View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was different about Thanksgiving in the new house?

2. In writing about sports, what did Rick come to realize were the only types of stories that he wanted to write?

3. What statue stands in Kelly Ingram Park in Birmingham?

4. What did Rick keep as a reminder of the night he went out on a dangerous story with Sean?

5. What did Kovach tell Rick to answer the next time someone asks him where he learned how to write?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Rick feel about the Fellowship to Harvard and why? How did his family feel?

2. Why did Rick never drink alone?

3. What was the Susan Smith story that Rick covered?

4. How did home feel to Rick when he went back for Christmas after returning from Haiti?

5. Who was the Serial Diner, and what did he teach Rick?

6. What was momma's new house like and how did she and everyone else react to it?

7. Why did Rick hate Haiti?

8. What kind of a man did Sam become, and what did Rick think about him?

9. How did Rick view winning the Pulitzer Prize?

10. What comparisons did Rick make between himself and his father? How did he feel about the comparisons?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How did poverty shape the young lives of the three brothers? How did Margaret get caught up in the poverty cycle, and what did it cost her?

Essay Topic 2

What drew Rick to spend his life writing stories about human tragedy? Did writing these types of stories resolve his inner issues? What did he learn about life from these stories?

Essay Topic 3

How did the school system create Sam's life for him? Was this fair? What choices did Sam have? Do children know and understand their choices? Did Sam?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,115 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample