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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 did Leona’s grandmother drink each day?

2. Where did Leona grow up?

3. Why does Kim choose a place behind a refrigerator?

4. What does Ana do with the object she dug up?

5. Where is Kim from?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Sam try to make people in the neighborhood friendlier?

2. Describe the bottle incident, and Sam’s fears.

3. How does the chapter “Wendell” begin to show that words are not necessary to bring cultures together?

4. Do you think Ana was right to go dig up something she thought was trouble?

5. Why do you think Kim wants to remain hidden when she plants?

6. Why does Kim plant beans in the vacant lot?

7. Why do you think Ana is so suspicious of Kim?

8. What is the problem with water in the lot, and how does Sam deal with it?

9. What were Leona’s grandmother’s experiences with doctors?

10. Why does Gonzalo end up having to “babysit” his uncle?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast the characters of Ana and Amir. What are their similarities? What are their differences? How do these characters lead readers to different lessons pertaining to the power of human kind?

Essay Topic 2

Throughout the novel, the characters mention fighting a number of stereotypes. Choose three characters from the book, and explain how their lives have been impacted by the stereotypes either about them, held by others, or held by them about others. How do these stereotypes damage their relationships with others? What, if anything, changes them in the novel?

Essay Topic 3

Kim and Curtis both use the garden to prove something. Discuss these characters in detail, and explain what the garden is helping them to prove, either to themselves, or to others, living or deceased. What are these characters able to show through their gardening? How are they able to connect to their loved ones?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 760 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample