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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When the family sees Doodle struggling to bury the ibis, what is their response?
(a) They feel sad.
(b) Daddy calls to Doodle to stop and come inside.
(c) Mama sends Brother out to help him.
(d) They laugh at him.

2. How does the ibis die?
(a) One of the family's cats attacks it.
(b) Brother shoots it.
(c) Daddy shoots it.
(d) It dies of natural causes.

3. Just before they notice the ibis, what does Daddy say he is expecting?
(a) A storm.
(b) A letter from a neighbor who is fighting in the war.
(c) A delicious dessert.
(d) A larger cotton crop than usual.

4. In the description of the garden "ironweeds grew rank amid the purple phlox" (1), what does "rank" mean is true about the ironweeds?
(a) They are taller than the phlox.
(b) They are in orderly rows in between the phlox.
(c) They are everywhere and possibly also smell bad.
(d) They are more important than the phlox.

5. Why does Brother think that it is a good thing for Doodle to have a silly name?
(a) Because Doodle has a silly sense of humor.
(b) Because it will distract people from the way Doodle looks.
(c) Because people will like him more.
(d) Because people will not expect much from him.

6. After the incident where Brother makes Doodle touch the casket, what does Doodle cry out over and over?
(a) "Why?"
(b) "I hate you."
(c) "Don't leave me."
(d) "Am I going to die?"

7. When Brother says that "the flood of childish spite evanesced" (11), what is he saying happened?
(a) He could see through the trees to where Doodle lay on the ground.
(b) His anger went away.
(c) The storm started to break.
(d) His pride was like a flood of water.

8. What deadline do Doodle and Brother set for Doodle's physical training?
(a) They want to be done by the time Doodle starts school.
(b) They want to be done by springtime.
(c) They want to be done by Christmas.
(d) They want to be done by Doodle's seventh birthday.

9. When Mama tells Brother that she is afraid that Doodle might not be "all there," what is Brother's response (2)?
(a) He asks if that is what the doctor said.
(b) He tells her that they will have to wait and see.
(c) He says that he will love Doodle anyway.
(d) He decides to kill Doodle.

10. Why does Doodle cry when Brother takes him to see the "only beauty" Brother knows (3)?
(a) Because he has never seen flowers before.
(b) Because it is pretty.
(c) Because he loves Brother.
(d) Because his life is too hard.

11. What evidence is there that Brother is pushing Doodle too hard?
(a) Doodle begins to have trouble breathing.
(b) Doodle talks less and seems confused at times.
(c) Doodle becomes feverish and has nightmares.
(d) Doodle begins to have nose bleeds.

12. What causes Brother to say that Doodle is a "burden in many ways" (3)?
(a) Brother's friends make fun of Doodle.
(b) Doodle is getting too heavy for Brother to pull in the cart.
(c) The doctor has made a long list of rules for taking care of Doodle.
(d) Doodle talks almost all the time.

13. When Brother says that the smell of the graveyard flowers is coming through their windows and "speaking softy the names of our dead" (1), this is an example of which literary technique?
(a) Understatement.
(b) Hyperbole.
(c) Euphemism.
(d) Personification.

14. What is an "ibis"?
(a) A fish.
(b) A bird.
(c) A flower.
(d) A type of tree.

15. What literary techniques are shown in the phrase, "[I]t lay on the earth like a broken vase of red flowers" (9)?
(a) Symbolism, flashback, and euphemism.
(b) Imagery, foreshadowing, and simile.
(c) Metaphor, allusion, and symbolism.
(d) Imagery, metaphor, and allegory.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is the only person who does not like the name "Doodle"?

2. What do Doodle and Brother leave to do after lunch?

3. Who uses a book to find the name of the ibis?

4. What is the swamp near their house called?

5. When Brother comments that "Hope no longer hid in the dark palmetto thicket but perched like a cardinal in the lacy toothbrush tree, brilliantly visible" (3), what two literary techniques are being used?

(see the answer keys)

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