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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. In what California city was the high school Bui helped to open?
(a) Sacramento.
(b) Los Angeles.
(c) Oakland.
(d) San Francisco.

2. As a child, Thi imagined herself and her family becoming "a little more" (65) what each day?
(a) Assimilated.
(b) Resentful.
(c) American.
(d) Prosperous.

3. Viet Thanh Nguyen describes Vietnamese refugees in what California city in the 1980s?
(a) Sacramento.
(b) San Jose.
(c) Oakland.
(d) San Francisco.

4. Chapter 1, entitled "Labor," takes place in what location?
(a) San Diego.
(b) Miami.
(c) New York.
(d) San Francisco.

5. Thi witnesses which person get spat on as he is called a racial slur?
(a) Tam.
(b) Bo.
(c) Ma.
(d) Lan.

Short Answer Questions

1. Thi states that to understand her father's personality, she needs to understand what happened to him during what time period?

2. In the preface of The Best We Could Do, Bui states that the "seeds of this book were planted" in what year?

3. Thi and her siblings go to bed at what time every night while under the care of Bo?

4. In what city do Thi's memories of Bo "live" (64)?

5. Thi states in Chapter 2 that she has "figured out, more or less, how to" (29) take what action in regard to her "little family" (29)?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is one element of Ma's parenting that Bui depicts as being different for each one of her children?

2. What event within her adolescence does Thi describe as "living the dream" "for an immigrant kid" (24)?

3. How does the doctor respond to Thi's question about her child's birth?

4. Thi likens the way she feels at the sight of the surgical instruments to what scene from her childhood?

5. What question does Thi ask the doctor when she is in labor with her child?

6. Explain the nature of the present-day relationship between Bo and Ma.

7. How does Bui use visual elements to underscore her feelings about the doctor's answer to her question in the hospital?

8. What major change do Thi and Travis undertake in 2006 and why?

9. What food always brings comfort to Thi and why?

10. In what time and place does the opening scene of The Best We Could Do begin?

(see the answer keys)

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