How do you think a plot differs if it is character driven versus action driven?

3. Which type of plot do you find more interesting? Why?

4. Do you think it is possible to have a plot where action and character development share equal time? Why or why not?

5. What type of plot do you think Living Dead in Dallas is? Explain your response.

Essay Topic 2

Often, authors will write about "what they know," and sometimes knowing a little about the author makes the books more interesting. Discuss the following:

1. Research and give a brief biographical sketch of Nora Roberts.

2. What in Robert's background may have helped her in writing Montana Sky? What may have influenced the way she depicts various characters and scenes?

3. Do you think there is always some of the author's own life in his/her novels? Why or why not? Give examples.

Essay Topic 3

In this book, three sisters meet, live together for a year, meet men and end up either married or ready to be married. The plot is almost unbelievable.

1. With research, define narrative contrivance and use two situations from Montana Sky to support your definition.

2. Discuss the following statement: Narrative contrivances detract from a book if they are too unbelievable.

3. Do you think the author could have written a better book if she had not made the situation of three sisters meeting three men and just happen to fall in love with those three men all living in a small town? Explain what might have been more believable.

(see the answer keys)

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