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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 do Father and Caroline find when they go looking for the men's camp in Part Four?
(a) Valerie is now living with Richard.
(b) None of the men will speak to them.
(c) The Skeleton Family is there.
(d) It has been abandoned.

2. What request does Taffy make of Caroline in Part Four?
(a) She wants Caroline to loan her some money.
(b) She wants to stay with Caroline and Father.
(c) She wants Father to carry a message back to the men's camp.
(d) She wants Caroline to teach her how to read.

3. Who comes to the farm with the Ryder truck?
(a) Jean Bauer.
(b) A reporter.
(c) Jim Harris.
(d) A police officer.

4. What do the details of Caroline scratching words into leaves, looking for the "criminals," and shouting for Lala imply?
(a) She is lonely.
(b) She is frightened.
(c) She is excited.
(d) She is overjoyed.

5. On page 54, what does Caroline say is "always a mistake"?
(a) Telling authorities the truth.
(b) Believing that friendly people are on your side.
(c) Cooperating with the police.
(d) Letting people make you angry.

Short Answer Questions

1. What justification for stealing does Father give Caroline at the salvage yard?

2. What does Father do at the Safeway while Caroline shops?

3. Whom is Father quoting on page 86 when he says, "Better not to keep a house"?

4. Why does Father take Caroline to the Methodist church?

5. What is Caroline's favorite job on the farm?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Caroline and Father are leaving the ATM, they run into a man who knows Father. What name does the man call Father, and where does he seem to know him from?

2. What does Clarence tell Father when Father and Caroline find the men's camp?

3. Why does Caroline leave her encyclopedias behind when she is taken into state custody?

4. When they return to the park, what does Father find in the hollow in the crook of the tree, and what do he and Caroline do with it?

5. The novel opens with Caroline reflecting that "There's nothing to do but keep walking, you have to be ready for everything" (3). What does this comment tell the reader about Caroline's state of mind?

6. What surprises the child welfare workers about Caroline's physical and mental condition?

7. What is the symbolic significance of Caroline's and Father's watches?

8. What elaborate ritual do Caroline and Father have for sharing food in a way that does not alert people that they are together?

9. In the beginning of the book, what activity are Caroline and Father engaged in, and why?

10. What arrangement have the social services people come to with Mr. Walters?

(see the answer keys)

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