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 does David say about the right of parents over children?

2. What does the wife of the household fear, if the farmer beats David?

3. Why does David ask for books made prior to 1917?

4. Where does David claim to be from when the woman who drives him asks?

5. What does the priest tell David about God?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does David realize about King's actions?

2. Describe how David escapes the stable.

3. How does David cross into Denmark?

4. What does David say in his letter to Carlo?

5. What does David find out about a woman named Edith Fengel.

6. Explain why David is disheartened in this chapter.

7. Why does David have such difficulty understanding the young boys he has come to live with?

8. Explain what Sophie means by "someone has broken his spirit".

9. Why does David hate being touched?

10. What is the significance of David touching Maria?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

There are two strong female characters in the novel, Sophie and the mother of the children, Giovanni's wife. Compare and contrast these two women. How are they similar? How are they different? How do their backgrounds and lifestyles change the way the treat David? Whereas the mother originally sends David away, Sophie asks him to stay. What does this difference indicate about these two characters?

Essay Topic 2

There are several instances in the book where the author uses scenery and seasons as metaphors for times within David's own life. This is particularly true in Chapter Seven, as winter gives way to spring. Explain how Anne Holm uses these seasons as metaphors for David's own life.

Essay Topic 3

Throughout the book, David shows himself to be clearly different than other boys. Pick two ways in which David is different, and discuss them in depth. What are these differences? How are they depicted in the novel? What do these differences stem from? Can David overcome them, or does he need to? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,047 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample