View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What novel is the first book the boy has ever read?
(a) The Bible.
(b) Paradise Lost.
(c) The History of Ireland.
(d) The Poor Old Woman.

2. What happens to the boy when the police come to search the house?
(a) He is told to leave the house so they can search it.
(b) He is hidden in the attic by his father.
(c) He is beaten by the police.
(d) He is taken to the jail for further interrogation.

3. From where does the title of the novel get its name?
(a) The sadness felt by the boy after being forced to read only at night.
(b) The loneliness of reading alone and the boy's feeling of being alone.
(c) The confusion the boy feels by not understanding what he reads.
(d) The boy's reading of his first book.

4. What do the boy's parents suggest he should have done instead of involving Sergeant Burke when he was being bullied?
(a) They said he should have talked the bully out of fighting.
(b) They said he should have run away.
(c) They said he should have just taken the punches.
(d) They said he should have stood up for himself.

5. What happened to the boy's sister, Una, in 1948?
(a) She was kidnapped.
(b) She became sick and died.
(c) She became paralyzed.
(d) She ran away.

Short Answer Questions

1. The famous shoot-out in 1922 was between which two groups of people?

2. How old was the boy's father when he was left in charge of the family?

3. After his parents die, Eddie leaves. Where does everyone think he went?

4. In October of 1952, where is the boy sent to live?

5. In Chapter 2, the boy remembers being trapped where?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is Tony and what happened to him?

2. What strong religious beliefs of his community does the boy share in the beginning of Chapter 1?

3. The theme of disappearance is further discussed in Chapter 2. Explain.

4. What memory does the boy have of an interaction between him and Crazy Joe?

5. When the boy's father takes him and his brother Liam out on the boat, what does his father reveal to them and why does it make the boy feel uncomfortable?

6. Describe Crazy Joe.

7. What causes the rat infestation mentioned in Chapter 3?

8. How does the boy get rid of the rat problem?

9. Describe the events surrounding the distillery and what happens to it.

10. How is the boy's father's life seen as very difficult and sad?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 797 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample