View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the horses' initial response to the idea of Whittington moving into the barn?

2. Who taught Dick Whittington to read?

3. How does Bernie react to the horses muzzling him?

4. What is the first word that Ben learns in his reading lesson?

5. How does Ben feel about the idea of going to Special Ed class?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Ben react when Gran gives him something to read?

2. What happens that causes Dick Whittington's cat to vow vengeance on a rat?

3. How does the captain react to Dick Whittington's cat?

4. What book does Abby bring for Ben's reading lesson?

5. What is Whittington and the Lady's plan to stop Havey from always chasing the duck?

6. What argument does the Lady give in favor of Whittington moving into the barn?

7. What happens when the owl encounters Ben, Abby, Whittington, and the Lady?

8. What worries Abby about the chickens' spring eating habits?

9. What are the first two horses that Bernie buys?

10. How does Lady stay safe from the rats?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Grief and loss are important issues that the characters in the novel face. Discuss grief and loss.

1) How do Ben and Abby deal with their grief over the loss of their mother and father? How do they react to loss and how does loss affect them?

2) How does Dick Whittington react to loss, including the losses from the plague, his sense of loss of his home, the loss of Mary, and the loss of his cat? How does loss affect him?

3) How do other characters, including the Lady and Whittington, deal with loss?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss illness and injury in the novel.

1) How do the characters deal with illness in the novel? What ways do characters try to combat or prevent illness or injury?

2) What causes illness? To what extent is illness something that can be controlled?

3) How do characters help each other when they are ill or injured? What do experiences with illness or injury say about the characters' relationships?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the role of family in the novel.

1) How is family different from friends in the novel? What makes up a family?

2) How do characters lose their families, and how do they build new families?

3) What role do families fill for characters? Why is family important in the novel?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 818 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample