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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 does Santiaga always say to Winter?

2. How much money does Winter have at the beginning of Chapter 7?

3. What is the name of the club owner that tells Santiago that Winter is in Brooklyn in Chapter 3?

4. Who calls Winter from jail in Chapter 11?

5. Who comes to Penn Station the day after Winter runs away from the group home?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe what Winter is like in the first six chapters of the novel.

2. How did Midnight manage to stay out of jail while Santiaga and all his associates are in prison?

3. What does Winter notice as she rides in Midnight's car after her mother has been shot?

4. What happens the first time Winter escapes Long Island to go into Brooklyn?

5. What is Winter's relationship like with her friends in Brooklyn?

6. What happens on Winter's sixteenth birthday?

7. What happens when Winter goes back to Brooklyn to see her old friends in Chapter 8?

8. Why does Midnight suddenly appear at the Santiaga home in Chapter 4?

9. What does Winter discover about her father when she takes her mother to visit him in prison?

10. What happens to Winter and her family in the days after Santiaga is arrested?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is ironic about Winter's attitude in prison? How does the author draw on this irony to illustrate a greater truth?

Essay Topic 2

What is the lasting impression that The Coldest Winter Ever makes on the reader? What do you think the author's intent was in writing this novel?

Essay Topic 3

What is the nature of Winter's relationship with her mother? What purpose does Mrs. Santiaga's character serve in the novel? What message does Sister Souljah have about mothers and daughters?

(see the answer keys)

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