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

2. How often does Mrs. Armstrong call the narrator's mother from her hospital bed?

3. The narrator states that "the Herdmans started out mean, right from" (59) what?

4. What is Alice's reply when Mother asks her the reason for her behavior during the choosing of parts?

5. What statement does Mother make that causes the narrator to describe her words as "the biggest" of "all the lies she'd told so far" (68)?

Short Essay Questions

1. What event causes the narrator to consider what the world would be like if Jesus had not lived past infancy?

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

3. How is irony used within the depiction of the cigar-smoking incident in the church restroom?

4. In what ways does Mother display the qualities of fortitude and perseverance?

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

6. Discuss how Mother's character is depicted as having unending supplies of patience and compassion.

7. How is foreshadowing employed within the last two sentences of Chapter Six?

8. Discuss a moment in the narrative when the narrator thinks that her friend Alice is behaving badly.

9. How does the narrator portray her friend Alice's personification of Mrs. Armstrong's saying, "There are no parts, only small actors" (21)?

10. What message is being sent about arrogance within Mother's exclamation when she shouts, "That woman! She must be surprised that the sun is still coming up every morning without her to supervise the sunrise" (45)?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Trace the characterization arc of the narrator’s character throughout the novel. Discuss whether she is a round or flat character and whether she is a static or dynamic character.

Essay Topic 2

Analyze the author's focus on the theme of transformation in Barbara Robinson’s novel The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. What message is the author sending about change and about one other theme of your choice?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss how and why Barbara Robinson instills humanist messages within the narrative of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.

(see the answer keys)

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