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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 problem does the fox have when the boy meets it?

2. What does the boy want to be when he grows up?

3. What kind of a school does the boy wonder about?

4. What does the mole tell the boy about the wild?

5. What does the mole say the older moles it knows wish they had focused on?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe what happens when the boy and the mole meet the fox?

2. When the boy and the mole are gazing out over a landscape--hills and grassy fields--what question does the boy ask, and what does the mole answer?

3. What does the mole first say to the boy, and what does the boy reply?

4. What happens when the mole tries to give the boy cake?

5. The mole says that it has learned how to be in the present. How does the mole do this?

6. What sad thing does the boy say that he feels, and how does the mole try to cheer him up?

7. What two things does the mole say about taking care of our own feelings?

8. What important ideas are brought up in the conversations between the boy and the mole?

9. When the boy asks the mole what his favorite saying is, what does the mole reply, and why is his reply funny?

10. Describe what happens when the boy and the mole are looking at their reflections in the river.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

This book shows that things that seem small can be big in their importance, that strength can be confused for weakness, and that sometimes people who seem angry and scary are actually nice people who are just hurting. Explain how the book uses contradictions like these to create a larger message about life.

Essay Topic 2

What does "home" mean to the boy, and what does it mean to you?

Essay Topic 3

The pairing of words and images is important in this book. Choose a page on which there are both image and text and write about how the two relate to one another: be sure to explain why the two together communicate more than either one would alone.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 764 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample