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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the best description of the narrator's tone when the narrator is describing the boys' business plans?
(a) Critical.
(b) Wry.
(c) Respectful.
(d) Facetious.

2. What relation is Olive to Mrs. Quinn?
(a) Her daugher.
(b) Her sister-in-law.
(c) Her mother.
(d) Her sister.

3. Why are the boys staring at the Willens house?
(a) It has only just occurred to them that Mr. Willens's death will be terrible for his wife.
(b) They are wondering if Mrs. Willens will be angry at them for waiting so long to go to the police.
(c) They have begun to suspect that Mrs. Willens has something to do with her husband's death.
(d) It is hard for them to understand how it can look exactly as usual when Mr. Willens is dead.

4. What is Cece's mother wearing when he gets home?
(a) A raincoat.
(b) A red wig.
(c) A church hat.
(d) A bathrobe.

5. What do the attentions of the creamery manager at the Town Hall dance tell the reader about Enid?
(a) She is still too focused on her career to spend much time thinking about boyfriends.
(b) She is a popular and attractive woman, but she has little interest in men.
(c) She is widely considered to be disagreeable and unattractive.
(d) She is unlikely to find a man her own age in Walley who is interested in her.

6. What does Cece's mother say she can smell on him?
(a) Cigarette smoke.
(b) Beer.
(c) The river.
(d) The wind.

7. Why are Lois and Sylvie not staying with Olive?
(a) Mrs. Quinn refuses to let them go, even though she barely sees them.
(b) Her house is far enough away that they would need to change schools.
(c) Their father needs some time away from the responsibility of caring for them.
(d) They dislike her and refuse to stay with her.

8. As the children watch the hand in the water, the narrator notes, "It rode there tremulously and irresolutely" (7). How did the hand move?
(a) In a gentle, calming way.
(b) In an uncertain, unsteady way.
(c) In a violent, angry way.
(d) In a mechanical, jerking way.

9. Why does Mrs. Quinn repeat things that Enid says to her?
(a) She gets distracted and confused.
(b) English is not her first language.
(c) To mock her.
(d) Her hearing is fading.

10. When the boys tell Captain Tervitt what they discovered, why does he not take them to make a police report?
(a) He wants to notify Mrs. Willens first.
(b) He is the one who killed Mr. Willens.
(c) He is deaf and cannot hear them.
(d) He does not believe them.

11. What does Mrs. Willens make an allusion to when she is talking with the boys?
(a) World War II.
(b) Mozart.
(c) Gaul.
(d) Rembrandt.

12. What household task does Olive take care of for the Quinns?
(a) Cleaning.
(b) Laundry.
(c) Shopping.
(d) Childcare.

13. What change at home is implied to be the reason that Bud finally tells his mother what happened?
(a) Bud's mother is worried about where her own husband is.
(b) Bud's mother tells him he cannot go out to Jutland anymore.
(c) Bud's sisters call him names and say that he does not understand the real world.
(d) The rest of Bud's family is out of the house.

14. Besides nursing, what other career does Enid consider when she is younger?
(a) Being an architect.
(b) Being a teacher.
(c) Being a missionary.
(d) Being a doctor.

15. Whose sister rides by on a bike and insults the boys after they leave Mrs. Willens's house?
(a) Cece's.
(b) Mrs. Willens's.
(c) Bud's.
(d) Jimmy's.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the narrator say is the problem with Jimmy's grandmother's cooking?

2. To what animal's teeth does Enid compare Mrs. Quinn's teeth?

3. What can be inferred from Enid's memories of girls at school who married and had children young?

4. What couple does Enid end up playing bridge with?

5. How long has the doctor predicted Mrs. Quinn will live?

(see the answer keys)

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