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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 preparations does Claude make when he brings the cat to Show-and-Tell?
2. The narrator states that all of the teachers at school claim that what element is "supposed to be a big secret" (9) in addition to one's weight?
3. At what time of year is the usual pageant coordinator injured, leading to Mother's assumption of the role instead?
4. The narrator is in the same grade as which of the Herdman siblings?
5. To what does the narrator compare "those South American fish that strip your bones clean in three minutes flat" (6)?
Short Essay Questions
1. What is the symbolism of the Beware of Cat sign in the Herdmans' front yard?
2. How does Mother at first feel about coordinating the Christmas pageant?
3. What do poison ivy and rocks symbolize within the narrative?
4. Discuss the author's use of vivid imagery within the scene of the Herdmans' first time at Sunday school.
5. For what purpose does the author go out of her way to portray the Herdman children as unteachable?
6. Describe several aspects of the Christmas pageant, as it had been presented every year before the events described in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.
7. How does Mother come to be in charge of coordinating the pageant, rather than taking on some other role?
8. How does the author go about portraying the Herdmans as unteachable?
9. What level of involvement had Mother expected to have in the pageant prior to taking over as coordinator?
10. How does the author employ foreshadowing at the end of Chapter Two?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
William Faulkner once famously claimed that the most important literature deals with the subject of the human heart in conflict with itself. Explain how the theme of Human versus Self is demonstrated within Barbara Robinson’s novel The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Create a decisive, arguable claim and prove it with quotes from the book.
Essay Topic 2
Discuss how and why Barbara Robinson instills humanist messages within the narrative of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.
Essay Topic 3
Sensory details are used frequently within Barbara Robinson’s novel The Best Christmas Pageant Ever to create vivid pictures of each character's progression through the narrative. Choose three scenes in which sensory details are heavily used and discuss how the sensory details used by the author affect the characterization present within each of the three scenes.
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This section contains 1,122 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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