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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why does Mama make Brother return to the table when he is trying to get outside to see the ibis?
(a) He is not finished eating.
(b) His father was in the middle of saying something to him.
(c) He was rude to Doodle and she wants him to apologize.
(d) He has knocked over his chair and forgotten to excuse himself.

2. When Brother asks "What are the words that can solder cracked pride?" (11), what is he comparing words to?
(a) A person in the army.
(b) The paste that holds bricks together.
(c) A salesperson in a store.
(d) The metal used in welding.

3. What Biblical event does Aunt Nicey mention when the boys tell the family that they have a big surprise for them?
(a) The Resurrection.
(b) Noah being swallowed by a "great fish."
(c) The Flood.
(d) Adam and Eve eating the apple.

4. Who uses a book to find the name of the ibis?
(a) Aunt Nicey.
(b) Daddy.
(c) Mama.
(d) Doodle.

5. The sentence "Mama once said, 'And bless the Pearsons, whose boy Joe was lost at Belleau Wood'" (8) is an example of which literary technique?
(a) Sarcasm.
(b) Foreshadowing.
(c) Hyperbole.
(d) Metaphor.

6. In the place name "Horsehead Landing," what does the word "landing" mean?
(a) A dock or other place for boats to transfer people and cargo to land.
(b) A flat place between two flights of stairs.
(c) The annual size of a catch of fish from a particular body of water.
(d) A place where planes touch down.

7. Doodle has an active mind and talks a lot. What is his family's reaction to this?
(a) They ignore him.
(b) They are jealous of him.
(c) They suggest that he might become a writer.
(d) They make fun of him.

8. On page 8, when Brother warns Doodle that he will be different from the other boys at school, what is Doodle's reply?
(a) "I will still have you."
(b) "I won't go to school, then."
(c) "Does it make any difference?"
(d) "Everyone is different, somehow."

9. Why does Brother treat Doodle roughly when he first starts taking him outside in his cart?
(a) He is too young to understand how delicate Doodle is.
(b) He wants Doodle to stop asking to come with him.
(c) He is still trying to hurt Doodle because Doodle embarrasses him.
(d) Doodle annoys him by asking constant questions.

10. What is Doodle's real name?
(a) James Hurst.
(b) William Armstrong.
(c) Robert Graves.
(d) It is never given.

11. 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?
(a) Irony and understatement.
(b) Hyperbole and sarcasm.
(c) Metaphor and imagery.
(d) Personification and simile.

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

13. Why does Brother cry when everyone hugs him for teaching Doodle to walk?
(a) He knows that he did it for the wrong reasons.
(b) He is afraid he might have hurt Doodle and they will find out.
(c) He rarely gets the family's attention.
(d) He is so relieved that everything went just right.

14. When it is clear that the training plan is harming Doodle, why does Brother continue?
(a) He is young and excited.
(b) He secretly wants to hurt Doodle.
(c) His own pride.
(d) He promised Aunt Nicey.

15. What is "Doodle" short for?
(a) Yankee Doodle.
(b) Cock-a-doodle-doo.
(c) Doodlebug.
(d) Nothing--it refers to a drawing Doodle did.

Short Answer Questions

1. What are Doodle's last words?

2. When Brother finally decides to treat Doodle like a brother, where does he take him for the first time?

3. What literary techniques are shown in the phrase, "[I]t lay on the earth like a broken vase of red flowers" (9)?

4. What does Doodle say when Brother tells him he is going to teach him to walk?

5. What do the "strange names" (8) talked about at the family dinner party allude to?

(see the answer keys)

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