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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. What is Dab upset about at dinner?

2. Who notices Teresa?

3. Where is Tree going, in her vision?

4. What makes the baby happy?

5. Who showed up by six p.m.?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens when Tree and M'Vy talk about Dab?

2. What happens that wakes Tree up in the middle of the night?

3. What is Tree and Dab's relationship with their mother like?

4. How is Brother Rush's death described?

5. How is Dab described?

6. Where does brother come from, and go off to?

7. How does Tree know anything about Brother Rush?

8. What happens to Tree when she is cooking?

9. How does the narrator describe Brother Rush's driving?

10. How is Dab feeling when Tree goes to wake him up?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What does Dab's illness seem to be, and how important is it that we know exactly what it is? Considering how his health affects the rest of the story, does it matter what it is, exactly?

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast "Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush" with "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe", another book in which children are transported into another world through a special portal.

Essay Topic 3

In a couple of places, characters do little dances when they are happy, or can't find words for their feelings. What do characters express without words, in "Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush"? What would they say if they had words--can you paraphrase what they are saying? Why do you think Virginia Hamilton gave them gestures instead of words?

(see the answer keys)

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