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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. Where does he say his parents live?
(a) The Bronx.
(b) Tuscon.
(c) Albany.
(d) Miami.

2. What does Neil find in the basement?
(a) A ping pong table with a broken leg.
(b) A refrigerator full of beer.
(c) A storage room.
(d) A playroom and a bar.

3. While Neil and the boy are looking at the art book, what is Neil seeing?
(a) That discrimination is a bad thing.
(b) Brenda in a Gauguin setting.
(c) That his job is dull.
(d) How the boy is really interested in art.

4. What is Aunt Gladys' personal charity?
(a) The poor Jews in Palestine.
(b) Poor older Jews in nursing homes.
(c) Jewish orphans in Russia.
(d) The homeless in Newark.

5. What is the area like in Short Hills?
(a) Mansions with valet service.
(b) Large houses with green lawns and water sprinklers.
(c) big houses people use only for the summer.
(d) Rows of highrise condos.

Short Answer Questions

1. How has Mrs. Patimkin reinvented herself?

2. What member of Neil's family does Brenda remember?

3. While the dinner conversation is going on, what is Brenda doing?

4. What is Neil's impression of Brenda as she plays tennis?

5. What do Aunt Gladys and Mrs. Patimkin have in common that is different from Neil?

Short Essay Questions

1. Discuss the competitive nature of Brenda.

2. Describe the young African-American boy Neil encounters in front of the library.

3. How does Neil see Mr. Patimkin when he meets him at dinner?

4. Contrast Aunt Gladys and Mrs. Patimkin from the conversation Gladys and Neil have about the Patimkin house.

5. Describe the relationship between Neil and Brenda during the summer.

6. How does the reader get introduced to ten-year-old Julie Patimkin?

7. Explain the prejudice of the head librarian against the boy.

8. What evidence is there that Brenda is driven by appearances?

9. What is Mrs. Patimkin's athletic involvement?

10. Explain the social and economic difference between Brenda and Neil.

(see the answer keys)

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