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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 is Yolanda yelling to Shirley as Yolanda rushes out of the house?

2. How does Yolanda's mother's pestering figure into Yolanda getting to do something she likes to do?

3. Why is Andrew uninterested in the photograph?

4. Who calls Yolanda this word?

5. What does Yolanda think about all day?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are the skaters at Asphalt Hill's reactions to Andrew's harmonica playing?

2. What does Shirley say about double-dutch that causes Yolanda great discomfort?

3. Who does Andrew meet when he arrives for his reading lesson?

4. Why is the darker side of Asphalt Hill, and what are Andrews thoughts about that?

5. Describe Andrew's encounter with the drug pushers at Asphalt Hill.

6. What is Yolanda thinking about as the novel opens?

7. How does Vic use music to make a connection with Andrew?

8. How does Yolanda respond to the cruel comments by the other children on the bus?

9. How does Andrew become confused when Miss Gilluly shows him a picture of a dog?

10. How is Andrew when Yolanda finds him, and what is her reaction?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Yolanda is eleven throughout much of the novel. Discuss the following:

1. What are some ways that Yolanda seems like an average eleven year old? Give examples and why you say her activities are average teen activities.

2. What are some ways that Yolanda seems older than her age of 11? Give specific examples and discuss whether they seem consistent with the character of Yolanda as she is developed throughout the book.

3. Do you think most eleven year old girls would look out for their six-year-old brother in the ways Yolanda does? Why or why not.

Essay Topic 2

1. What is foreshadowing? How many incidences of foreshadow are in "Yolonda's Genius"? How does foreshadowing contribute to a book's suspense?

2. Discuss an example of foreshadowing in this story, including why you believe it is foreshadowing. Include examples from the book and your own life to illustrate your answer.

3. How do you think most people react to uncertainty in their lives? Use examples from "Yolonda's Genius" and your own live to support your opinion.

Essay Topic 3

Oftentimes, a book has more of a character-driven plot rather than action driven, and oftentimes the other way. Some books seem to balance the two. Discuss the following:

1. What do you think it means to say that a plot is character driven? Action driven?

2. How do you think a plot differs if it is character driven versus action driven?

3. Which type of plot do you find more interesting? Why?

4. Do you think it is possible to have a plot where action and character development share equal time? Why or why not.

5. What type of plot do you think Yolonda's Genius is? Explain your response.

(see the answer keys)

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