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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How many days did Manuel's drinking binge last before Rebecca and Manny went to try to get him to come home?
(a) Four days.
(b) Seven days.
(c) Two days.
(d) Three days.

2. When Pedi was helping Manuel pick up the bullets he had dropped onto the ground, Manuel picked up a bullet as well. What did he do with it?
(a) He gave it to Pedi.
(b) He threw it in the trash can.
(c) He put it in his pocket.
(d) He gave it to Manuel.

3. While Manny and his mother were watching Manny's father trying to start the car, what was Manny's little sister Pedi doing?
(a) Studying a caterpillar in her hands.
(b) Erasing sparrow tracks from the dusty porch.
(c) Asking her father to take her with him to the pool hall.
(d) Playing Jacks on the porch.

4. What did Manuel do when Mr. Hart moved to shake his hand?
(a) He shook his hand and greeted him warmly.
(b) He turned his back on Mr. Hart.
(c) He ignored Mr. Hart's hand.
(d) He motioned that his hands were dirty from picking mint.

5. After Rebecca took Manny out of the pool hall, what did Manny see his father doing when he looked through the window at him?
(a) He saw him head to the men's room.
(b) He saw him smash a glass on the floor.
(c) He saw him lean forward on the stool and rub his chin.
(d) He saw him crying.

6. What caused Manny to curse while in the back seat of the car after the family had picked up Manny's father from the pool hall?
(a) He saw the Garcia brothers running toward the car.
(b) He burned his arm on the car door.
(c) He got mad at his father for staying too long at the pool hall.
(d) He remembered that he had left his quarter inside the pool hall.

7. After Mr. Hart left, Manny felt how angry Manuel was and he wanted to run away. What prevented him from running away?
(a) He did not want to alert Rebecca to what was happening by running inside.
(b) He said he knew he would get a more severe beating later if he ran.
(c) He said his legs felt paralyzed.
(d) He says he knew he had to stay and receive his punishment.

8. When Stinky broke a bone in Manny's little finger, what lie did he tell his mother about how he got hurt?
(a) He said he broke it sliding into second base.
(b) He said he got it caught in the rungs of a ladder.
(c) He said that Magda hit it with an iron when he was helping her at her laundry job.
(d) He said he got it caught in a joint of jungle gym.

9. What was it about chili pepper picking that "lured workers from Mexico needing quick cash for rent or emergency food" (11)?
(a) The weighing area workers paid the pickers right after announcing their loads.
(b) The location of the chili fields was hidden and unlikely to attract Immigration officers.
(c) The spicy pollen emanating from the peppers bothered most people, but Mexicans used to utilizing peppers in their cooking were not bothered.
(d) It was a job that required little to no equipment investment.

10. What did Manny mean when he said, "I was of my grandpa Ignacio's line of useful blood?" (6)
(a) He meant that his grandfather was an extremely hard worker.
(b) He meant that his grandfather believed that family should come before everything else in life.
(c) He meant that his grandfather believed in organ and blood donation.
(d) He meant that his grandfather would do whatever he could for anyone in need.

11. What simile did Manny use on page 39 to describe the tie that Mr. Hart always wore?
(a) "Red as a chili pepper."
(b) "Black as a shadow."
(c) "Slender as a snake."
(d) "Thin as an exclamation point."

12. What did Mr. Hart write on the paper bag during his meeting with Manny in his office?
(a) Give the Hernandez boy $20.
(b) Remember to pick up milk.
(c) Be back in 20 minutes.
(d) Send Manny's transcripts to Hawthorn School.

13. Who was left in the house when Manuel finally came home from his drinking binge?
(a) Manny.
(b) Manny and Pedi.
(c) Manny, Pedi, and Rebecca.
(d) Manny and Rebecca.

14. What occasions did Manny mention were the only times he had been to the middle-class neighborhoods across town?
(a) On car rides to see the Christmas light displays.
(b) On Sundays when the family went to church.
(c) On hot days when he and his friends would play in the lawn sprinklers.
(d) On occasions when he visited his uncle.

15. What did Manuel refuse to do that caused him to be taken to jail by the policemen?
(a) He refused to let the police search the house.
(b) He refused to let them seize his rifle.
(c) He refused to tell Rebecca that he was sorry.
(d) He refused to lie on the ground.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did Manny do in Mr. Hart's office when Mr. Hart motioned for him to sit down?

2. When the foreman assigned a chili pepper row to Manny and Nardo, why had it not been chosen by anyone else?

3. What errand did Manny's mother send him to his school to accomplish even though it was still summer?

4. Though Manny described the houses in their project development as being not "pretty or stylish" (23) he said that sometimes they had one quality that made them beautiful. What was that one quality?

5. What meaning did Manuel ascribe to the note that Rebecca had left him about going to get her hair done at Sophie's?

(see the answer keys)

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