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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 is cooked at the fire after Melody’s nature walk?

2. Which of the following kinds of tree does Melody identify on her nature walk?

3. With which of the following does Chapter 32 begin?

4. Which Fiery Falcon is the first to endorse playing Balloon Ball?

5. What is served for dinner after Melody’s boat ride?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Melody feel like crying while aboard the Silver Sarah?

2. What does Carter cite as the best reason to be a boat captain?

3. How does Melody describe the smell of jazz?

4. How does Karyn note her father had tried to rid himself of skunk smell?

5. How do the Panthers clean themselves of the skunk smell?

6. How does Melody compare herself to a light fixture on her back porch?

7. How do the Fiery Falcons prepare uniforms for Balloon Ball?

8. How does Noah describe the experience of the skunk?

9. What thought regarding her horse saddens Melody as she rides?

10. How is Melody equipped for going out on a nature walk?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Readerly attention focuses on the following passage:

Special needs, I was thinking. I don’t like that term. It sounds so…so…vague. It’s like people without special needs decided that if they made the term vague enough, it wouldn’t hurt anybody’s feelings. But when you’re the person the term is used for, it makes you feel less than yourself. It makes me feel less than myself. Yeah, I’m special. And yes, I have needs. But don’t make that my label (20).

What purpose does the passage serve in the novel, and how is that purpose enacted?

Essay Topic 2

The protagonist of the novel is clear. Who is the second most important character in the novel? Why is that character second most important?

Essay Topic 3

A lack of formal sectional division in the novel obliges a fairly arbitrary breakdown of the text for purposes of study and discussion. How might the novel be sectioned off other than it currently is? Why might those divisions be appropriate, based on the text and its contexts of composition and reception?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 650 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample