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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What replaces the tree in the yard?
(a) A well.
(b) A shed.
(c) A statue.
(d) A grindstone.

2. What do Mama and Daddy say about Brother's plan to train Doodle physically?
(a) They do not know about it.
(b) They think that they should ask the doctor first.
(c) They think it is a good idea.
(d) They forbid it.

3. 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 more important 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 taller than the phlox.

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

5. What are Brother and Doodle doing on the day when Doodle cannot keep going and falls to the ground, crying?
(a) Running.
(b) Rope climbing.
(c) Walking.
(d) Boxing.

Short Answer Questions

1. When it is clear that the training plan is harming Doodle, why does Brother continue?

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

3. What is the "caul" that Doodle is born with?

4. What is Brother's real name?

5. The phrase, "[T]he oriole nest in the elm was untenanted and rocked back and forth like an empty cradle" (1) is an example of which two literary techniques?

Short Essay Questions

1. When they are eating lunch on the day the ibis appears, what argument are the brothers having?

2. Toward the end of summer, how does "Brother" say that he and Doodle are feeling about the training, and why do they keep going?

3. What images of death does the story open with?

4. What changes in Doodle's living situation when he learns to crawl?

5. How does Doodle get his nickname?

6. When Mama tells "Brother" that Doodle might be mentally disabled, what does "Brother" plan to do, and what changes his mind?

7. How does Doodle die?

8. In what ways is the summer of 1918 hard on the family's crops?

9. When the boys are almost ready to show the family that Doodle can walk and they keep hinting that they have a big secret, what does Nicey tell them and what is its thematic significance?

10. When the family get excited and try to hug "Brother" for teaching Doodle to walk, how does "Brother" react, and why?

(see the answer keys)

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