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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does Ma feel about the phone ringing in Chapter 9, TALK TO ME?
(a) Annoyed.
(b) Scared.
(c) Happy.
(d) She shows no emotion.

2. What do the brothers do with the baby robins that they find in the woods?
(a) Pull off the baby robins' heads.
(b) Throw them into shoeboxes.
(c) Kill them.
(d) Pull the baby robins out of their nest, throw them in the air, and see if they can fly.

3. Why do the brothers run their fingers around the empty bowls in Chapter 9, TALK TO ME?
(a) Because they are curious what the food tastes like.
(b) Because they are angry all the food is gone.
(c) Because they are so hungry and want all the food there is left.
(d) Because there is excess frosting left in the bowls.

4. Why does Manny crawl into bed with his brother at the beginning of the story?
(a) Manny wants to tell them a story.
(b) Manny does not have his own bed.
(c) Manny is afraid of the dark.
(d) Manny wants body heat.

5. What does Paps do to try and convey to his sons their heritage?
(a) Paps shows his sons pictures of his childhood.
(b) Paps takes his sons to meet their grandparents.
(c) Paps dances in a Puerto Rican style.
(d) Paps plays British music.

6. How does Ma describe carrying Manny in her "stomach" (26)?
(a) Ma says that it "rained down silver jingles" (27).
(b) Ma says that Manny was "mixed up" (26).
(c) Ma says that Manny was "growing, heart ticking like a time bomb" (26).
(d) Ma says that Manny's, "eyes were wet, black-holey - no fear there, no disgust, no pity" (27).

7. On the way home from the lake, the narrator reveals his brothers' ages. How old are they?
(a) Manny is 9 years old, and Joel is 8 years old.
(b) Manny is 14 years old, and Joel is 12 years old.
(c) Manny is 9 years old, and Joel is 7 years old.
(d) Manny is 10 years old, and Joel is 8 years old.

8. On the last page of Chapter 11, NIGHT WATCH, what is Paps sad/worried about?
(a) That the family will not be able to pay rent.
(b) Whether Ma will leave him.
(c) That the family, and more importantly, the brothers will never escape this difficult life.
(d) Whether the brothers will have to go live with their grandparents.

9. What metaphor does the narrator use at the end of Page 27 about the pregnant woman's response to the brothers?
(a) She is "half gruff, half troll."
(b) She is "curious, rubbing her palms slowly."
(c) She is "concrete and howled."
(d) She is "drinking us [the brothers] in."

10. Where has Ma seen the "most water she ever saw in one place" (19)?
(a) In California in giant public swimming pools, where she swam in the summer.
(b) In upstate New York after the snow melted.
(c) In Brooklyn after it rained and puddles gathered on the sides of the street.
(d) In Brooklyn when men opened a johnny pump and water rushed forth.

11. What do the brothers ask strangers to buy them outside the drugstore in Chapter 5, US PROPER?
(a) Gum and cigarettes.
(b) Cigarettes or whiskey.
(c) Cigarettes or beer.
(d) Booze and candy.

12. Why is it unusual that Paps knows how to swim?
(a) Because he has never seen water before.
(b) Because he is afraid of drowning.
(c) Because he grew up away from the water.
(d) Because he is from Canada.

13. What does Paps say to the narrator as he dries him off in Chapter 10, YOU BETTER COME?
(a) Paps jokes "about needing to make some more boys to take our [the brothers'] places" (46).
(b) "Get my boots from the closet" (49).
(c) "I thought you disappeared" (49).
(d) "You grew" (46).

14. What does Old Man call the brothers as they eat the vegetables from his garden?
(a) Burglars and orphans.
(b) Animals and locusts.
(c) Animals and orphans.
(d) Stupid and poor.

15. What does Manny say about Paps disappearance in Chapter 8, OTHER LOCUSTS?
(a) Manny says that "he'd picked up with another woman" (36).
(b) Manny tells the boys that Paps "yelled that one word over and over, stop, stop, stop" (37).
(c) Manny tells the narrator that Paps "was still broken, still dead-eyed, but not dead" (36).
(d) Manny tells the boys that Paps "don't know shit" (37).

Short Answer Questions

1. How does the narrator know Paps and Ma are fighting when Paps returns home in Chapter 9, TALK TO ME?

2. What promise does Paps eventually make to Ma about the truck?

3. Where is Lina from?

4. Why is Ma worried about the brothers' bath in Chapter 10, YOU BETTER COME?

5. What role does the narrator play in the "magic of God" (25)?

(see the answer keys)

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