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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 is Romulus Foster?

2. Where is Andrew when Chapter 3 opens?

3. What is Yolanda not allowed to do at home?

4. What is one group that hangs out at Asphalt Hill?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What does Yolanda "borrow" of her mother's, and what is she thinking about as she does so?

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

4. What gives Yolanda comfort in her new home?

5. What is the other terrible thing that has happened recently?

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

7. Why is Yolanda suspicious of Shirley, yet still talks to her?

8. Who is impressed by Yolanda and why?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

"Yolonda's Genius" belongs to the teen fiction genre. Discuss the following:

1. Define the literary term "genre" and give several examples of three other genres in addition to the teen fiction genre.

2. Discuss two reasons why it might be useful to label a text by genre and two reasons it might be disadvantageous to label a text by genre.

3. What do you think is the difference between a teen fiction and teen historical fiction?

Essay Topic 2

Over the course of "Yolonda's Genius", Yolanda grows as a person in both complexity and understanding. "Yolonda's Genius" might be considered a slice of Yolanda's larger story of her "coming of age." It might be said that the story is a "bildungsroman" of the narrator. Discuss the following:

1. Define Bildungsroman, or "Coming of Age," and give several examples from literature you have read.

2. Trace and analyze Yolanda as she changes from a somewhat rigid, bigoted girl to a wiser, less rigid girl. What are the significant events that change her?

3. After thoroughly analyzing the narrator's growth throughout "Yolonda's Genius", do you think the novel could be considered Yolanda's Coming of Age story? Why or why not?

4. Are there any other characters in "Yolonda's Genius" who go through a Coming of Age experience? Who? Why do you think so?

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

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