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

2. In the stanza of the poem that opens Chapter 11, what is the overriding image or message?
(a) Blindness.
(b) Aloneness.
(c) Nothingness.
(d) Individuality.

3. What does the reader know for sure Vonda has in her purse?
(a) Glitter.
(b) Nail polish.
(c) A cell phone.
(d) Shawn's father's book.

4. In the dream about Ally, where are Ally and Shawn sitting?
(a) In the nosebleed seats of the Key Arena.
(b) In the middle of a sunrise.
(c) On top of one of the tallest peaks of the Cascades.
(d) On top of the Space Needle.

5. Who is referred to as being trapped at Shawn's house all night?
(a) Vonda.
(b) The bird.
(c) Dad.
(d) Shawn.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the most notable difference between Shawn's father and Earl Detraux?

2. What are the first word or words that Shawn's father has ever heard Shawn speak?

3. When his father comes into Shawn's room, perhaps to kill him, how does Shawn feel?

4. What does Shawn's father say he did, night after night, when Shawn was born?

5. According to Shawn, how often does Shawn visit his father's house?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Shawn's opinion of the role of memories and "being known for who you are" when someone dies?

2. What does Shawn try to tell his father over and over again in Chapter 16, and why?

3. Paul and Cindy discuss their father's appearance on The Alice Ponds Show. What do they think about what their father says on the show?

4. Shawn looks at his father, who is sitting on the bed apparently considering whether or not he should end Shawn's life. What does he notice about his father's appearance?

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

6. Why is it significant that Shawn's father volunteers to take care of Shawn by himself overnight and sends Vonda home?

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

8. 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?

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

10. On The Alice Ponds Show, what is Alice Ponds' goal while interviewing Sydney McDaniel.

(see the answer keys)

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