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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. In the stanza of the poem that opens Chapter 10, what has become a "meringue of dust"?

2. What happens at the very end of chapter 16?

3. What shocks Shawn while he is dreaming about the angels?

4. Right before bed in Chapter 14, how is Shawn feeling?

5. What does Shawn do at the Pacific Science Center when he is eight?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. 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?

4. 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?

5. Which characters are going to Spokane in chapter 13 and why is it significant that they are going?

6. What did Shawn's father do at the Pacific Science Center when Shawn was eight years old?

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. 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?

9. Why does Paul grab Cindy by the shirt front and pull back his fist to hit her?

10. Why is Vonda excited to meet Shawn's father?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

When Shawn's father shows up at his class with a cameraman to tape footage for a PBS special on "Appropriate Allocation Decisions in an Era of Diminishing Funding," what are the similarities and differences between Shawn's father's beliefs and actions with those of Shawn's teacher and teacher's aides and how does Shawn feel about these people?

Part 1) What is the approach of Shawn's teacher and aids to the students in the class? What does Shawn think about these characters and why? How do these characters react to Shawn's father and his documentary? Why?

Part 2) While Sydney McDaniel is videotaping his special for PBS, what does he say about educating people who "cannot learn?" What does Shawn think about the points that his father makes? What in particular that his father says catches Shawn's interest in a big way?

Part 3) What are there similarities or differences between Shawn's father and the classroom teacher and aides regarding the way they think about and treat the children? What are they and why do they exist?

Essay Topic 2

Shawn, his sister, and his mother witness the death of a dog that is hit by a car. How does this experience affect Shawn and his perception of death?

Part 1) What are the circumstances surrounding the death of the dog? How is the dog injured? What do Shawn's sister and mother do when the dog is injured? What do they do when the dog dies? What does Shawn see and experience when the dog dies and what is his attitude toward death just after the dog dies?

Part 2) Why is it important in the story that Shawn remembers witnessing the death of the dog? How does the topic of death relate to Shawn's own life? Does experiencing the death of the dog affect Shawn? How does Shawn feel about death as he remembers the death of the dog, and what does Shawn think death means at this point in his life?

Essay Topic 3

One evening, Shawn is left with Vonda, his respite care provider. That evening, lying alone in the dark, Shawn hears his father come into the house. Vonda is a fan of Mr. McDaniel and asks for an autograph. How is Vonda's behavior toward Shawn and Sydney symbolic of the way they each are treated by the general population? How did this dichotomy come about? How does it affect Shawn's quality of life in general? What might it mean in particular on the night that Shawn's father's orders are followed unquestioningly? Provide examples from the novel to back up your point of view.

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