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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. Sia sees a sign as she leaves the park in Chapter 1 that informs her more about her surroundings. What stadium does the sign indicate the entrance for?

2. What does Beatriz serve Sia for breakfast in the beginning of Chapter 11?

3. What does Sia buy from the bakery before she leaves to take to the homeless people under the bridge in Chapter 14?

4. What does Sia’s mother do when she comes out of the house as Sia arrives home in the end of Chapter 16?

5. What color is the jogging outfit that the narrator awakens in on the park bench in Chapter 1?

Short Essay Questions

1. What exchange takes place between Sia and Beatriz when Sia arrives home from school in Chapter 13?

2. Where does Sia ask John to take her after school in Chapter 20? How does he respond?

3. What does Carol teach Sia in Chapter 5? What does Carol tell Sia about finding work?

4. What exchange takes place between Sia and Duke in Chapter 19? How do the onlookers respond?

5. What does Sia learn about her past behavior from the other characters at the bakery in Chapter 14? How does Sia respond to this information?

6. Whom does Sia encounter at the bakery in Chapter 14? What does Sia order there?

7. Where does Sia go to take shelter from the storm in the evening in Chapter 2? What does Sia find to use for self-defense?

8. Whom does Sia encounter at the food trucks in Chapter 2? What does this character offer to buy Sia?

9. How is Sia’s mother described when Sia first observes her in Chapter 13?

10. What danger does Sia encounter in Chapter 15? Who appears to intervene on Sia’s account?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the theme of friendship in the novel. In what ways is Carol the only “true friend” that Sia has at this point in the novel? How does Carol differ from Sia’s school friends and her family? What does friendship mean to Sia?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the lives of the homeless in Los Angeles, California. How many people are homeless in L.A. today? What resources are available to the homeless here? Where do the homeless live? How and where do they eat? Do you think the author portrays these realities well in the novel?

Essay Topic 3

Describe and discuss the character of Carol in the novel. How old is Carol? How does the narrator describe Carol’s appearance? Why do you think Carol attempts to help Sia?

(see the answer keys)

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