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. How old is Luis when his mom says he must help support the family?

2. What does Jandro have Luis and Rano steal?

3. What city is Watts in?

4. Luis thinks he would be able to kill, but not as part of what?

5. Whose fight prompted the police to come to where Luis's family was staying in the beginning of the book?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens when the students at Luis's father's school can't understand his accent?

2. Who are "Thee Impersonations"?

3. Why did Luis break his toys at Christmas?

4. How does Luis describe his high school?

5. What happens when Luis's father gets a better job?

6. How does Luis's saxophone cause a rift between him and Joe?

7. Explain how Yuk-Yuk and Luis differ on their feelings about stealing and killing.

8. How does graffiti show a rift within the gang?

9. What was Luis's family's neighborhood and house like in Los Angeles?

10. Why did Rano pick on his brother?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe how Luis's father's struggle to maintain a job causes the family to move to L.A. and how the job situation is once he gets there.

Essay Topic 2

What is the impact of Luis's near-death experience with sniffing on his life?

Essay Topic 3

How does the story of the woman yelling at Luis's family at Will Rogers park play a role in Luis's decision to join a gang? What kinds of feelings did the woman prompt in Luis that stay with him throughout his life?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 646 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample