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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 condition made it almost impossible for the author's mom to walk during her last year of life?

2. What was the title of the lost book the author's mother hunted for in her room?

3. The author said that he told his father's story both as the child "I was in 1936 and still am in ___."

4. In the room in which the author writes, how many pieces of stained glass sit in his windows?

5. Three acts of God mentioned by the author that appear in scripture are the Exodus, the ___, and the entry into the Promised Land.

Short Essay Questions

1. What illness did the author's daughter have and how did it affect her?

2. How is the author's story, our story?

3. How does the author describe God loving us, and loving his daughter?

4. Why does the author write "The Wizard's Tide" and what differs in the book from his childhood memory of his father's death?

5. What did the author say he would deal with in this autobiography "Telling Secrets?"

6. Why did the author feel like a dwarf as depicted in C. S. Lewis' "The Last Battle?"

7. How did the author's mother's aging affect her sons' lives?

8. How does the author describe his father's suicide?

9. What did the author deal with in first two autobiographies?

10. Why is the author telling his secrets?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The author's mother is quoted in Part One of the book as saying, "If I didn't have something to look for, I would be lost." Answer either A or B.

A. Why does she make this statement? Discuss the significance of the mother losing her beauty and trying to find it daily with her make-up and other enhancements, in relation to her state of mind, her health, and her relationship with her sons and her caregivers/friends.

B. Why does the author describe the statement as one of his mother's "most shimmering utterances?" How does this theme of "lost and found" play out throughout the details of the author's life described in the book - his family (mom and brother, wife and kids), friends, students?

Essay Topic 2

The author writes his own book introduction. What does the introduction reveal about the author? What purpose for the book is explained, and why is he writing another autobiography when he has already penned two such publications? What picture does the author create for the reader about expectations for this book, as well as his state of mind about the book's content?

Essay Topic 3

The author taught on the east coast and in the mid-west. Explain his thoughts about each experience, using details from the book. Also, identify the major differences that existed between the two in regards to religious discussions, and the students he taught; and how these differences contributed to the author's experiences.

(see the answer keys)

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