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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 do the chickens do when someone lays an egg?

2. What type of goods does Fitzwarren sell?

3. At Fitzwarren's, what does Dick eat for breakfast?

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

5. What secondary item does Fitzwarren sell in his shop?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do Abby and Ben change after the horses arrive?

2. Who brought the horses' ancestors to the Americas, and why?

3. What does Whittington the cat look like?

4. What does Fitzwarren do at the docks?

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

6. In the fable the Lady tells, what does the rat save the lion from?

7. How does the black hen act when Bernie examines her?

8. What does Dick ask for, in addition to the king's initial offer, in exchange for his cat?

9. What does the man who sells Dick Whittington his cat look like?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Ben learns to take control of his life through his experience in the barn and the stories about Dick Whittington. Discuss the idea of taking control of your life in the novel.

1) How does Ben take control of his life? What does he have to do, and how does he have to change?

2) How does Dick Whittington take control of his life? How does Dick's example help Ben?

3) What things are in and out of the characters' control in life? What can characters take control of, and how can characters deal with things they can't control?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss love in the novel.

1) What is Dick Whittington's experience of love? How does he fall in love, and how does love affect him?

2) What different kinds of love are in the novel? How is romantic love different from parental love, the love of siblings, or the love of friendship?

3) What is the Lady's experience of love? How does love affect her?

Essay Topic 3

The central characters of the novel are animals. Discuss this aspect of the story.

1) How are the animal characters in the novel similar to human beings? How are they non-human?

2) Why does the author choose talking animals as central characters? What do these animals show the reader about humanity and life as a human?

3) How is Dick Whittington's cat portrayed differently than the other animal characters? Why?

(see the answer keys)

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