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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 Miss Pricherd tell Tree?

2. How does Miss Pricherd respond when Tree calls her by her nickname?

3. What does Tree say Brother Rush's hands are full of?

4. What do Brother Rush's hands do while Tree and Dab are looking at them?

5. How does Dab seem to be doing, when Tree, M'Vy and Silversmith look into his room?

Short Essay Questions

1. What ails Brother Rush?

2. What happens when Miss Pricherd cleans Dab's room?

3. What makes Tree think of Dab when she is at home alone?

4. What happens when M'Vy follows Tree into the little room?

5. How does the narrator describe the relationship between M'Vy and Dab?

6. What happens that Dab gets taken to the hospital?

7. What does Tree learn from M'Vy about Dab's condition?

8. What is Tree's nightmare?

9. Why does Tree get upset when M'Vy says that it is time to go out?

10. What new information does Tree learn about Brother Rush's death, when they are checking in at the hospital?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What does Dab's illness seem to be, and how important is it that we know exactly what it is? Considering how his health affects the rest of the story, does it matter what it is, exactly?

Essay Topic 2

Many stories of people living in poor circumstances are centered on the possibility that one day they'll live better lives, especially when children are involved, since everyone wants to think that children raised in poverty will be better taken care of in the future. What role does this storyline play in "Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush"? What hope do we have for Tree's future, and how does the story encourage us to believe that her future will be better than the present?

Essay Topic 3

In a couple of places, characters do little dances when they are happy, or can't find words for their feelings. What do characters express without words, in "Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush"? What would they say if they had words--can you paraphrase what they are saying? Why do you think Virginia Hamilton gave them gestures instead of words?

(see the answer keys)

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