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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What are some things the narrator says her mother has not kept from her youth?
(a) Essays or awards.
(b) Sequined costumes or posters.
(c) Old clothes and old friends.
(d) Journals or news clippings.

2. Who was the other half of her mother's act?
(a) Hank Allendale.
(b) Harold Avalon.
(c) Herman Adams.
(d) Henry Allen.

3. What does the narrator sometimes do in her childhood room?
(a) She talks on the phone.
(b) She reads.
(c) She sews.
(d) She paints.

4. Who is the author of "The Leap"?
(a) Louise Erdrich.
(b) Leslie Eldridge.
(c) Leonora Ellis.
(d) Eleanor Lee.

5. After reading paragraph 1, what do readers learn about the narrator's mother's former partner?
(a) He was unkind.
(b) He lives with them.
(c) They had a falling out.
(d) He has died.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did the ringmaster do to introduce the Flying Avalons on the day of the disaster?

2. Where does the narrator and her mother live?

3. Where does the narrator say she used to live in paragraph 4?

4. What weather condition resulted in the disaster Anna and her husband experienced during their act?

5. In paragraph 6, what does the narrator say her mother is able to live comfortably in?

Short Essay Questions

1. What type of performer was the narrator's mother? Where does she live and what is her medical condition?

2. How does the narrator describe the way her mother moves through their home in New Hampshire in paragraph 1?

3. What stands in the center of town as a reminder of the disaster? Where does the narrator find out about the events that day?

4. Why does the narrator sometimes forget that her mother was part of the Flying Avalons?

5. Why does the narrator find it unsurprising that her mother was able to perform while seven months pregnant?

6. Describe Anna and Harold's typical trapeze performance.

7. Why does the narrator say people in the East are at a disadvantage regarding weather changes than those in the West, where she used to live?

8. What detail about Anna was not mentioned in the newspaper accounts of the disaster?

9. How is the scene at the circus before the disaster described? What was the weather like? What was the audience doing?

10. What events followed lightning striking the main tent pole while Harold and Anna were performing?

(see the answer keys)

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