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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 word from "Dribbling" is spaced out across the page of the poem?

2. What does the coach tell the team they need to work on in "At Practice"?

3. How many sisters does the girl say she has in "Phone Conversation (I Sub for JB)"?

4. In the end of "Mom Calls Me into the Kitchen," Josh questions if what is really the answer?

5. What does JB do when his father appears to be having a stroke in "I'm on Free Throw Number Twenty-Seven"?

Short Essay Questions

1. How are the careers of Josh's parents described in the narrative?

2. How did Josh Bell get his nickname? What is the significance of Josh's nickname?

3. How does Josh's father respond to Josh's concerns about JB in the second poem titled "Conversation" in "Second Quarter"?

4. How is the "character" of Filthy McNasty described in the poem by the same name?

5. What metaphors are seen in "Basketball Rule #1"?

6. What are the five resons that Josh describes for having dreadlocks in "Five Reasons I Have Locks"?

7. What does Crystal explain to Josh in "Mom Calls Me into the Kitchen"?

8. Who is Josh Bell and what role does he play in "The Crossover"?

9. How does Josh describe his brother in "Jordan Bell"?

10. Why does Crystal Bell make her husband sit in the top row of the bleachers during basketball games?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the motif of basketball in The Crossover. What correlations does the author make between basketball and life? How is this motif related to the themes of the verse novel?

Essay Topic 2

Analyze and discuss the character of Vondie Little in The Crossover. How do Josh and JB know Vondie? How do their relationships evolve in the course of the narrative? Is Vondie a likable character? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the symbolism of Josh's dreadlocks in The Crossover. What reasons does Josh give for having dreadlocks? What does it signify when his dreadlocks are cut off? Who cuts them off?

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