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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who refuses to cry out with each lash of the cane Mr. Munnings administers?
(a) Big Joe.
(b) Thomas.
(c) Jimmy.
(d) Charlie.

2. What does Thomas say Big Joe used to eat?
(a) Only meat.
(b) No meat.
(c) Everything.
(d) Only cornbread and beets.

3. What is Thomas worried about in this first memory?
(a) His brother.
(b) His father.
(c) Falling off the bike.
(d) School.

4. What did Big Joe say is his favorite food?
(a) Scones.
(b) Sauerkraut.
(c) Blood pudding.
(d) Any food that was available.

5. Why does Thomas' father sometimes take Thomas into the woods?
(a) To give him a spanking.
(b) To learn how to identify trees.
(c) To learn how to track animals.
(d) To be with the father when he is cutting timber.

6. What do Molly and Charlie both do?
(a) Begin to take drives into the country.
(b) Join a radical political group.
(c) Prepare for college.
(d) Quit school.

7. Where does Grandma Wolf move?
(a) To a house down the street.
(b) To the Colonel's house.
(c) Back to St. Louis.
(d) To the rectory.

8. How much does Charlie's mother give the Colonel for Bertha?
(a) An extra day's work.
(b) Sixpence.
(c) Nothing.
(d) Threepence.

9. What does Molly give Big Joe for his birthday?
(a) A cat.
(b) A bird.
(c) A snake.
(d) A harvest mouse.

10. How does Thomas feel towards Molly when he see her on Christmas Eve?
(a) Indifferent.
(b) A different, deeper love.
(c) Enamored.
(d) Hostile.

11. What does Thomas usually forgo while at school?
(a) Flicking his lucky knife open and closed.
(b) Eating his lunch.
(c) Talking to Charlie.
(d) Fighting.

12. Why do Molly, Charlie, and Thomas bury a mouse and sing a hymn over its grave?
(a) Molly wants the kids to learn about death.
(b) Big Joe is so despondent about its demise.
(c) To make Grandma Wolf feel badly.
(d) The children want to give their father some company.

13. What do Charlie and Thomas try one more time while Molly is sick?
(a) Making peace with the boy who bullied Big joe.
(b) Poaching.
(c) Going down an abandoned mine shaft.
(d) Finding buried treasure at an abandoned house.

14. Why was no one worried about Big Joe earlier in the afternoon of Bertha's burial?
(a) He gave the Colonel a hug.
(b) He often wanders off.
(c) He was playing quietly by himself and did not seem upset.
(d) He said he was going to his room.

15. Why is Thomas proud of Charlie on the day that Big Joe comes to school?
(a) Because Charlie tells Thomas' punishment.
(b) Because Charlie does not let Big Joe know the other kids were making fun of him.
(c) Because Charlie is so stoic about the cane beating.
(d) Because Charlie tells Mr. Munnings the truth.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why might Big Joe be more upset than the family realizes?

2. What does Big Joe sing as a "prayer" for Molly?

3. What does Big Joe's mother say in response to his question?

4. Who is Jimmy Parsons?

5. Why does Big Joe's family get worried when it becomes dark?

(see the answer keys)

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