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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Peralta most like to do as a child?

2. Who is the sidekick of the boy who bullies Peralta in Chapter 5?

3. What year was the Collegiate school founded?

4. What had Maria done for a living in The Dominican Republic?

5. What day does Peralta's father leave the United States for good?

Short Essay Questions

1. What differences does Peralta feel between his neighborhood in Harlem and the Upper West Side, where his private school is located?

2. What was Peralta's and his family's main holiday diversion during his childhood while they lived in the homeless shelter?

3. How does Peralta first realize his family is poor?

4. How does Peralta's family afford to eat when he and Yando are young children and his mother can not work for lack of papers?

5. Why does Peralta decide not to tell his mother about his breathing problems in Part II?

6. Why does one of Maria's friends think that Peralta might not be her son?

7. What does Peralta have to work on before he applies to Collegiate in Part II?

8. Why does Peralta's mother tell him he needs to be prepared for something happening to her?

9. What does Peralta do on his flight to New York City as a small child that endears him to people?

10. Why does Peralta's family first come to America?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does Peralta's mother's reaction to his descriptions of his wealthy friends' houses affect his own view of the disparities in his family's financial situation and those of his classmates? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 2

How does Peralta feel about his mother Maria's decision to begin doing domestic labor like house-cleaning due to her lack of legal immigration status? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 3

How does Yando feel about Peralta's accomplishments? When do Yando's feelings about Peralta's achievements and the praise he has attracted become most obvious? Write an essay explaining your answers.

(see the answer keys)

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