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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. What kind of expression does Alice have on her face when she answers Mother's query about Alice's behavior during the assigning of pageant roles?
(a) She looks uncertain.
(b) She looks mad.
(c) She looks sheepish.
(d) She looks scared.

2. What does the narrator say about the number of people in town attending the pageant in question?
(a) Half the town attends.
(b) A bunch of people attend.
(c) Most of the town attends.
(d) Everyone attends.

3. Which character voices the concern that no one may come to see the pageant?
(a) Father.
(b) Charlie.
(c) Ralph.
(d) Reverend Hopkins.

4. The pageant's dress rehearsal takes place the night before what other event?
(a) The bake sale.
(b) The pot-luck dinner.
(c) The opening night of the pageant.
(d) The rummage sale.

5. Who begins to write down on a pad of paper every bad action taken by the Herdman siblings during the pageant rehearsals?
(a) Mother.
(b) Alice.
(c) Mrs. Wendleken.
(d) Gladys.

Short Answer Questions

1. What happens while the fire department is inside the church and the evacuated civilians are waiting outside?

2. When Father asks his family what had "finally happened to Herod" (50), what do they decide is the answer?

3. Mrs. Wendleken uses what adjective to describe Mother's decision to allow a Herdman to play the role of Mary?

4. What is NOT an element mentioned by the narrator as a quality the pageant Mary had always displayed?

5. In what location does Imogene ask the narrator how to check out a book from the library?

Short Essay Questions

1. In what ways does the author depict Father as a funny man?

2. For what reasons does the pageant not have a real baby to play Jesus?

3. What does the narrator understand about the Herdman siblings that Alice does not?

4. How does the narrator's interaction with the Herdmans change the narrator's perspective of the Christmas story?

5. What questions are raised in the narrator's mind about the Nativity story as a result of her interactions with the Herdmans?

6. For what purpose does the author include an allusion to General Custer in the last section of Chapter Six?

7. What does the library symbolize?

8. Discuss how the theme of appearance versus reality appears in Chapter Five.

9. Discuss the author's purpose for including Alice's character within the narrative.

10. What kinds of transgressions do the Herdman siblings commit throughout the course of the pageant rehearsal period and how does the narrator know about these actions?

(see the answer keys)

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