View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Ruby was a surprise baby, born prematurely in a time when his parents had believed what?

2. In _______, Ruth and Ruby spend a week on the beach.

3. Ruth goes into labor when?

4. Daisy comes to Ruth and tells her what about Ruby?

5. No one wants to hear about Ruth's trip, so she tells who?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Ruby's father treat him?

2. Describe Aunt Sid and Ruth's vacation together.

3. What is happening during this time in Ruby's life?

4. How do Ruth and Ruby feel at the birthing class?

5. What led to Ruby having a counselor?

6. What leads to tension? What exacerbates this tension?

7. What led to Ruby being babied?

8. What happens when May, Ruby, and Ruth go to pick apples?

9. Describe Ruth's labor and delivery.

10. What does Ruth decide she and Ruby should do? How does this turn out? Why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Ruth learns she is pregnant.

Part 1) How do May and Ruby react to this news? Why do they react this way?

Part 2) Is this pregnancy a good idea? Why or why not? How does this pregnancy and Justin's birth both help and hurt this family?

Part 3) Would this family have survived if Justin had not been born? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Tensions build in the Grey-Dahl household.

Part 1) How do tensions build at various times in the story? Why do they build? How does this tension affect the various characters?

Part 2) Is this tension worse at the end of the story? Why or why not? Could this tension have been relieved at any point? If so, how? If not, why not?

Part 3) How does tension help to move the plot along? How does it create action in this story?

Essay Topic 3

Ruby's family dynamics greatly affected him.

Part 1) Describe Ruby's childhood. How do events and people in his childhood affect him as an adult?

Part 2) How does Ruby bring this baggage into his life with Ruth? How does May exacerbate these problems?

Part 3) Could Ruby have overcome this difficult childhood? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,015 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample