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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 is Muhammad's strongest emotion while on the ship?

2. What does Moses's wife do when Lem returns to the plantation?

3. Where is Muhammad at the beginning of the book?

4. What does Julia promise to do for Lizzy?

5. Where does Elijah's father live?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Lizzy first come to know Moses and Saran?

2. What keeps Muhammad from sleeping at night while on the ship?

3. Why did Elijah and Abby fix up an old boat?

4. Why does Elijah refuse to split the reward money with Sheriff Glover?

5. What kind of music does Abby love, and how does Saran feel about it?

6. What is a boom stick?

7. What is the deepest feeling felt by Muhammad on the ship, and why?

8. What does Muhammad promise himself while on the boat, and what prompts him to make this promise?

9. Why does Lizzy choose to leave Live Oaks?

10. What is placed before the beginning of the narrative, and what does it show?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Which character do you relate with the most in this book? Why is this? How does this character change throughout the book?

Essay Topic 2

Shame and propriety are common themes throughout this book. What are some of the instances where these themes are present, and why are they so important to the characters involved?

Essay Topic 3

This book takes place in a few different settings. Describe some of these settings and explain how they affect the course of the plot. Why might Walter Dean Myers have chosen these particular places for this plot to take place?

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