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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 grandma lay on the graves of her physicians?

2. What lake can Ana see?

3. Why does Leona know about complaining to officials?

4. What does Ana find when she digs something up?

5. What does Gonzalo hope as he helps Tio Juan?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Kim wonder about whether her father sees her?

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

3. Why do you think Ana attempts to correct her mistake?

4. Why do you think Wendell becomes attached to the bean plants, as Ana did?

5. Why does Kim’s family keep a photo of their father at an alter?

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

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

8. What are Leona’s experiences with calling the city?

9. What is the cultural problem Sam finds about the lot?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Briefly go through each of the characters in the novel, and explain how the garden helped to improve their lives, circumstances, or outlook on life. Be sure to include details of each story to show an understanding of how the garden affected the characters.

Essay Topic 2

Going back through the characters, list the cultural heritage each comes from. How diverse is this neighborhood? Would the garden have been as amazing had the neighborhood been predominately white or Hispanic? Why or why not? How did the activities in the garden go from what Sam noted, a mirror of a segregated society, to what Amir noted, as a harvest feast among a cultural melting pot?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 764 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample