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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. Where does the narrator say JB wants to attend college in "JB and I"?

2. Where does Josh describe going on his way home after practice in "Second-Person"?

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

4. Why is Josh's father pulled over in "Game Time: 6:00 p.m."?

5. What stylistic literary device is evident in the following phrase from "Showoff"? "... a sick slick sliding sweet seven-foot shot."

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Why does Josh suggest his father write a book in "Conversation"?

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

4. What does Coach Hawkins have his team do in "At Practice"? Why?

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

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

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

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

9. Why does Josh lie to his father in "35-18"?

10. What literary device stand out the most in the poem "Showoff"? What are examples?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast the characters of Josh and JB in The Crossover. How are these twin brothers similar? How are they different? What causes the conflicts between these characters?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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