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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Shawn values the experience of having seizures so much that he would trade what in order to continue having seizures?
(a) His special gift.
(b) The ability to read.
(c) His wheelchair.
(d) The lives of his immediate family.

2. Why does the school district send out a school psychologist each year?
(a) To satisfy the standardized test requirement.
(b) Because Shawn must pass the test before being promoted.
(c) To administer tests to Shawn for IEPs.
(d) Because Shawn is diagnosed as psychologically damaged.

3. At the premiere reading of the poem, who is referred to as "Bing-Bong"?
(a) A fictitious character in the poem.
(b) The first speaker.
(c) Shawn.
(d) The woman with the huge breasts.

4. How does Shawn interact with his father while having an out-of-body experience?
(a) Shawn touches his hand and thanks him.
(b) Shawn sits next to him at the beach.
(c) Shawn kisses him on the cheek.
(d) Shawn yells in his ear.

5. How old is Shawn when he learns to read?
(a) Five.
(b) Seven.
(c) Six.
(d) Eight.

6. How old is Becky, one of the teacher assistants?
(a) Fifty.
(b) Sixty.
(c) Twenty.
(d) Thirty.

7. At what location does the premiere reading of the poem that was written about Shawn take place?
(a) The White House.
(b) The Kendell mansion.
(c) The Seattle Center for the Arts.
(d) The Trolley Museum.

8. In the first verse of the poem that Sydney writes, what animal does he use to refer to Shawn?
(a) A crow.
(b) A bird.
(c) A fish.
(d) A butterfly.

9. In Shawn's opinion, the fame of the poem turned his father into a professional what?
(a) Writer.
(b) Talk show guest.
(c) Philanthropist.
(d) Victim.

10. Where does the crow land?
(a) On Shawn's spare wheelchair.
(b) On the telephone line in the alley behind the house.
(c) On the rear-view mirror on his father's car.
(d) On the railing under the overhanging branches.

11. In Chapter 8, Shawn says that his father's books, poems, newspaper and magazine articles and his job teaching literature at college always made him think of his father as what?
(a) Successful.
(b) Philosophical.
(c) Wise.
(d) Smart.

12. Why does Shawn say that he doesn't really have a body?
(a) Because he has never been able to see what he looks like.
(b) Because his life has always just been in his head.
(c) Because his body doesn't work right.
(d) Because he has cerebral palsy.

13. Why did Shawn think that he understood what death looked like before the dog died?
(a) Because he heard his mother describe he death of a relative.
(b) Because his hospital roommate died when he was seven.
(c) He had seen people "die" on television.
(d) He had read books in which people died and he has a good imagination.

14. According to Shawn in Chapter 8, when does his father seem to feel the closest to Shawn?
(a) When sitting quietly next to Shawn in the sun.
(b) During the reading of the award-winning poem.
(c) When his father laughs after performing the little "ritual."
(d) During his siezures.

15. When first describing the Severely/Profoundly Handicapped Special Education Program that he attends, how does Shawn describe the class?
(a) A zoo.
(b) A circus.
(c) A refuge.
(d) An oasis.

Short Answer Questions

1. What can really bum out Shawn sometimes?

2. What do Shawn's eyes tend to focus on?

3. What happens in Chapter 7 when Shawn and his father are right in front of the camera?

4. When Shawn's mother has coffee with her friend Connie and they talk about his father leaving, where is Shawn?

5. In Chapter 5 when Shawn's mother dresses him up, what does Shawn object to wearing?

(see the answer keys)

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