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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In the interview when Alice Ponds mentions voluntary euthanasia, what is she implying?
(a) That Sydney is off-topic.
(b) That children are not the same as adults.
(c) That her studio audience does not understand the topic.
(d) That all types of euthanasia are the same.

2. Shawn, Cindy, and Paul all know what when it comes to their father?
(a) He is too cowardly to ever hurt Shawn.
(b) Paul is stronger then his father, so Shawn is safe.
(c) No one can protect Shawn from him.
(d) Their father is absent much of the time so there is little motivation for him to kill Shawn.

3. When his father comes into Shawn's room, perhaps to kill him, how does Shawn feel?
(a) Calm.
(b) Happy.
(c) Confused.
(d) Afraid.

4. Why is Shawn glad that Ally leaves before he got up?
(a) So he can remember how she appears in his dream.
(b) Because he knows that the sooner she leaves the sooner she will return.
(c) Because no guests means uninterrupted one-on-one time with his mother.
(d) So she will not see him eating breakfast.

5. Shawn's father's house can be described as what?
(a) Surrounded by a cherry orchard.
(b) A home befitting a Pulitzer Prize winner.
(c) A simple two-story house.
(d) A typical suburban home in Seattle.

Short Answer Questions

1. In the stanza of the poem at the beginning of Chapter 15, what is falling?

2. What do the ruffians do to Shawn?

3. Why does Shawn mention women in a Maxfield Parrish painting?

4. What is Earl Detraux doing now?

5. While "twisting through the universe" in Chapter 13, what is Shawn's favorite part of the experience?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are some of the things in Chapter 10 that Shawn remembers about his mother from over the years that make him feel loved?

2. If Shawn has never been to his father's house, does Shawn have an accurate knowledge of what his father's bedroom looks like, and if so, how does he know?

3. After he sees his father's appearance on The Alice Ponds Show, why does Shawn say that he is floating in an ocean of negativity?

4. What does Shawn mean when he says that "invisibility has its advantages" when it comes to girls?

5. While Shawn has a doozy of a seizure during the end of the Alice Ponds show, what does he experience?

6. What is Sydney McDaniel's definition of parental love, as offered on The Alice Ponds Show?

7. What is in Shawn's father's bedroom that is reminiscent of the virtual ride through the cosmos at the science center and why is this significant?

8. In Chapter 14, Shawn dreams that his father sees angels. What is the significance of the angels?

9. The morning after Ally spends the night, why does Shawn think that something is wrong?

10. Why does Shawn say in Chapter 12 that he never loved or feared his brother more than at one particular moment the previous summer?

(see the answer keys)

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