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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. At the beginning of Chapter 7, what was "telling some part of our [August, Sylvia, Gigi, and Angela] story" (69)?
(a) Young boys.
(b) The night sky.
(c) Blurry memories.
(d) Every song.

2. After August's father brought home a radio, how did August say she would have responded if asked, "Are you lonely?" (47).
(a) August said that this new radio only reminded her of how lonely her life was.
(b) August revealed that she would answer that she was lonely, but had no way to cure it.
(c) August said that her mother's absence made her so incredibly lonely.
(d) August confessed that she would reply that she was not lonely, because her brother was with her.

3. As indicated in Chapter 4, what did August say her father had to do, because they had to live without August's mother?
(a) August's father treated his children "like they were the least important people on the planet" (47).
(b) August's father was "as unsure as we were about what step to take next" (46).
(c) August's father became an "angry and resentful man...no clue what to do" (46).
(d) August's father tried to "be a mother, but it just wasn't the same" (45).

4. What major event happened to August's brother in Chapter 2?
(a) August's brother cut his forearm on the broken glass of the window.
(b) August's brother ran away, but their father found him hiding under a bridge.
(c) August's brother left to live with their mother.
(d) August's brother got severely beaten by their father.

5. Who was August's "Mommy" talking to when August, her father, and her brother left Tennessee?
(a) Uncle Clyde.
(b) Another man.
(c) Fairies.
(d) Ghosts.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did August want, do, and/or think, when she first saw Sylvia, Angela, and Gigi as a child in Brooklyn?

2. In Chapter 1, while meeting with therapist, Sister Sonja, as a teenager for the first time, how did August begin the session?

3. Which girl (August, Sylvia, Gigi, and Angela) was the most popular, as mentioned in Chapter 5?

4. What did Gigi's mother say about Gigi's skin tone?

5. When August was a child, what statement did she always tell her brother when he asked about their mother?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who was Jennie and how is she described in the narrative?

2. Who was Clyde and why is he significant in the novel?

3. From what perspective and tense is the story related? How is the novel framed?

4. Why did Gigi warn her friends not to sing in their churches' choirs?

5. Why did August think that her mother would come to her in Brooklyn while growing up?

6. How is Coney Island described in Chapter 4?

7. How is the novel structured? Is the story related in a linear fashion or nonlinear? Why is this important?

8. What did SweetGrove represent to August when she was growing up?

9. What about Angela reminded August of her mother? Why?

10. What are the circumstances of August's brother in the most-recent timeline in the novel?

(see the answer keys)

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