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. What does Liz ask Marlee to try with her for the first time in Chapter 36?

2. Who sits next to Marlee on the Christmas float?

3. Why is Mrs. Brewer against asking Negroes to join the WEC?

4. What is the important issue the women discuss at Marlee's first WEC meeting?

5. What does Judy tell Marlee on their bus ride home in Chapter 38?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Marlee's expectation of the plane ride her father gives the family compare with her actual experience of the journey?

2. What does Red do at the Christmas parade that upsets Marlee?

3. What does Marlee's mother tell her about the origins of Marlee's name when she gives her the letter opener on her birthday?

4. What did Betty Jean tell Marlee about what the NAACP had advised Negroes about sending their children to private segregated schools?

5. What big news does Judy tell Marlee over Thanksgiving break and what does Marlee think about it?

6. What does Liz ask Marlee to do in exchange for Liz catching crawdads with Marlee?

7. What event finally forces Marlee to tell her parents that she has been secretly meeting Liz for months?

8. Why did Marlee feel so responsible for Betty Jean's son, Curtis's, arrest?

9. How does Marlee feel about Liz's budding relationship with Curtis?

10. Why is Marlee so upset when her mother suggests she tutor JT in math?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

Essay Topic 2

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 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,028 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample