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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. Who saves the kittens trapped by the cord?

2. What type of bead is on the necklace that Dick gives Mary?

3. Who did Mary's husband leave his money to in his will?

4. What common item does Whittington explain used to be expensive in Dick's time but is cheap in the present for Ben and Abby?

5. What is Fitzwarren's policy in his business?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Mary Green look like?

2. After Ben talks to the animals in the barn about what his reading lessons were like, what do they all do?

3. What women does the book Sir Louis gives Dick say are the most beautiful in the world?

4. What causes the ship to turn back after reaching Palermo?

5. What does Dick do in memory of his cat after the cat disappears?

6. Why does Don think the special ed reading program might be good for Ben?

7. How does Bernie react to finding the new animals in the barn after the livestock auction?

8. Why is Dick's cat allowed to come home to Dick?

9. What effect do the bells have on Dick as he heads down the river to try to see Mary?

10. What does the cat's former owner say when Dick Whittington offers to share his fortune?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss friendship in the novel.

1) How do Whittington and the Lady become friends? How is their friendship important to them? How does it affect them and the other animals in the barn?

2) How and why do Dick Whittington and his cat become friends? How does their friendship affect Dick?

3) What other friendships are there in the novel? How do friendships affect the characters?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the structure of the novel.

1) How are the two stories, the story of Dick Whittington and the story of the barn, intertwined?

2) How do the chapter divisions of the novel affect the reader? Why does the author choose these chapter divisions?

3) How is the novel episodic, telling a series of shorter stories? How does it have an overall structure, including the ongoing story of Ben learning to read?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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