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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. What is the first physical change Francis and Frances encounter?
(a) Their hair changes color.
(b) Their voices switch.
(c) Their reflections in the mirror disappear.
(d) They both change genders.

2. After the incident with the rose bushes, the boy stays in his room for more than a day without what?
(a) A pillow.
(b) Food.
(c) Clothes.
(d) Light.

3. When the boy and his brother, Liam, are taken across the river by their father, what does his father's explanation about Eddie reveal to the boy?
(a) His father knows more about Eddie's disappearance than does anyone else.
(b) His father knows nothing of Eddie's disappearance.
(c) The boy knows more than his father knows.
(d) Liam knows more about Eddie's disappearance than does the boy.

4. In Chapter 1, what causes the boy's mother to become inconsolable?
(a) The boy becomes sick.
(b) She loses her job.
(c) One of her children dies.
(d) Her husband leaves.

5. In Chapter 1, where does the boy's mother ask him to take flowers?
(a) To his teacher.
(b) To a grave.
(c) To a sick relative's house.
(d) To his father.

Short Answer Questions

1. After his parents die, Eddie leaves. Where does everyone think he went?

2. What is the subject of most of the songs the Catholics sing on the Feast of Assumption?

3. What does the boy try to do after his talk with Sergeant Burke in Chapter 3?

4. In June 1948, what does the boy witness?

5. Which two characters are introduced first at the beginning of the novel?

Short Essay Questions

1. What strong religious beliefs of his community does the boy share in the beginning of Chapter 1?

2. Why does the boy throw a rock at Sergeant Burke's police car?

3. Why is the disappearance of Uncle Eddie such a mystery?

4. How are superstitions introduced in Chapter 1?

5. Describe Crazy Joe.

6. What memory does the boy have of an interaction between him and Crazy Joe?

7. How is the boy's father's life seen as very difficult and sad?

8. Why is the boy uncomfortable with the sympathy he feels for the police after Rory Hannaway's death?

9. Why does the boy try to run away in Chapter 3?

10. Why doesn't the author ever reveal the narrator's first name?

(see the answer keys)

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