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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 prevents Marlee's mother from starting her new job?

2. What does Marlee's father tell her about who Pastor George is?

3. How does Marlee know Ms. Winthrop?

4. What is the name of the Negro movie theater where Marlee meets Liz?

5. What is Liz's little brother's name?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What does Marlee's fear of jumping off the high dive in Chapter 1 represent?

4. Why does Marlee choose to remain friends with Sally, even though Sally sometimes makes fun of her and mistreats her?

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

6. What does Marlee do to cope with her anxiety when she is expected to speak to new people?

7. What does Betty Jean tell Marlee about some of the reasons Negroes try to pass as white?

8. When Governor Faubus orders the schools in Little Rock to close, how do Marlee's parents react to the news?

9. Why do Marlee's parents tell Judy and Marlee that Judy has to move to their grandmother's house in Pine Bluff?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How did Levine's choice to tell the story solely from Marlee's point of view affect the audience's understanding of the book's themes? Write an essay explaining your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Levine focuses heavily on the impact women had on the politics surrounding racial issues and integration in the late 1950s in Little Rock. Write an essay exploring the major influences women had on the direction of both the pro-integration and pro-segregation movements in Little Rock in the late 1950s as they are described in this novel.

Essay Topic 3

For Marlee, math is more than just a subject she loves - she also uses it as a tactic to calm her social anxiety and as a way to form codes which allow her to communicate secretly with Liz. Write an essay exploring the different ways math is essential to Marlee's character and well-being.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 810 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample