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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. Where do Doodle and Brother imagine living when they are older?
(a) In a houseboat.
(b) New York City.
(c) Old Woman Swamp.
(d) In a treehouse.

2. What is the "caul" that Doodle is born with?
(a) A hand that is curved like a hook.
(b) A piece of the sac that protected him before he was born.
(c) A full head of hair.
(d) A red, bird-shaped birthmark.

3. What do the "strange names" (8) talked about at the family dinner party allude to?
(a) They are the names of family members buried in the family graveyard.
(b) They are the locations of World War I battles.
(c) They are the places that the family plans to travel in Europe.
(d) They are the neighbor families who have lost children in World War I.

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What is an "ibis"?

2. Just before they notice the ibis, what does Daddy say he is expecting?

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

4. How does Brother respond to Doodle's love for natural beauty?

5. After the incident where Brother makes Doodle touch the casket, what does Doodle cry out over and over?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are Chateau-Thierry, Amiens, and Soissons, and how do they relate to this story?

2. What do Doodle and "Brother" do with the flowers at Old Woman Swamp?

3. What does the narrator make Doodle do in the barn loft, and how does Doodle react?

4. 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?

5. When Doodle learns to walk, where does the family put his cart, and why is this symbolically appropriate?

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

7. What is the family's reaction to Doodle when he is born?

8. How does Doodle die?

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

10. Where is the grindstone and what is its symbolic meaning?

(see the answer keys)

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