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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 does Mr. Pignati buy Lorraine and John at the zoo?

2. High school students John and Lorraine are______.

3. What deal does Lorraine's mother have with a local undertaker?

4. Why does Lorraine express compassion for Miss Stewart?

5. In Chapter Three, John tells us that Mr. Pignati calls John and Lorraine what?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do Lorraine and a friend, Helen, do at the party at Mr. Pignati's house?

2. What angers Lorraine about the toy department at Beekman's department store?

3. Describe Norton, the bully.

4. Is Lorraine's choice of Mr. Pignati's name from the phone book random?

5. Lorraine worries that John drinks too much. Why does John start drinking?

6. During their first phone conversation, why does Lorraine listen to Mr. Pignati's jokes?

7. Why does Lorraine feel a sense of compassion for her mother?

8. What does Mr. Pignati purchase for Lorraine and John at Beekman's?

9. What games do John and Lorraine like to play with Mr. Pignati at his house?

10. How do John and Lorraine discover that Mrs. Pignati passes away?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the symbolic meaning the author is trying to attach to the the following:

1. Mr. Pignati's extensive pig collection.

2. John's and Lorraine's roller skates.

3. Bobo the baboon.

Essay Topic 2

Through their experiences with Mr. Pignati, the teen characters experience a transformation. What about the primary adults in the story -- do they change or evolve by the end of the book? Answer this question in essay form for the following characters:

1. Lorraine's mother.

2. John's father.

3. John's mother.

Essay Topic 3

Even though John appears shallow at the start of the book, by the end we witness much greater depth than first meets the eye. Discuss John's transformation and evolution as seen from the reader's viewpoint.

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