View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Marlee decide she will try to contact Liz?

2. Where do Liz and Marlee decide to meet to work on their project after their first meeting in the library?

3. What is the name Marlee uses when she telephones Liz?

4. What does Marlee discover about Liz that persuades her to want to work with Liz?

5. Why does Liz tell Sally she was not at the pool during the summer?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Marlee's father refuse to let Judy go to a private school?

2. What does Marlee notice about the scientists she sees on T.V. who are involved in space exploration?

3. How does Marlee find out what really happened to Liz that prevents her from coming back to school?

4. How do Marlee's parents react when they find out that Liz had been passing?

5. Why does Marlee decide to stay in Mr. Harding's room instead of going to the cafeteria for lunch after Liz leaves school?

6. What does Marlee discover her new math teacher, Mr. Harding, does differently than her previous math teacher on her first day of school?

7. Why does Judy make Marlee promise to say at least one full sentence on her first day of school?

8. How does Liz give Marlee her phone number so only Marlee will know what it is?

9. How does Liz act when the colored students walk into the library where she and Marlee are preparing for their history project?

10. Why does Marlee assign a drink to each person in her life that represents that person's personality?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Marlee's father Richard is committed to actively supporting school integration. Write an essay exploring the origins of Marlee's father's pro-integration ideas. Does his position on racial equality and issues surrounding racism change much during the course of the novel?

Essay Topic 2

Throughout the novel, adults in Marlee's life who have first-hand knowledge of terrible racially motivated violence like lynchings and murders debate whether Marlee is old enough to hear their stories. Write an essay analyzing the effect these stories, when told to Marlee by her father and the members of the WEC, have on Marlee and on her decision to become a political activist.

Essay Topic 3

In the beginning of the book, Marlee's mother Maurine initially opposes school integration, but by the novel's end she actively supports it. Write an essay analyzing the evolution of Marlee's mother's ideas about integration and racial equality.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 920 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample