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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. When did Uncle Rall and Cynthia get married?

2. How old was Johnson in Chapter 4 when his family when to a family reunion in Virginia?

3. What did Granny always use for a "whooping" (42)?

4. How old was Solidene in Chapter 4?

5. How old was Nanny when she had her first child, Kaye?

Short Essay Questions

1. What type of work did Nanny do?

2. During the summer of 1991, where did the family travel and why?

3. In 1987, why did Nanny punch a woman named Mrs. Todd?

4. In Chapter 4, how did Johnson feel about shooting a gun?

5. How did Nanny discipline the boys?

6. What does Johnson say about growing up with his cousins in the Author's Note?

7. What does Johnson say in the Author's Note about how Black boys are viewed?

8. What did Johnson say about the book and why he wrote it?

9. How and why was Tamir Rice killed?

10. Why did Johnson and his little brother Garrett go to Nanny's after school and on weekends?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Nanny used corporal punishment to discipline her grandsons. How did Nanny use corporal punishment? Why did Johnson believe punishment should not be the "primary form of 'justice' for bad choices" (47)?

Essay Topic 2

Rasul and his cousins remembered a fight Rasul had with a boy named Kelly. How was Rasul’s version of the fight different from what his cousins remembered? What is communicated about truth through the different versions?

Essay Topic 3

An allusion is a figure of speech that does not directly refer to a person, place, or thing. What are some allusions in We Are Not Broken? Why might it be difficult to decipher an allusion just by the context of a passage in a book? How do the allusions Johnson uses help readers’ understanding of individuals, events, or concepts?

(see the answer keys)

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