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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Katie do this time after closing the diary?

2. Why does Matt wish he had been in the jeep?

3. What delights Nicky that the three do later that day?

4. What does Suzanne decide not to do after she and Nicky get home?

5. What can Katie only seem to do?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Suzanne fare as the days go on and what does she do once day with Nicky?

2. What does Matt think about as he sits in Nicky's nursery?

3. What does Suzanne say about her and Matt's wedding?

4. What does Matt tell Nicky as Matt sits in Nicky's room and what does Matt wish he had done?

5. Where do Matt and Susan have their honeymoon and what does Matt bring Suzanne every day during the honeymoon?

6. What had Matt's friends and coworkers done while Matt and Suzanne were gone from the house for three days?

7. What happens when Katie meets with Dr. Sassoon?

8. Who does Katie think of calling and does she do so?

9. What does Katie do one night for her friends the Browns?

10. What happens when Katie finishes the diary and what is said in the letter attached at the end of the diary?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

There are a number of interesting questions raised by "Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas". Questions that Patterson most likely want readers to consider and think through carefully. Discuss the following:

1. What does the term "author agenda" mean?

2. Name one idea/concept you think may have been a part of the Patterson' agenda. Analyze that idea throughout the book and discuss Patterson' probable agenda concerning that idea.

2. Do you think writers who have an agenda for writing should point it out in a preface?

3. How often do you think fiction is written with a clear agenda in mind by the author?

4. Research the life of Patterson and see if/where his life may have influenced his writing.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the following:

1. What is a plot? What are the most important elements of a plot and their definition? Do all novels have a plot? Why or why not?

2. Write a brief synopsis of the plot of "Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas", identifying where the various elements of the plot occur (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution or denouement). Do you find it difficult to identify the plot? Why or why not? What about the various elements of the plot?

3. Identify the major sub-plots and their elements in "Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas". (The subplots may not contain every element of a major plot). Do the sub-plots add to the main plot? Why or why not. Are the sub-plots interesting in and of themselves? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Patterson is once again pulling all the emotional strings. Suzanne's heart attack gives her an enemy waiting to attack her life throughout the book. Heart disease can be fought but no one has a say when that heart will quit beating. Here she is a broken hearted heroine. With heart disease in her family, she has a target on that heart at all times. Next we have betrayal by the man she thought she loved. Betrayal of her body and then betrayal by her man.

1. Discuss reasons why Suzanne's heart attack would be considered an antagonist. Use examples from "Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas" and your own life to support your answer.

2. Discuss the metaphoric connotations that Suzanne's "heart is broken" might have following her heart attack. Use examples from "Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas" and your own life to support your answer.

3. Discuss the idea that one never knows when death will come and how that might be important in "Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas". Use examples from the book and your own life to support your answer.

(see the answer keys)

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