View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Mama tells Stella that elderberry is good for curing what ill?

2. On the day Mama stays home from church to nurse Jojo, how long has it been since she last missed a service?

3. What kind of food does Mr. O'Brian give to Stella for free?

4. Stella's newspaper reports that which member of Tony's family had found Tony bleeding behind the general store?

5. Mama says that Stella and Paulette have the same amount of what?

Short Essay Questions

1. What skill does Stella put into practice on demand in the voter registration office?

2. What skill is said to be a major element of Stella's schooling?

3. What is Mama's main emotion in response to Papa's decision to vote in the election?

4. From what source is the story Mrs. Grayson tells the class about flying?

5. How does Stella feel about Papa's decision to try to register to vote?

6. What metaphor does Stella use to describe Papa in relation to his act of voting?

7. What object does Stella believe gives off a "rich" (208) smell that she has never smelled in Bumblebee before?

8. How does the theme of gratitude arise within the classroom conversation about the fire?

9. About what topic is the poem Papa recites for Stella?

10. The narrator states that Stella had been taught what lesson from a "very young" (245) age?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How do the themes of deception and secrecy function within Stella by Starlight and what is Draper’s message regarding these themes?

Essay Topic 2

William Faulkner once famously claimed that the most important literature deals with the subject of the human heart in conflict with itself. Explain how the theme of Human versus Self is demonstrated within Draper’s novel Stella by Starlight. Create a decisive, arguable claim and prove it with quotes from the novel.

Essay Topic 3

Analyze Draper’s inclusion of the dream motif within Stella by Starlight. With which of the novel’s major themes does the dream motif dovetail?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 850 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample