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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why do Frank and Jake look forward to Saturday dinners at their house?
(a) Because their mother makes their favorite dinner: pot roast.
(b) Because Ariel always brings her boyfriend Karl to dinner.
(c) Because that night Gus always comes to dinner.
(d) Because their father usually cooks and often they get to eat outside.

2. In what month and year does the narrator's story begin?
(a) July of 1961.
(b) January of 1961.
(c) January of 1967.
(d) July of 1969.

3. What topic is at the center of the large argument between Ariel and Ruth on the day of Ruth's chorale performance?
(a) Which of the two women is more ambitious.
(b) Which of the two women knows Emil more thoroughly.
(c) Which of the two women is the better singer.
(d) Which of the two women is the better cook.

4. Where do Frank and Jake run to after seeing the dead body at the train tracks?
(a) Their house.
(b) Their father's church.
(c) Halderson's drug store.
(d) Emil Brandt's house.

5. What prompts Gus and Morris to be thrown in jail?
(a) They rob the local liquor store.
(b) They get caught drag racing.
(c) They get caught gambling at a poker game.
(d) They get into a fistfight in the bar parking lot.

6. What reason does Julie give for saying Emil's suicide attempt is fortunate?
(a) Because Lise will have to move into an assisted care home and get the care she needs.
(b) Because Emil's attempt allows Ruth to feel like a savior.
(c) Because Ariel and Karl still have each other around for comfort.
(d) Because Emil will get the psychological help he obviously needs.

7. Who stays with Lise at her house while Emil is in the hospital?
(a) Jake and Frank.
(b) Frank and Ruth.
(c) Jake and Ariel.
(d) Julia and Axel.

8. Why is the old stone quarry the boys' usual choice of swimming site when there are three possibilities in town?
(a) Because the public pool costs money and the country club is full of snobs.
(b) Because the country club requires membership and the public pool is too crowded.
(c) Because the creek is generally dried up this time of year and the public pool costs money.
(d) Because the quarry is the only swimming site with nice scenery.

9. Why is Frank surprised when Officer Doyle asks him how he thinks the Minnesota Twins will do this year?
(a) Because he knows Officer Doyle hates sports.
(b) Because Frank hates baseball.
(c) Because adults rarely ask his opinion.
(d) Because the baseball season is over for the year.

10. Why do Frank and Jake walk home from the jail instead of riding in their father's car?
(a) Jake wants to go break out Morris' headlights before returning home.
(b) Their father does not tell them why they have to walk home.
(c) Gus throws up in their father's backseat.
(d) Frank wants to try peeping at their next door neighbor before returning home.

11. Who first voices the suspicion that Bobby Cole's death might have involved foul play?
(a) Ruth.
(b) Nathan.
(c) Officer Doyle.
(d) Gus.

12. When Ariel suggests she may not attend Juilliard, what alternative does she present to her parents?
(a) Attending Yale University.
(b) Getting married to Karl Brandt.
(c) Attending Mankato State and continuing to study with Emil Brandt.
(d) Staying at home to help her mother and father finish raising Frank and Jake.

13. What kind of animal does Officer Doyle blow up with the M-80 firecracker?
(a) A seagull.
(b) A bullfrog.
(c) A salamander.
(d) A pigeon.

14. Who touches Lise and sends her into a screaming fit after Emil attempted suicide?
(a) Nathan.
(b) One of the policemen who arrive at the scene.
(c) Frank.
(d) One of the firemen who arrive at the scene.

15. What reason does Warren Redstone cite for the 1862 attack on the white settlers by the Sioux tribe?
(a) Because the white settlers had attacked the Sioux first.
(b) Because the Sioux had discovered the white settlers' use of smallpox-infected blankets to kill their tribe members.
(c) Because the Sioux realized that the white settlers wanted to own land the Sioux had occupied for centuries.
(d) Because the Sioux were starving and had been denied food promised them in a treaty.

Short Answer Questions

1. How many children do Axel and Julia Brandt have?

2. How old is Bobby when he is killed?

3. Why does Jake want Frank to answer people's questions about the incident with Emil instead of answering himself?

4. Who is the only person to give a eulogy at Bobby's funeral?

5. Whose vehicle do the boys see parked at the quarry when they arrive there?

(see the answer keys)

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