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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. Where does Palmer imagine Beans lives?

2. How does Palmer feel when the boys show up to his party?

3. What does Palmer hear in his dream on the night of his birthday?

4. Where do the boys go in the middle of the night?

5. Where do Palmer and the kids in town go on the day it snows?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Palmer come up with the name for his pigeon? What do people feel about animals when they name them? How does Palmer feel about his pigeon?

2. When Beans has his tenth birthday party, he invites the gang to his house and then leaves with them to find Farquar. Again, The Treatment is part of the story. How does Beans anticipate The Treatment and his birthday in general? How is Beans' reaction different from that of Palmer?

3. When the boys find Farquar, he is on the soccer field and all but Palmer rush over to see him. Why does Palmer lag behind? What is he experiencing walking onto the field?

4. What does Beans pull out of the freezer when the gang is at his house? What does he do with it? The author does not tell us how Palmer feels about what Beans has done. Based on what you know of Palmer, how does he feel about the prank?

5. Palmer asks his mother for a favor. What is the favor, and why does Palmer ask her? How does he explain this to his mother?

6. How does Palmer react in Chapter 13 when he is awakened by tapping? Who does he think is at the window? What does he find?

7. How do Palmer's parents react to The Treatment?

8. How does Palmer resolve his problems of meeting his friends at the cannon on the day of the pigeon shoot? Why? What do we learn about Palmer?

9. When Palmer returns from Beans' birthday party he finds Dorothy waiting in his room. She sarcastically calls him Snots and talks about his gang. What does she say, and what does she really mean?

10. In Chapter 25, Palmer has a wonderful day in which he is relaxed and happy. The day dissolves into emotional distress. What happens to make Palmer nervous and upset? What two parts of Palmer's personality come into conflict?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What part does Nipper play in Palmer's life? How is this non-speaking character such a major influence in the novel? What does Nipper represent to Palmer?

Essay Topic 2

There are two traditions in Palmer's town that frighten him, and yet he is drawn toward them both. What are these traditions? Why do they both frighten and interest Palmer? How are these two traditions similar?

Essay Topic 3

Describe Palmer's reaction to his mother's confession that she has known about Nipper for months. What does he feel? What does he tell her? How does this experience give him courage?

(see the answer keys)

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