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

2. According to paragraph 4, during what month did Anna experience her disaster?

3. What is the narrator's mother's name?

4. What condition does the narrator's mother have as explained in paragraph 1?

5. What did Harold and Anna use for part of their act?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Away from the main character examine the way the author uses the other characters in the book. When does she introduce and take them away from the story? What effect does it have on the story?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay about the author of “The Leap." Who is she? What else has she written? How is “The Leap” similar or different from her previous works?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay examining the ending of “The Leap." How did the ending fit into the storyline? Do you think the ending was effective? What theme might the ending represent? What might the author have done differently?

(see the answer keys)

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